The Finest Meter Test Leads I Have Ever Used

[MEXICOWANDERER]

OLDAKER TEST LEADS. These things make Fluke and other test leads look like they were manufactured in Ethiopia. Extra long length. Hardened STAINLESS STEEL tips that are as sharp as a hypodermic needle. 18-gauge tin plated high strand count copper conductors. Unless a person can screw up a bowling ball with a feather duster, these leads will last many many years and make testing pleasurable, even with a Harbor Freight cheap DMM. The pins are universal. I give these leads SIX STARS. The highest rating in my book. They are also available in SILICONE

OLDAKER TEST LEADS

[MEXICOWANDERER]

ktmrfs wrote:

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
The only inductive voltage "measurement" devices I have ever seen were detectors warning of the presence of an electromagnetic field. Either the field met pre-set threshold value or it didn't. High Voltage to me means the magic 14 foot corona limit on standard networks. Hotstick and "High-Voltage" is an oxymoron. Especially for the guy on the end of the stick 😉

there are a few around, mostly using optical sensing devices that just happen to be sensitive to an electric field. However they were designed specifcally for measuring high voltage transmission lines with lots of constraints on how they could be used. But again extremely specialized and don't think there was any big use of them.

I spent several years off and on working with optical sensing circuits for electric fields seeing if there was a way to use them to get any repeatable quantitative voltage measurements on traces on a circuit board without making electrical contact. to many issues about surrounding fields to ever get anything remotely useable.

All it yielded was a slew of patents for other optical applications that fell out of the work.

Maybe someday in the future a smarter mind and new technology will prevail.

In 1973 I went after a PhD by creating a project LASER HOLOGRAPHIC PROJECTION OF ELECTOMAGNETIC FIELDS. It meant investing a few hundred hours of programming and a Cray 2 computer. I had neither. But I was treated to a very long and detailed "discussion" about the project with Lawrence Livermore Labs. Lots of interest, then all of a sudden the feasibility / financial issue raised its ugly head and things got mired. I threw a fit, left MIT and decided to become a true Frankenstein engineer. At that I succeeded. I do not do well in a corporate environment. When I informed Lockheed their employment bulletin in the L.A. Times, the "desired PhD qualifications" revealed the nature of their research (H and Y Wave Optical Research) as in aeronautical usage of coatings designed to change and make the bottom of the craft mimic the color and texture of the atmosphere above it - I was paid a surprise and quite rude visit by the DIA.

Trying to discern voltage (as against flux density) of an EMF is something that I would love to attempt today if I could convince my body and cardiac system to shed forty years.

[wittmeba]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
...Unless a person can screw up a bowling ball with a feather duster...

I love it! 🙂

[2112]

I inherited a pair of those leads when I hired on to my current job in 1988. They are nice. The only difference is mine have the banana plugs. Some young up-&-coming engineer will inherit them from me when I retire some day!

[ktmrfs]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
The only inductive voltage "measurement" devices I have ever seen were detectors warning of the presence of an electromagnetic field. Either the field met pre-set threshold value or it didn't. High Voltage to me means the magic 14 foot corona limit on standard networks. Hotstick and "High-Voltage" is an oxymoron. Especially for the guy on the end of the stick 😉

there are a few around, mostly using optical sensing devices that just happen to be sensitive to an electric field. However they were designed specifcally for measuring high voltage transmission lines with lots of constraints on how they could be used. But again extremely specialized and don't think there was any big use of them.

I spent several years off and on working with optical sensing circuits for electric fields seeing if there was a way to use them to get any repeatable quantitative voltage measurements on traces on a circuit board without making electrical contact. to many issues about surrounding fields to ever get anything remotely useable.

All it yielded was a slew of patents for other optical applications that fell out of the work.

Maybe someday in the future a smarter mind and new technology will prevail.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Adhesive lined heat shrink tubing "versus" liquid tape?

Totally different products for totally different applications. Boiled down it amounts to "this" in real life...

When a pinprick hole is made in a wire insulation to test for voltage, the pinprick can be effectively sealed environmentally and leakage wise by dabbing on a bit of the acrylic sealant. Packard-type OEM sockets and plugs that pass 10 amperes or more of current are especially susceptible to failure. This is why most newer vehicle pass wire harnesses straight through a firewall without using a junction or terminals at the firewall barrier.

Someone wants me to find out why their slide out does not slide. Within 15 seconds or so I find one of the terminals affixed to the motor is not affixed to the copper strands inside the terminal. I have a toad that "had" an instrument panel power problem. I found the negative wire terminal that attached to the instrument panel edge card connection was leaning on its shovel. Power at the edge card, but not continuing on to negative. I wanted to know WHERE the problem was. EXACTLY. The edge card connector to wire connection was bad. Without piercing insulation I would still be scratching my ***.

