Harry Bloomfield wrote:

current passes through your body to ground. Problem - you may not always
be at ground potential so it may not light up or lights up dimly. So one
finger on the top and make sure you are touching something else with a
reasonable ground on it.

To be fair, you probably have enough free electrons floating about in
you alone to look like a plenty good enough earth to one of these things.

Problem 2 - if the neon should become damp or faulty internally, you may
be electrocuted.

The contact area of the stud at the top of the driver is probably small
enough to not represent a direct electrocution risk, although you could
get a nasty shock off it.

Problem 3 - They are dim and may not be be seen, which may lead you to
believe something is dead when it is not.

This is probably the most frequent failing...

Solution - Don't use it, buy a volt stick which responds to the field
around a live cable and no current needs to flow through you. But test
it before every use.

Yup, good plan.

--
Cheers,

John.

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