using metrel mi3000 to do ring continuity test

[MarkieSparkie]

Metrel are a Slovenian company. Slovenia did not join the EU until 2007 and therefore need to comply with European harmonised cable colours in their home market (where the live phase of a single phase supply was black previously). As already stated above all Metrel test leads produced by the factory post 2007 now comply with the harmonised colours.

 

[GB.Kayak]

what issues are you having with the software?

I can download data from the meter to the EuroLink ProPlus, but once there I cannot create an EICR against downloaded data. Are you using EuroLink 'successfully'?

GB

 

[GB.Kayak]

Nonsense. I have a Metrel MFT mate, what you're supposed to do is plug the green lead into the blue lead and put your probes on the end of that and the black lead. This enables continuity readings to be taken on L N and CPC. Do you honestly think that Metrel are going to make a meter that requires you to buy something made by another manufacturer for their kit to work properly? They'd be throwing money away wouldn't they

trev,

Thanks for the tip, was that in the manual that I barely skim read ... always pays to read the instructions! Sorry for teaching a spot of egg sucking! However, if as I needed to do over Christmas some investigations to find a broken CPC on a RFC without removing all the faceplates, quite a few on a single RFC in a 3 bed Victorian terrace, I could not use the 3-pin test lead for the purpose. This as I understand it was what ben was asking.

Yours Aye

GB

 

[GB.Kayak]

Are you sure about this, my Eurotest uses L + CPC to do continuity.

Have you downloaded the "full user guide" as the silly little one in the box is useless!

M,

Thanks, but sure the MI3002 uses L-N for continuity.

Yours Aye

GB

 

[trev]

trev,

Thanks for the tip, was that in the manual that I barely skim read ... always pays to read the instructions! Sorry for teaching a spot of egg sucking! However, if as I needed to do over Christmas some investigations to find a broken CPC on a RFC without removing all the faceplates, quite a few on a single RFC in a 3 bed Victorian terrace, I could not use the 3-pin test lead for the purpose. This as I understand it was what ben was asking.

Yours Aye

GB

It's not the way I read Ben's question GB but maybe he'll come and clear things up.
In order to find a broken conductor on an RFC you need to split the circuit in it's approximate mid point then work back or forward from there. You'll need the green and blue leads together and the crocs on the end of that and the black/brown one. This is why Metrel MFts are supplied with the plug in lead and the black/brown+blue+green lead, probes and crocs.

 

[GB.Kayak]

imago,

However, if customer has requested minimal disturbance to newly plastered walls and I remove every socket faceplate, one RFC in a 3 bed Victorian terrace, I am not going to be flavour of the month. I wanted to link L-CPC from one end of the RFC at the CU and do R1+R2 around the ring until it went open circuit. Then just for good measure link the L-CPC on the other end of the ring and repeat to locate the dodgy socket(s) before opening them up to find out why there was no CPC continuity.

Yours Aye

GB

 

[GB.Kayak]

It's not the way I read Ben's question GB but maybe he'll come and clear things up.
In order to find a broken conductor on an RFC you need to split the circuit in it's approximate mid point then work back or forward from there. You'll need the green and blue leads together and the crocs on the end of that and the black/brown one. This is why Metrel MFts are supplied with the plug in lead and the black/brown+blue+green lead, probes and crocs.

trev,

Splitting the ring at an approximate midpoint is a bit like pinning the tail on a donkey on a single RFC serving the whole house. Also the customer had expressly requested minimum disturbance; hence the 3-pin plug approach.

GB

 

[trev]

Well it's the way I was taught during my apprenticeship mate, what's your method?

 

[imago]

imago,

However, if customer has requested minimal disturbance to newly plastered walls and I remove every socket faceplate, one RFC in a 3 bed Victorian terrace, I am not going to be flavour of the month. I wanted to link L-CPC from one end of the RFC at the CU and do R1+R2 around the ring until it went open circuit. Then just for good measure link the L-CPC on the other end of the ring and repeat to locate the dodgy socket(s) before opening them up to find out why there was no CPC continuity.

Yours Aye

GB

Why/how would taking off a socket front cause disturbance? I don't get a plasterer in everytime I have an outlet off!

 

[Elmer BeFuddled]

I read this somewhere, possibly here, and copied it to pc. May be of use, although I've not tried it myself (waiting to be home alone!!)

Remove all the plugs from the sockets in the circuit.

Remove one leg only of the offending component /circuit at the CU (perhaps an earth), then go round with a typical three neon socket tester and find out at which point you go from earth fault to a good reading or vice versa.

Then re-connect the removed leg and remove the other leg and do the same in the opposite direction.

You will narrow down the fault in no time.

If the fault is within an FCU on the ring main, you will also be able to narrow this down too.

Repeat for other problematic lines on the circuit.

 

[Geordie Spark]

Hi all

Just got a metrel mi3000. Was using it today to test a new cu job. But I'm confused...when I do continuity tests on a ring I can do tests on the crossed line and neutral using the plug adaptor but I can't use the plug adapter to do test on crossed earth and line!?
This means I have to open up the socket and use the probes.
Am I missing something. Is there a way of changing the setting so that it tests between line and earth?
Any thoughts? Cheers.

Aye well ........... that's where you went wrong innit. You should have got yourself a Metrel 61557 like mine - it does all the tests nee bothaman ...... I was using it yesterday to give a mate a hand with testing his hoose and it worked just champion man!!!

Wor Trev's got the same meter & he has nee botha an'all.

 

[trev]

Aye well ........... that's where you went wrong innit. You should have got yourself a Metrel 61557 like mine - it does all the tests nee bothaman ...... I was using it yesterday to give a mate a hand with testing his hoose and it worked just champion man!!!

Wor Trev's got the same meter & he has nee botha an'all.

That's because we know how to use it mate

 

[Elmer BeFuddled]

Aye well ........... that's where you went wrong innit. You should have got yourself a Metrel 61557 like mine - it does all the tests nee bothaman ...... I was using it yesterday to give a mate a hand with testing his hoose and it worked just champion man!!!

Wor Trev's got the same meter & he has nee botha an'all.

Hang on. I'll just grab me copy of 'Larn Yersel' Geordie' from the study!

 

[GB.Kayak]

Elmer,

That is similar to what I was proposing to do but without a three neon circuit tester I could not use this method. As stated above if I were to connect L-CPC at the CU and then use a 3-pin plug lead on the meter to find the socket that gave an open circuit reading the fault would either be at or before that socket. Unfortunately the meter uses the L-N terminals for continuity testing so I could not do a L-CPC continuity test with the 3-pin plug lead. Trev and others are right that I could have used the probes if I had removed the socket faceplates. Unfortunately the plasterer had plastered right up to the edge of the faceplates and removing them would have caused damage to the decoration. Equally, with a RFC that serves every room in the house and no idea of the cable routing splitting the ring in half and half again until I located the fault would not be a practical approach IMHO. R1 + R2 continuity around the ring would however, have helped to pin down cable routing and narrow down the location of the fault.

Yours Aye

GB

 

[Octopus]

Is the circuit live? If so, go round all the sockets and take a Zs reading at each one, you may find a large difference between 2 adjacent sockets and this may pont you where to start!