"Phil Allison" wrote in message
...

Ralph Mowery wrote:


That should be done with any piece of equipment. Practice with it and
learn
the odd things about them.

** As Clint Eastwood might have said: " a man's gootta know the limitations
of his test gear ... "


Where I worked there were many wires in a conduit carring 120 volt control
voltage. With a digital meter there was so much induced voltage you could
not tell if a wire was really active or not. You had to put some kind of a
load on them. YOu could take an analog meter and start with a high
voltage
range and then switch to a lower range. If the meter stayed in the same
or
near the same physical position, it was just showing the induced voltage.
Even with a wire disconnected at each end,it would still shock the crap
out
of you due to that voltage.


** Electricians once regularly used 40W bulbs in a protected, hand held
fittings to test if circuits were live - see pic.

https://img1.etsystatic.com/068/0/63...18127_nbxf.jpg

The AC plug was replaced with two probes in the examples I saw.

I guess it was important to test the bulb before each use ...


.... Phil

Sure was, then there was the 2 15w pilot lamp bulbs wired in series for the
3 phase stuff (Hi - tech)!!
Along came the "Wiggy" which was more robust,
http://www.ebay.com/bhp/wiggy-voltage-tester
The important part was that the tester was putting a load on the circuit
where neon testers and digital
testers don't.