Nitrile Foam Gloves and Neon Testers

[GB]

I always wear nitrile foam gloves for electrical work. It makes me feel safer and gives me extra grip as I get older and weaker.

Yesterday, my son tackled me and said that the foam conducts. And he can prove it. So, we touched one of the neon testers to live, and I lit it up, through the gloves. Slightly less bright than without the glove. But, it was definitely glowing a bit.

So, I pointed out that I was standing on a vinyl floor, on concrete, wearing rubber trainers, etc. The tester contains a resistor (although I have not found out the resistance yet - anyone know?)

So, the gloves are only a bit of the resistance in the chain. Anyone know what the gloves' resistance is? Does that reduce a lot with wear?

I'm going to continue wearing them.

[Bill Wright]

100M ohm?

Bill

[tabbypurr]

the gloves don't resist, they capacitate, or some such word.

NT

[whisky-dave]

I assume this is still for electrical work rather than anything else that might require grip.

they mention such things here.

If they are wet then that might compromised the safety aspect.

doesnt really prove much.

Couldnlt see it on my neon 'driver and the other one has a LED and I can;t see that either. No info here

Could ask the manufacter, but they might be concenred on giving advice and then something goes wrong.

[Dave Liquorice]

Some where between 1 and 10 M Ohm.

Think I'd rather have nice dry skin than a wet hand inside even a slighty conductive glove...

[Brian Gaff]

I have a feeling that a neon can be lit even by a field, ie electrostatic voltage. If the actual resistance is greater than say half a me, then even the most severe shock on home supplies is unlikely to do you any harm.

I used to use neon's with a small coil on the bottom to check transmitters were working same feet away from the aerial. You only need to strike the neon in the first place after all. Brian

[John Rumm]

I tend to wear them for lots of DIY/woodwork these days - just for the enhanced grip, and a bit of protection from splinters etc.

Worth noting that many modern foam gloves are designed to be slightly conducting so as to be touch screen compatible.

The more important question is what current can they pass. Might be interesting to test them with an insulation resistance tester...

It could reduce with sweat, which is salty and conductive.

I would not read much into what a neon screwdriver does or does not do anyway.

[John Rumm]

ok just did an experiment with some Screwfix "Dextrogrip" gloves...

With my old 500V Megger BMD1, crock clips on the leads clamped onto a bit of folded over foam at the palm of the glove, and each clip spaced a couple of mm from the other. Reading at 500V was out of range (i.e. >=

200 MOhms)

On an older well worn pair, doing the same test on a bit of the fabric of the cuff, I could get ~3 MOhms

So based on that limited experiment, not much to worry about!

[dennis]

neon testers aren't exactly safe.

none contact sticks are safer but you must test them before trusting them and maybe test them on a still live bit after checking the circuit you want to work on.

[GB]

They are the ones I favour. :)

Dave suggests not having sweaty palms, so try not to think of Pamela Anderson.