Shocking

[Softus]

thing is if you can't see the ends then without cutting in to a cable you can't be sure it is the cable you think it is.

This is in my pocket pretty much all the time (the power tracer, not the hand):

 

[viewer]

Wiring Scalextric with young son using neon screwdriver. Didn't spot he'd filled the whole thing with spit. Found out when I stuck it on the 240V!

Not me - but our cat! One Christmas laid out the tree lights and he bit through the wires as they came out of the plug. Big flash around his teeth. After leaping a foot in the air, he staggered off shaking his head and wobbling as he tried to look dignified.

 

[securespark]

So, we have shown the need for:

Positive isolation, proving dead, using a two-pole deive & proving unit (or similar method).

Locking off.

 

[gcresser]

Whilst, like reading an accident book, these stories are quite amusing just think that your 1st shock could have been your one any only before it killed you.

If it doesn't kill you, maybe the the tiny fragments of molten copper at over 2000 degrees C herltling towards your face at 700 mph may blind you.

I think we have all become complacent about this and are forgetting the basic safety rules of isolation, proving dead and proving the test lamp.

Don't assume - you make an ASS out of U and ME.

I have many pictures of various electrical injuries (gory), all be it from mains cables, but electric is electric whether it's in a LV main or in a lighting circuit.

Please every one, work safe and return home in the same condition you arrived for work in. If you see a colleague working unsafely - tell him, not his wife / partner / children after he been taken away in the ambulance. How would you feel if you had a serious burn or injury and your mate said "I thought that looked dangerous". If only he'd told you earlier...............

Food for thought.

 

[ricicle]

thing is if you can't see the ends then without cutting in to a cable you can't be sure it is the cable you think it is.

This is in my pocket pretty much all the time (the power tracer, not the hand):

Reliable?

 

[Adam_151]

Reliable?

Not really, fluff doesn't do much for them, different insulation types could affect it, etc, best thing to do is put it on the cable when its still live, make sure it beeps easily enough and isn't tempermental in doing so, switch off the MCB you think it is, make sure it don't beep anymore, switch it on, check it does, and then switch it off again (check that it doesn't beep again)

[and then nick your mates cutters and look away when cutting ]

very similar to prove/test/prove, except prove using the cable you are actually using it on and make sure its not tempermental... another cable might have thinner sheething etc

 

[Softus]

Reliable?

Surprisingly so. However, it's primarily for tracing power when fault finding.

I don't ever rely on it, in the sense that I don't trust it when testing for dead - it's just an alert when something isn't dead when I might have thought it was. For example, in cable cutting where an end isn't in sight it's a useful last minute check.

 

[ricicle]

I've never used one.I'm a multimeter or Steinel man.....

 

[Softus]

I like Steinel, but I couldn't drink more than one.

 

[tim west]

Steinel's can give false readings when the batteries are wearing out, have had one read 240 when testing 415, threw it in the bin.

 

[Softus]

Surely that's true of all of them, tw?

 

[Spark123]

I've never used one.I'm a multimeter or Steinel man.....

Bow your head in shame, multimeters, pah!!! Stienel Combichecks are fine, as is any approved voltage indicator. Multimeters can be set wrong. Also I have shut my fluke 73 down on a couple of occasions measuring voltage on highish frequency devices.

 

[ricicle]

I've never used one.I'm a multimeter or Steinel man.....

Bow your head in shame, multimeters, pah!!! . Multimeters can be set wrong. .

Not if your experienced enough to set them correctly and check/re-check...

 

[Spark123]

^^read the 2nd bit!!
as a professional I'd never use a multimeter to check isolation, it is not the correct tool for the job. The company I work for will not allow me to use a multimeter for this purpose, I have been given voltage testers (stienel combichecks) for this purpose and had it drummed into me never to use a multimeter. IIRC it is also frowned upon in GS38.

 

[tim west]

Surely that's true of all of them, tw?

Work bought 300 of them for all the sparks and we found they gave false readings very quickly unless the batteries were brand new ie after a few weeks the batt test function would show batteries ok, this may have been a fault in the early days of them circa 1983ish? and the fault may have been cured? Don't know as never used them since. first impressions and all.