Hi,

I want to buy a socket tester like the ones on
http://www.pat-services.co.uk/socket...35.html?page=2 and am
interested to know which is the best and most versatile type available
in the UK market ? Price is not the main consideration, but if all
the bells and whistles are just stupid gimmicks then obviously I don't
want to throw money away.

Reason for buying is to try to save paying a Sparkie for the stuff I
can do myself and also (tbh) just to play with :-)

Thanks,

Mike

I should say that I run a SW contracting company and can probably
justify putting it through the books so would prefer professional
grade kit rather than a disposable toy.

Thanks again,

Mike

On Wed, 25 Aug 2010 02:14:44 -0700 (PDT), Mike wrote:

Reason for buying is to try to save paying a Sparkie for the stuff I
can do myself and also (tbh) just to play with :-)

A socket tester won't enable you to issue certificates or test
installations. If you are an itinerant worker and have to connect to
mains supplies in many and possibly dubious (wiring wise...) places
then a socket tester may let you know that there is a problem with
that particular socket.

Martindale have a good reputation.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 25 Aug, 10:14, Mike wrote:

I want to buy a socket tester like the ones on http://www.pat-services.co..uk/socke...35.html?page=2

Those things are great for checking topology (wires connected, and
connected to the right places), but they don't give a quantitative
measurement. So you'll discover swapped L&N, or disconnected earths,
but you won't know the impedance of that earth, or what currents the
circuit is fused or RCD-protected to.

A couple of them are now claiming to roughly measure earth loop
impedance, with a price that's climbed from £20-ish to £40-ish. I'd
see this as a worthwhile addition.

On 25 Aug, 13:40, John Rumm wrote:

Its debatable whether having a loop impedance check is worthwhile on
most of the lower end ones, since none of them actually have a way of
displaying the actual measurement, but only give a go/nogo or possibly
go/maybe/nogo indication. *

I don't see these things as being useful for sparkies, so much as for
gig roadies. The question isn't "Is this dubious piece of soggy wiring
up to standard?" but rather "The pub manager assures me this socket is
earthed, are they lying before I plug in the bassist?"

On Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:38:39 -0700 (PDT), Andy Dingley
wrote:


I don't see these things as being useful for sparkies, so much as for
gig roadies. The question isn't "Is this dubious piece of soggy wiring
up to standard?" but rather "The pub manager assures me this socket is
earthed, are they lying before I plug in the bassist?"

Would the neighbours care ? :-))

Andy Dingley wrote:
On 25 Aug, 13:40, John Rumm wrote:

Its debatable whether having a loop impedance check is worthwhile on
most of the lower end ones, since none of them actually have a way of
displaying the actual measurement, but only give a go/nogo or possibly
go/maybe/nogo indication.

I don't see these things as being useful for sparkies, so much as for
gig roadies. The question isn't "Is this dubious piece of soggy wiring
up to standard?" but rather "The pub manager assures me this socket is
earthed, are they lying before I plug in the bassist?"

Indeed. You need to know which wont trip the RCD when you plug the
bassist in. Its less of an issue if you simply want to plug his amps in.

John Rumm wrote:
On 25/08/2010 16:38, Andy Dingley wrote:
On 25 Aug, 13:40, John wrote:

Its debatable whether having a loop impedance check is worthwhile on
most of the lower end ones, since none of them actually have a way
of displaying the actual measurement, but only give a go/nogo or
possibly go/maybe/nogo indication.

I don't see these things as being useful for sparkies, so much as for
gig roadies. The question isn't "Is this dubious piece of soggy
wiring up to standard?" but rather "The pub manager assures me this
socket is earthed, are they lying before I plug in the bassist?"

I would say they are useful, but they are not a replacement for proper
test gear.

I find mine very useful for the 'not covered by part P' stuff that I do,
mainly to double check what I've done. I 'know' I've wired up the
replacement socket properly, but it never hurts to double check.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On Aug 25, 6:23 pm, "The Medway Handyman" davidl...@no-spam-
blueyonder.co.uk wrote:

I find mine very useful for the 'not covered by part P' stuff that I do,
mainly to double check what I've done. I 'know' I've wired up the
replacement socket properly, but it never hurts to double check.

which one ya got Dave?

