Earth Leakage Clamp Meter

[The Ghost]

£189.00 and well they did say that at the show though so wasn't a complete lie!

 

[Darkwood]

I think I'm toast with a product at under £100, 3 years old?

You would be surprised what happens when they know you are fully aware of your rights, a warranty is just a no hassle exchange of goods, when that runs out you need to present your case but less than £100 quid you have to question is your time and getting it independently checked cost effective (don't let them do the checking for you, they have an interest not to pay out).

By what you describe I would replace the batteries and check for corrosion on the battery connection tabs ... the symptoms are similar to a voltage drop of the battery as it runs out, this can also be caused by corrosion if you had it on the shelf for a long time and the batteries have leaked and/or the points corroded.

 

[Loki]

I've been looking at the martindale cm69 but will now consider that megger also.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

as people have suggested already, if you can show that the item has failed before it might reasonably expected to then the maker or seller is liable to repair or replace. take a tv, if it stopped working after 13 months of day to day use then you would successfully argue that a tv in such circumstances should last much longer than that, so its clearly a defective product and as such should be replaced by the manufacturer.
I know somebody at a previous company i worked for who had a fancy phone signal tester for the mobile networks and masts, it packed up just out of warranty, in the end he bought another and swapped over the insides before sending the new body back with old circuitry and got a refund, he ended up with effectively a brand new testing trickery machine and i suspect the manufacturers never even realised!

 

[The Ghost]

consider that megger

I think navigation and the menu system is a bit obscure but megger were really good on support for the product and phoned me personally when I raised a question. Because the clamp is shielded you can put it around the two incomer tails and it works out the difference between them and bases the difference on the earth leakage on the whole installation. Indispensible when the dread call comes "My RCD keeps tripping!"

 

[Octopus]

I've got this one ............ had it about 3.5 years

Metrel MD 9272 Earth leakage clamp with Power functions - https://www.test-meter.co.uk/metrel-md-9272-trms-leakage-clamp-with-power-functions/

Not cheap, but buy once, buy wisely.

 

[Midwest]

By what you describe I would replace the batteries and check for corrosion on the battery connection tabs ... the symptoms are similar to a voltage drop of the battery as it runs out, this can also be caused by corrosion if you had it on the shelf for a long time and the batteries have leaked and/or the points corroded.

Tried different new batteries, and the terminals are shiner than a shiny thing.

 

[Midwest]

I think navigation and the menu system is a bit obscure but megger were really good on support for the product and phoned me personally when I raised a question. Because the clamp is shielded you can put it around the two incomer tails and it works out the difference between them and bases the difference on the earth leakage on the whole installation. Indispensible when the dread call comes "My RCD keeps tripping!"

I thought that's how those 'earth leakage clamps work'

 

[Midwest]

Not cheap, but buy once, buy wisely.

Nobody likes a smart arse

 

[The Ghost]

I thought that's how those 'earth leakage clamps work

Well yes, I was using them around the main earth or a funny trailing socket with the earth looped out of the flex to test on that earth. Call me stupid but...err hang on don't bother!

 

[NDG Elecs]

Unlucky Mid. Your one that carked it is the same design as all the others with different branding on them. I was looking through my old post to work out when I got the Fluke. It will be just over two years now and it hasn't missed a beat. The readings are so consistent on it too. I would defo say go for a Fluke, Megger or Metrel or similar, but then you already know that!

 

[telectrix]

just wondering why anyone who is not into S&M would want their clamp metering (or is it meter clamping).

 

[Midwest]

just wondering why anyone who is not into S&M would want their clamp metering (or is it meter clamping).

Naaahh you're thinking of posh tents.

 

[Marvo]

I've still got a Dialog clamp meter and it works fine. It's in my toolcase and I only use it once every month or two. I have a Kewtech earth leakage clamp meter as well that's in my workshop and that's also probably 5 years old, both testers are reliable and fairly accurate.

 

[Midwest]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll what's in me secret stash, under the mattress and the kids piggy bank which I hid 30 years ago. Perhaps those awfully nice people at test-meter might read this and take pity on a very poor sparkie.