"Jim Gregory" <jim.greg@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:oPv%j.24202$SA7.578@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> "wb" <archangele66@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
> news:8beda$483df4f3$4b5916bd$29945@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Hi,
>>
>> When I was a kid in the 60's I distinctly remember measuring the
line
>> voltage at the wall sockets with my Simpson 260 and it measured 117 -
120
>> volts AC. I measure pretty much the same where I am now. Line voltages
>> vary from place to place. the voltages have been called 120, 115, 117
and
>> 110 in my lifetime. 220 has been called 220, 230 and 240.
>> I always check outlets in at least a couple places when I move into
a
>> new house. One thing that will make me check every outlet is if they
are
>> in upside down (single ground hole up, two long thin holes down). Every
>> now and then I run into an electrician who puts all the sockets in
upside
>> down, claiming that 'if a knife or some thin object fell down the wall,
>> it would not cause a short. Uh DUUUH! like there isn't a 50 50 chance
it
>> is going to slide the wrong way and short ground to hot?
>> Usually, these guy's work is ass backwards. It gets real hinky when
they
>> do 220. Your plugs are hanging upside down with the cord dropping off
the
>> wall at an odd angle and out into the room or appliance's back.
>> Kind of like a plumber who puts the hot water control on the right.
>> It works, but it is clumsy at best to use. Anyway, the only time I have
>> seen hot and neutral reversed is when I came across sockets that were
>> installed upside down.
>> You are correct in that they sell real cheap testers which can save
>> you a lot of headaches by alerting you to improper wiring.
>
> The UK BS1363 13-Amp socket checkers/testers I remember are plug-ins
made
> by
> Martindale (also by others) and any faults are interpreted by observing
> the wrong on/off combinations derived from 3 neons (all should be lit if
> OK).
>
> Still around...Maybe just over a tenner nowadays.
> There is a buzzer-too model.
> http://www.martindale-electric.co.uk/sockets.htm
> Jim
>
Very im****tant postscript re BS1363 socket-checkers ---
Having turned off mains supply first, run out a [thick] 4th wire
referenced
from the mains-supply inlet armour [or real] earth - and measure/compare
it,
in milliohms, with the centre pin of any 3-pole socket or of 'bonded'
metalwork, to prove that each latter is earthed!! Also, while the same
installed sockets, etc are still unpowered, the Neutral pole should
measure
close in low resistance measurement to the 4th wire.
Each 3-pole socket-checker has this one limitation. Never assume an
unfamiliar outlet is properly earthed (grounded).
Jim
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