I still have a Plumb chisel to scrape through frame gunk, and 90 grit emery to sand through corrosion.

BY THE WAY. I have informed (I forgot how many) electrician mechanics to make up a MAGNET with a hook-to-point to make your own ground attachment point on a flat ferrous surface. Scrape. Clank. Connect. Ground.

BTW a particular brand and type of heat shrink tubing is so far superior to "#2" that it's a joke. Sold by ICO RALLY the "HIM" 3 to 1 shrink tubing is as far as I am concerned the Rolls Royce of shrink tubing. The meltable adhesive liner is freakin' strong. And the tubing itself is HARDER to cut (damage) than even cross link poly-olefin wire. ICO RALLY HIM is remarkable stuff. The company is in Palo Alto, California.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

The only inductive voltage "measurement" devices I have ever seen were detectors warning of the presence of an electromagnetic field. Either the field met pre-set threshold value or it didn't. High Voltage to me means the magic 14 foot corona limit on standard networks. Hotstick and "High-Voltage" is an oxymoron. Especially for the guy on the end of the stick 😉

[ktmrfs]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:

RandACampin wrote:
They are good leads but not the best. They do have strength, and are a high quality lead. There is at least on flaw in them, and yes I do use them. The large finger guard on the end makes it impossible to get into tight spaces. They are a good lead though.

Here ya go hoss. Oldaker is a USA company so they understand issues with test lead function...

Believe it or not it's UL that has pretty much dictated the use of the finger guards. When I worked on a project designing a high quality DMM, one requirement was it had to meet U.L requirements since many of our customers required UL certification. And once voltages get above about 40V, U.L gets there fingers in the pot. About the only way to meet some of the isolation requirements for the user was to put finger guards on the probes.

I suspect that any DMM leadsets sold that meet U.L will have finger guards.

And notice that the old exposed banana plug on the probes is also gone. It's now usually recessed into a shrouded connector. Again, necessary to meet U.L. and in reality probably not a bad thing. You don't want the probe coming loose from the DMM when connected to a hot lead and have an exposed banana plug dangling around!!

[ktmrfs]

Argosy24 wrote:
A clamp meter will check voltage and current in a wire WITHOUT leads, simply put it around the wire.

current yes, IF you can get it around one of the conductors. around both conductors in the circuit path and it will read zero, since it reads the sum of the currents and they are 180degrees out of phase and cancel.

Good once currents are in the amps. If your talking milliamps or even 10's of milliamps, it takes a good current probe accy hooked to a good scope to do accurate current measurements.

Voltage???? I'm not aware of any accurate clamp on voltmeter. Yes, it is theoretically possible, but not practical. to many issues around the surrounding fields, ground planes, other conductors that make is pretty impractical.

Yes, a good clamp on amp meter with a decent hall device and circuit coupled with a decent low frequency core is VERY Handy and often my first tool, can give great qualitative results and determine if further investigation is needed.

Yes, clamp on voltage meters for high voltage transmissions systems have been built and are in use, but pretty specialized.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

RandACampin wrote:
They are good leads but not the best. They do have strength, and are a high quality lead. There is at least on flaw in them, and yes I do use them. The large finger guard on the end makes it impossible to get into tight spaces. They are a good lead though.

Here ya go hoss. Oldaker is a USA company so they understand issues with test lead function...

[mlts22]

How does the Liquid Tape spray compare to using heat shrink tubing?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Solly Cholly but if you work around enough automotive electricals, long enough you soon learn that the CONNECTION from termination to wire can degrade causing all kinds of problems, like walking home instead of driving. Now a backyard grease monkey may simply jab a wire but a genuine technician finishes the job - correctly.

This stuff when spritzed on a Q-tip works fine for many years of protection. Enough time to allow the motor vehicle to wear itself out to the point of utter exhaustion and get towed to the crusher.

[Argosy24]

A clamp meter will check voltage and current in a wire WITHOUT leads, simply put it around the wire.

[filthy_beast]

Argosy24 wrote:

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Pierce wire insulation? "Shirley You Jest".

Piercing the insulation is one of the worst things you can do when testing. Eventually it will bite you and be all but impossible to find and a difficult repair.

Vehicles manufacturers have gone to great lengths over the years to seal the entire electrical system because of corrosion problems. Even a tiny hole will be the weak point in the insulation for eventual failure.

Clamp meters will check for voltage and current, AC and DC, in wiring without damage. If you do your own repairs they've gotten cheap enough one should be part of your tools.

You still need leads to check voltages and resistance.