Idiot Light Tester (3 Bulb)

First picture of tester at washer outlet with washer pluged in.
Second picture of same outlet with washer unpluged.
???:roll:

This one is easy

Ground is being supplied by the washer

rlb

Be careful with any of the circuit testers when something else is plugged in. As RLB said: the washer is supplying the ground.

That is what I thought I just do not see all three lights that often.:smiley:
1950’s house and quite a few open grounds and nuetrals and hot’s reversed.

I really think we should be using a more sofisticated tester than the old $7.96 tester in Home Depot.

This same problem exists at any socket on a string of sockets

They can test good when the are not based on something that might be pluged in at some other socket on the string

rlb

I have a $100.00 flashlight and a $300.00 ladder.:smiley:

You got me beat on the ladder. I have a $100.00 folding ladder and a $225.00 28 foot ladder. WAIT an minute. That means I have you beat.

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/inspectortool_1936_14696765

http://nachi.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=684&d=1137986396

Since my 3 bulb tester told me they needed an electrician, what would the Tri-Corder pictured have told me? To capitalise Electrician?:smiley:

Brian,

William asked for a much more sophisticated tester, so I posted one.

If you feel an Electrician is needed on a specific building, simply recommend one.

William made a statement about a more sofisticated (sic) tester.
I asked a question about what the tester pictured would have told me that the 3 bulb tester did not .:smiley:
If you feel the need to answer statements instead of questions…:wink:

David I currently do not own a sure test and have recently been considering one. I tell what I’ll start a new thread debating the the two and see what comes of it.

I think there is more to it than that. The first picture indicates a hot/neutral reverse, the second picture shows all three lamps lit. For all three lamps to be lit there has to be voltage present on both slots. Like maybe a bootleg ground in conjunction with a compromised neutral connection. All three lamps will light evenly when 240 is present, but it appears that only the middle lamp is bright in the second pic.

Now I can’t wait till Sunday when I will try to duplicate that test on my workbench.

Brian, was the center lamp brighter or is it just the photo?

Brian, what kind of flashlight do you use? I am a serious flashlight nut. These are my favorites, I keep an E1 in my pocket at all times, small as a roll of lifesavers, more power than a 4-D cell light. www.surefire.com

They’re only $4.95 at Home Depot here. Finally, we have something here in San Diego that’s cheaper than the rest of the country. Yahoooooooooooo!

I use the $4.95 tester for 10 of my 12 inspection types. I use a SureTest $249 tester for my PREMIUM and TECH inspections.

ROTFLMAO. :mrgreen:

Brian
I asked this same question a few months ago…and got pretty much the same answer…get a Sure Test meter.
It seems that someone with a Sure test or equivalent…may have run into this concern with their basic tester…then pulled out the sure test to see what it read. ? or not?
Any how it would be interesting to know. Especially since when you disconnected the washing machine, then all three lights were on.

I don’t think the fancy sure test would have told you what this is either,
but the sure test is magical, it will make cash disappear from your wallet.:smiley: