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[Dennis Wiggins]

I just wanted a small rugged meter that I could pull out, an jam into a outlet to see if it has some where near 120 VAC...

I bought 2 of these for that purpose:

Amazon Walmeck DM55-1 AC 80-300V LCD Digital Volt Meter Voltmeter US Plug Electric Pen Meters
Brand: Walmeck
4.7 out of 5 stars    15 ratings
Price:   $10.39 & FREE Shipping

Readable in broad daylight and pitch dark.  "Rugged" is how you handle it.  The blades don't wiggle.  It feels solid to me.

[Tim McCulloch]

Wiggs, that's what I use in my RV to monitor voltage, also serves as a night light.

I have one in my house, too.

[Frank DeWitt]

Yikes.

According to the HD page: CAT II 135V safety rating

So if you plug it into a NEMA 5-15 that someone has wired for 240V, it will be toasted? Hopefully it won't blow up in your hand.

The outlet isn't rated for 240 so that would blow up long before the tester got to it. 

[Kevin Graf]

The outlet isn't rated for 240 so that would blow up long before the tester got to it.

No it won't. Receptacles and wires have a very large margin between their rated voltage and their failure voltage.

[John Roberts {JR}]

No it won't. Receptacles and wires have a very large margin between their rated voltage and their failure voltage.

But it is obviously best practice to use correct parts.

JR

[Frank DeWitt]

No it won't. Receptacles and wires have a very large margin between their rated voltage and their failure voltage.

That's good to know. Perhaps there is some hope that the meter wont blow up either.

[John Roberts {JR}]

That's good to know. Perhaps there is some hope that the meter wont blow up either.

In the internet spirit of too much information, voltage is only part of it, current is also very important.

Outlets and wires generally fail from overheating (i.e. too much current) they will only suffer over voltage problems from extremely high voltages. A spark plug gap is only tens of thousandths of an inch wide and requires thousands of volts to jump that gap.

JR

[Frank DeWitt]

But wait, There's more
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-Digital-30-250V-Test-Meter/1001799404



It is useless for 3 phase.

[John Roberts {JR}]

But wait, There's more
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-Digital-30-250V-Test-Meter/1001799404



It is useless for 3 phase.

it is also useless for RPBG...

yet another variant on the old flawed 3 lamp testers.

The GFCI test is just a shunt to trip the GFCI breaker, the VOM is apparently pretty cheap these days.

JR

[Frank DeWitt]

[ProSoundWeb Community]