The Tool I Get The Most Negative Feedback On And Still Use Weekly

so why does the non-contact voltage tester get so much negative feedback in my electrical videos it is my go-to so i'm commonly using this to identify if the circuit is powered on or off and if i can safely go about my work whether that's a light switch an outlet a junction box pretty much any of the simple electrical projects around the house that i'm doing this is the most common tester i use and that is taken into consideration i always have an outlet tester and the non-contact voltage tester on my standard tool belt so it's really riding along every project i do and i have a multi-meter in my standard milwaukee pack out kit which is in my truck and only a short walk away from any other projects but like most of you i continue to learn so i do listen to those comments i read the comments i take them into consideration i try to bring that information together and then present it back to you guys in videos just like this one so let's review the three different issues or critiques of a non-contact vultures testers so you are aware and can make an informed decision if an ncbt is right for you or if you prefer a multimeter which is commonly the choice of a lot of professionals and at the end i'll tell you why i am still sticking with this and it's my most commonly used tester for checking a circuit if it's live or not so the first step on the three issues is what's called a false positive getting a positive sign that you have voltage from your tester where there actually isn't voltage there so it's a false positive this can obviously be very confusing the most common times that i've seen this is when you move your tester quickly around your outlet or light switch or junction box you're hitting different wires hitting different components and you might get a few intermittent positives intermittent audible alarms or the led changing for this one for the ncbt-3p i have an audible alarm and an led so i always have a green led that indicates it's on and has battery and then it would switch to red led and an audible alarm when it detects voltage now if i get a quick beep and then back that's usually because i'm moving the voltage tester quickly and i'm causing some static electricity and actually on this one it has two different voltage ranges one goes from 70 volts to 1000 volts and the other i can switch it over goes to 12 volts to 1000. so even just brushing it on this fleece so that is in the 12 to 1000 range if i go to 70 to 1000 it's not nearly as sensitive so i can brush it across my fleece and i don't get nearly as many false positives so most of the circuits that i'm testing i go from 70 to 1000 but there are certain instances that you might want to detect that lower voltage now number two out of the three is the opposite that is a false negative that is where you have a live circuit but your voltage tester reads out a okay nothing's changed it's not reading anything and you're good to go this actually can be quite a bit more dangerous and you can see why if you start to work on that circuit it's live well you can get yourself into an issue now why does this actually happen first you have to know which one you have for instance klein tools has had a few issues in the past they're ncbt 1 depending on when it was produced actually had a massive recall because if you were holding down the power button to turn it on and you were testing while you're holding it it would give you the sign that it is on but it would not be testing for a live circuit so it could be very confusing and give you that negative that you do not have a live circuit although you do have a live circuit and that can get you in trouble so just know especially if you have an ncbt-1 i'll leave a link in the description to the recall so you can see if you have one of those units that you need to replace then also i know with my old unit which was at ncbt ncbt-3 as opposed to this 3p that unit when it that unit didn't have the same always-on led so you would turn it on it would do a battery check but then it would not have this green led it would have nothing there so if you turned it on and your batteries are really low and basically the batteries went out on you you would think that you're testing but you're actually not testing and it's just the batteries are out so you would be very confused thinking you're testing and you're not getting a live circuit all the while the batteries are just dead and your and your tester is not working so that would give you a false negative and get you into a situation and number three the final one is you're probably not using this as intended it reads on all voltage testers before using test on known live circuit what does that mean so what you want to do is basically establish a data point or a baseline saying i can trust this unit i can trust the batteries i can trust the circuitry i can trust the detection the audible alarm the leds that it's working correctly because i know this outlet is on i'm going to test that it is going to show me with audible alarm or led that it is on okay i feel good about it now let me go to the circuit that i'm working on or the circuit within question so you test it first get that data point and confidence that your tester is up and running then you go to your circuit that you're testing check it get your answer whether it's off or on whatever you're looking for and then best practices actually to double back to that known circuit again and test to confirm so what you're doing there is you're basically sandwiching your test circuit around two known test points so you know that this one's live you know that this one's live and your tester reads out correctly on both and then in the middle is your actual test circuit which you need to know if it's i'm zooming off that you do not have voltage there you test that you confirm it and now you have confidence that you're good to go and you are truly following best practices that is something i've neglected to mention in the past and i'm happy to add and appreciate everybody calling that out from the numerous comments that i've gotten so those are the three issues that you need to look out for and at least be aware of while you're making a decision whether or not you're going to use a non-contact voltage tester as your main method of testing your electrical circuits around your house to safely work on those projects for me personally this is still my go-to it's extremely convenient and handy again the multimeter i do use but for the multimeter honestly the most common thing i'm checking is a continuity check so i'm checking where a wire is going i'm checking continuity across the switch if it's working correctly that's where i most commonly use my multimeter but again a lot of the licensed professionals really just go to the multimeter for confidence but one thing i would say is non-contact voltage testers do have their place there's certain scenarios that let's say you have a piece of romex in a basement or in an attic you're trying to track down which one's powered and you're just testing from the outside covering the entire outside of the non-metallic sheathing and you're finding if it's hot or not buy a non-contact voltage tester that is something a multimeter would not do so even though i know it a multimeter is kind of held up to be the the one tester that you need there are certain things that they cannot cover but again that is just my two cents i am not a licensed electrician i am a diyer with you guys trying to learn every day and try to build my knowledge and share it with you let me know what is your go to mine is the klein tools ncbt 3p i think it's a great one i really like that it has a built-in light that comes in super handy and it serves as my main flashlight most the time i know fluke also makes a solid one out there or a few different ones but let me know down in the comments which one you go with or if i miss something else is there another reason that you say no way to the non-contact voltage testers that they has no place in electrical work that you're doing and multimeter is the only way to go is there something else that needs to be known because that could put you in harm's way if there's more things coming back i will pin a comment below this video to share that with you guys as well so you can easily see comments from all the viewers that came before you now if you want another go-to on something i've added to the tool belt over the last year or so this is a milwaukee ecx number one screwdriver you wouldn't think you'd like a screwdriver so much until you get this baby check out this video right here i'll dive into it and why it's better than a phillips head or a flat head or any other screwdriver out there and it's going to help you on your projects around the house so thanks for joining me on this video and we'll catch you on that next one take care

Channel: Everyday Home Repairs

Views: 314,949

Keywords: voltage tester pen how to use, diy electrical wiring residential, everyday home repairs

Id: jl-GEsnTbX8

Length: 9min 50sec (590 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 01 2022