Jim K

Andy Dingley wrote:
On 25 Aug, 10:14, Mike wrote:

I want to buy a socket tester like the ones on
http://www.pat-services.co.uk/socket...35.html?page=2

Those things are great for checking topology (wires connected, and
connected to the right places), but they don't give a quantitative
measurement. So you'll discover swapped L&N, or disconnected earths,
but you won't know the impedance of that earth, or what currents the
circuit is fused or RCD-protected to.

A couple of them are now claiming to roughly measure earth loop
impedance, with a price that's climbed from £20-ish to £40-ish. I'd
see this as a worthwhile addition.

Indeed. The Martindale EZ150 is well worth the £40ish it costs.
--
Adam

Mike wrote:
Hi,

I want to buy a socket tester like the ones on
http://www.pat-services.co.uk/socket...35.html?page=2 and am
interested to know which is the best and most versatile type available
in the UK market ? Price is not the main consideration, but if all
the bells and whistles are just stupid gimmicks then obviously I don't
want to throw money away.

Reason for buying is to try to save paying a Sparkie for the stuff I
can do myself and also (tbh) just to play with :-)

Thanks,

Mike

I have a old Martindale with neons, which has the advantage of being
"instant".

I also have a Socket & See LED/Audible one which is nice, but takes a
few seconds to give its verdict. If you are testing
every-socket-in-the-fecking-building (particularly if you are checking
every socket outlet on a 20-way mains distribution strip), the Socket &
See is annoyingly slow compared with the classic Martindale.

The Socket & See identifies more faults than the old Martindale, but the
sixty four thousand dollar gotcha is that NONE of these devices can
detect a neutral/earth swap as a single fault. Now fortunately, an RCD
always detects a neutral/earth swap, so if you plug (say) an inspection
lamp into each socket as well as the socket tester, you get a more
reliable result (provided, of course that the socket is RCD protected).
Of course, if you build yourself a go-nogo RCD tripper as well*, this
can give you even more confidence.

*or buy one of these:

http://www.pat-services.co.uk/socket...ester-1161.htm


Note that Martindale has changed the design over the years. My old one
has "two outside neons lit = OK", whereas the newer ones have "all three
neons lit = OK" so it pays to check *every time* you use one of these
things that you are familiar with the pattern of lights for "it's all good".


HTH
DaveyOz

John Rumm wrote:
On 25/08/2010 10:14, Mike wrote:
Hi,

I want to buy a socket tester like the ones on
http://www.pat-services.co.uk/socket...35.html?page=2 and am
interested to know which is the best and most versatile type available
in the UK market ? Price is not the main consideration, but if all
the bells and whistles are just stupid gimmicks then obviously I don't
want to throw money away.

Reason for buying is to try to save paying a Sparkie for the stuff I
can do myself and also (tbh) just to play with :-)

I have the SOK32 off that page and find it very good. It was the best
they did at the time IIRC. However if I were buying again, I would go
for one like the SOK34 since it has audible tones.

Que?

The Sok32 does have audible tones...

The Medway Handyman wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
On 25/08/2010 16:38, Andy Dingley wrote:
On 25 Aug, 13:40, John wrote:

Its debatable whether having a loop impedance check is worthwhile
on most of the lower end ones, since none of them actually have a
way of displaying the actual measurement, but only give a go/nogo
or possibly go/maybe/nogo indication.

I don't see these things as being useful for sparkies, so much as
for gig roadies. The question isn't "Is this dubious piece of soggy
wiring up to standard?" but rather "The pub manager assures me this
socket is earthed, are they lying before I plug in the bassist?"

I would say they are useful, but they are not a replacement for
proper test gear.

I find mine very useful for the 'not covered by part P' stuff that I
do, mainly to double check what I've done. I 'know' I've wired up the
replacement socket properly, but it never hurts to double check.

Do you ever check them before you change them?

--
Adam

ARWadsworth wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
On 25/08/2010 16:38, Andy Dingley wrote:
On 25 Aug, 13:40, John wrote:

Its debatable whether having a loop impedance check is worthwhile
on most of the lower end ones, since none of them actually have a
way of displaying the actual measurement, but only give a go/nogo
or possibly go/maybe/nogo indication.

I don't see these things as being useful for sparkies, so much as
for gig roadies. The question isn't "Is this dubious piece of soggy
wiring up to standard?" but rather "The pub manager assures me this
socket is earthed, are they lying before I plug in the bassist?"

