Which PAT tester
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Another length of piece of string question. But some thoughts.
1) Do you want to ensure the personnel can't cheat? PAT testers which store the data on the tester make it easier to test an item than guess reading and seem to be preferred by firms where they have multi-users.
2) Boot time where a tester spends most of it life in the workshop and items are brought to the tester (They are after all portable) then the time it takes to boot is not important. But where the tester is taken to the item boot time becomes a real consideration.
3) Voltage range many firms have no 110 volt supplies and a 230 volt only tester will do the job. Where 110 volt is used a tester able to work on split phase is required.
4) Power when working on building sites I have many times been directed to the stores where all items are kept but it has no power so I have needed to carry all the items to somewhere where I can get power. There are now self powered units.
I now use a manual very simple old Robin and it is much faster then the top of the range Robin which I have also used.
One problem I had with top of range Robin is where someone forgot to log in and did a days PAT testing under someone else's ID. Using Visual Basic I was able to write a program to change this after the event but not easy.
This leads to second point records. Not much point keeping electronic records where if they are questioned the users can then say "It was not me some one must have used it without entering their code." So in spite of having all the auto log software we had to print out every report and the tester had to sign them. Only that way could we be 100% certain who had done the testing. Robin is not the only tester with ID problem AVO was the same and using Lotus suite I was able to read every ones log in password so again print and sign was only way.
With a single electrician this would not be a problem.
Boot time with top of range Robin was slow and I once decided to go for it and see how many I could do in 8 hours. I was shocked to find I was only able to do 60 tests I had expected a lot more. Using manual tester I was able to at least double this rate. Much depends on how many Class I and how many Class II and on my test nearly all were Class I. However having tried I now could not as manager accept anyone logging 300 tests in a day and I have seen claims of such high outputs. The Robin would not do that even if you re-tested the same item.
What the number of sockets has to do with PAT testing I do not know. I would have though the number of Plugs would be far more important!
The Equipment register (Form V1.1) together with Repair register and Faulty equipment register will tell you how many items are to be tested and keeping of these registers is a legal requirement under the electricity at work act although they can be stored in electronic form and first step is to view these. If in electronic form you may need to select the PAT tester able to work with the existing records!
1) Do you want to ensure the personnel can't cheat? PAT testers which store the data on the tester make it easier to test an item than guess reading and seem to be preferred by firms where they have multi-users.
2) Boot time where a tester spends most of it life in the workshop and items are brought to the tester (They are after all portable) then the time it takes to boot is not important. But where the tester is taken to the item boot time becomes a real consideration.
3) Voltage range many firms have no 110 volt supplies and a 230 volt only tester will do the job. Where 110 volt is used a tester able to work on split phase is required.
4) Power when working on building sites I have many times been directed to the stores where all items are kept but it has no power so I have needed to carry all the items to somewhere where I can get power. There are now self powered units.
I now use a manual very simple old Robin and it is much faster then the top of the range Robin which I have also used.
One problem I had with top of range Robin is where someone forgot to log in and did a days PAT testing under someone else's ID. Using Visual Basic I was able to write a program to change this after the event but not easy.
This leads to second point records. Not much point keeping electronic records where if they are questioned the users can then say "It was not me some one must have used it without entering their code." So in spite of having all the auto log software we had to print out every report and the tester had to sign them. Only that way could we be 100% certain who had done the testing. Robin is not the only tester with ID problem AVO was the same and using Lotus suite I was able to read every ones log in password so again print and sign was only way.
With a single electrician this would not be a problem.
Boot time with top of range Robin was slow and I once decided to go for it and see how many I could do in 8 hours. I was shocked to find I was only able to do 60 tests I had expected a lot more. Using manual tester I was able to at least double this rate. Much depends on how many Class I and how many Class II and on my test nearly all were Class I. However having tried I now could not as manager accept anyone logging 300 tests in a day and I have seen claims of such high outputs. The Robin would not do that even if you re-tested the same item.
What the number of sockets has to do with PAT testing I do not know. I would have though the number of Plugs would be far more important!
The Equipment register (Form V1.1) together with Repair register and Faulty equipment register will tell you how many items are to be tested and keeping of these registers is a legal requirement under the electricity at work act although they can be stored in electronic form and first step is to view these. If in electronic form you may need to select the PAT tester able to work with the existing records!
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