Megger vs Insulation tester?

[Harry Bloomfield]

I picked up a used meggerinsulation tester on ebay, recalibrated by the firm that regularly sells them after they are deemed outof date. It has worked fine on the few occasions I have used it, and was a lot cheaper.

Out of curiosity, I ordered a Chinese one a few years ago. I does 50v, 250v, 500v, and 1000v, plus voltage measurement, with a digital display. Carrying out calibration checks, it proved to be well in acceptable specs.

 

[ericmark]

As did the one I pictured. At £35 new why by second hand?

 

[plugwash]

Out of curiosity, I ordered a Chinese one a few years ago. I does 50v, 250v, 500v, and 1000v, plus voltage measurement, with a digital display. Carrying out calibration checks, it proved to be well in acceptable specs.

I picked up a Tenma (Farnell own brand) 72-9400 (appears to be a rebadged uni-t UT501) one at work (A university) some years back so I could check IR on some equipment I was building (any checks that were important would be done by someone else, but I wanted the ability to pre=test stuff myself). I did some quick checks and determined it was more than accurate enough for my needs and was indeed putting out approximately the voltage stated, but I wasn't particularly happy about how high the low end of it's range was, or about it's behaviour on under-range. I commented as such on the review I could find and also sent my comments to Farnell.

I have no idea if my comments ever reached anyone, but I have noticed that since then the model I bought was discontinued and replaced with the 72-9400A (appears to be a rebadged UT501A), which seems to correct the design defects.

Ultimately, with modern electronics, building an IR tester isn't rocket surgery. If a company has the capability to design a half-decent multimeter they can probablly design a decent IR tester.