I would say they are useful, but they are not a replacement for
proper test gear.

I find mine very useful for the 'not covered by part P' stuff that I
do, mainly to double check what I've done. I 'know' I've wired up
the replacement socket properly, but it never hurts to double check.

Do you ever check them before you change them?

Always.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

Jim K wrote:
On Aug 25, 6:23 pm, "The Medway Handyman" davidl...@no-spam-
blueyonder.co.uk wrote:

I find mine very useful for the 'not covered by part P' stuff that I
do, mainly to double check what I've done. I 'know' I've wired up
the replacement socket properly, but it never hurts to double check.

which one ya got Dave?

Came from Maplin for about £10.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:59:00 +0100, The Medway Handyman wrote:

I find mine very useful for the 'not covered by part P' stuff that I
do, mainly to double check what I've done. I 'know' I've wired up
the replacement socket properly, but it never hurts to double check.

Do you ever check them before you change them?

Always.

Well worth doing. I was about to change a single for a double, pulled the
fuse and replaced then pulled it again it to check that the radio went
off-on-off, started on the socket and blew the end off a screwdriver.
Closer inspection of th CU showed L and N reversed so that all fuses were
on N!
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

The SOK36 has 3 LED, labelled bizarrely "Good - Check - Urgent Check".
The 3 types of supply in the UK are TN-C-S (PME), TNS & TT with EFLI
of 0.35ohm 0.80ohm and 200ohm respectively. Unfortunately the LED
does not correspond well with those figures and indeed I recall would
give a Red "Urgent Check" for a TT supply.

To the OP:
I would instead put £50 towards an IR (w/continuity) tester and RCD
tester.
Eg, Socket & See IR tester or Robin 3050DL 3075DL, Socket & See RCD
tester or Megger RCDT320.

Good IR testers will tell you if voltage present. Good RCD testers
will tell you polarity (and refuse to do the test if wrong), plus
voltage frequency & any voltage present on the CPC/Earth.

RCD testers have two key attributes - they check it tripped at the
right current & time.
A recent 100A MEM 30mA tripped at 57mA but within the correct time,
another admittedly ancient Wylex tripped at 27mA but too slow (780ms,
but would pass on a plug-in tester).

To TMH:
You may want to pick up an RCD tester to test RCDs and particularly
plug-in RCDs, although you probably carry your own plug-in RCD re site
work?

RCD failure rate is about 7% or so, if you move from 1-RCD to all RCBO
the probability of a failure increases markedly. I have had 1 failure,
there have been a few recalls of MCB & RCBO/RCD over the past decade
and component quality is vulnerable to cost-cutting & fraud.

BS7671 does necessitate an EFLI tester:
You can enquire Ze from the DNO re supply type. You can calculate Zs
from measuring R1+R2 and adding to Ze. The OnSiteGuide gives 80% EFLI
figures for each circuit breaker type (B C D) & rating (6A 20A 32A).
You can check bonding 0.05ohms via the IR Continuity scale (200mA
test current).

EFLI testers are of dubious value. Low current tests can pass rotten
SWA. Low current tester algorithms can be very sensitive to
fluorescent lights on nearby MCB. High current testers can require
bridging out of RCD/RCBO which is messy. Simpler to make up an R2
wander lead, use an SS130 (think that is right) plug in 4mm socket
tester and so on. EFLI testers are thus best for lots of point-to-
point testing with data-logging, even then a visual check can pick up
a loose earth terminal much better. Same goes for visual check rather
than relying on IR tests - air is a perfect insulator even if all the
insulation falls off at the terminals re overheated PVC/PE & TRS.

wow. so much to learn.
Im an experienced electricians mate studying L2 at my local college...
:-(

wrote:
wow. so much to learn.
Im an experienced electricians mate studying L2 at my local college...
:-(


Learning to read dates and realising that you're replying to a 6 and a half
year old message would be a good start.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

On 30/01/2017 22:45, Tim+ wrote:
wrote:
wow. so much to learn.
Im an experienced electricians mate studying L2 at my local college...
:-(


Learning to read dates and realising that you're replying to a 6 and a half
year old message would be a good start.

In this case, probably no harm in responding to it, but quoting the
original message so that we have some idea what was being discussed back
then might have helped!

(I had to go look it up on google since I did not recognise the thread -
and I was even a contributor to it back then!)


--
Cheers,

John.

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