Hi,
I want to buy a socket tester like the ones on
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
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.
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 =A320-ish to =A340-ish. I'd see this as a worthwhile addition.
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. That makes it particularly handy for when working alone and you want to test that you have energised/deenergised the right circuit from a distance etc.
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. The Martindale EZ650 is a bit more versatile since it give more results bands, which are enough to verify adequate operation, although not enough to actually do useful sums with the result.
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 ? :-))
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.
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.
Jim K
Indeed. The Martindale EZ150 is well worth the £40ish it costs.
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:HTH DaveyOz
Que?
The Sok32 does have audible tones...
Do you ever check them before you change them?
Always.
Came from Maplin for about £10.
Hmm, well it looks like mine the picture, but mine makes no noise...
hang on there is a photo of it on the wiki:
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!
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
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