Electrical testing tool??

[poonum]

Hi, is there a tool out there that I can use to test if there is an electrical fault with an appliance? I need to find out whether my bathroom extractor fan isn't working because there's a problem with the fan itself, or if the problem is with the electrical supply. I remember when I had an electrician round once, he had a tester that he plugged in to the light switch to see where the fault was. Is there anything I can buy to do this? I don't want to buy a new fan if there's nothing wrong with it in the first place!

 

[JohnD]

An £8 multimeter from the high street can test for voltage, continuity, resistance and some other things, which is all you need... but you will need to know how to do it (not difficult though).



p.s. Not a neon screwdriver!

 

[poonum]

brill thanks john! didn't realise things like that were so cheap!

 

[JohnD]

two things worth having - Overload protection, and a buzzer/bleeper for continuity. Worth paying a couple of pounds extra for.

This one was reduced to only £2! Seems to be out of stock now
http://www.robertdyas.co.uk/webapp/...showSubCategory=&top=Y&fromPage=SearchResults

 

[sm1thson]

yeah maplin keap selling off one like that for a similar price (but normally 5.99). but the no audio continuity is a pain, although in many cases you should look at the reading anyway. this one looks alright for a fiver if theres a maplin nearby

 

[HDRW]

yeah maplin keap selling off one like that for a similar price (but normally 5.99). but the no audio continuity is a pain, although in many cases you should look at the reading anyway. this one looks alright for a fiver if theres a maplin nearby

I disagree! I think the continuity beeper is priceless, and I wouldn't buy a meter without one. If you're trying to decide which wire is which in a bundle, you haven't got enough hands to hold both probes and the meter and look at it while you probe the wires. A quick beep solves it immediately, especially if you have a lot to try to find the right one.

It's also handy to quickly go through a pile of fuses / lightbulbs finding out which ones still work...

Cheers,

Howard

 

[sm1thson]

erm you can disagree, but i did say "no audio continuity is a pain" thus agreeing. my point was that in some cases, actually looking at the meter can show that there is something wrong, like when something that should be connected is reading 10 ohms rather than <1 it still beeps either way but looking at it tells you something usefull! or as another example i have a meter that beeps for things under 30ohm, if there was a 2kw heater in the circuit both phase and neutral would beep as if connected but looking at the meter would show there is some resistance between, a little infomation can be misleading! nothing wrong with a beep (i wouldnt get another meter without), you can still look at the reeding i just wanted to highlight that in some cases you need to not just rely on the beep (which is easily done), after all a meter is to measure things! i test till i get a beep then look at the reading, but its easy to fall out of the habit of looking!

but yes for the examples you gave its quicker and easier to have a beep with no need to look.

as for buying one for DIY, spend more if your going to use it a lot, or spend only £5 and live with looking at it, oh yeah it does take a few secs for it to give a reading where as the beep is instant.