What do you all thick about Volt sticks and there use in the in the electrical industry ?.
- Thread starter leonwildey
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P
PEG
I find that a volt stick,is ideal for using as a pointer in the suppliers,as in "Pass me one of them...no next to it...no,the other side....that's it...that AVI..." 
Fine for checking live but not proving something is electrically dead. Can help with fault finding.
Wouldn’t trust them to prove something’s dead, but I find them useful to locate and verify circuits particularly where you can’t use a martindale or where FCUs don’t have neons, and you don’t have to unscrew fronts to get at the terminals.
Also handy for identifying a cable you need to trace, again no need to make contact with the wire.
Also handy for identifying a cable you need to trace, again no need to make contact with the wire.
if you have ever shopped with testermans and sign up to the newsletter they will give you a free voltstick.. which tells you all you need to know! on the positive side the used and reconditioned testing kit on the website is quite well priced.
Tap/stroke some models rhythmically ,and you can pretend something is dangerous , even with the power off.
--BEST keep you fingers out-of here--
Red Light means danger.
All that capacitance -stuff is dangerous..
(..they can tell lies.. as we all know)
--BEST keep you fingers out-of here--
Red Light means danger.
All that capacitance -stuff is dangerous..
(..they can tell lies.. as we all know)
got one with my clamp meter thrown in the box, even my weetabix makes it glow! found out when i put it on the side with the shopping next to it!
Good blunt force trauma though a well placed dig between the ribs could be effective
joking of course
P
PEG
Although these items get a bit of stick 
they do find a use.
I have some,somewhere, i think,if my 10 year old hasn't used them as a tiny light-sabre...
I do use the volt-sense end of one of my Megger devices,330 maybe? So,a large,glorified stick of sortsAs ever,used appropriately,even an elastic band is a suitable tool...
they do find a use.I have some,somewhere, i think,if my 10 year old hasn't used them as a tiny light-sabre...
I do use the volt-sense end of one of my Megger devices,330 maybe? So,a large,glorified stick of sorts
As ever,used appropriately,even an elastic band is a suitable tool...
T
The Ghost
I used one the other day as I was extending a lighting circuit and located two cables going to the rose to tap off of. Volt stick was very handy. Disconnected the feed at the rose and parted the cables the volt stick told me which one was live/feed as I could not get directly above the rose downstairs this was very handy. As to relying on them for safe isolation, when hell freezes over!
Totally disagree with you there.
It's an absolutely ideal way to get yourself hurt.
You may as well pick up a stick in the forest and use that to ensure safe isolation. Just as safe.
On second thoughts you may get a splinter in your pinky from the stick.
Why do you keep the clamp meter in the weetabix box?
To keep his Bix together, sorry Mate I'm in one of those Sarcy Moods pay no heed to me.
D
Deleted member 105166
I thought we were talking about volt sticks
D
Deleted member 105166
I don't have one and don't want one, nor a neon screwdriver for that matter. Although nearly everyone on here understands safe isolation and the reason they should not be used, reality is, like in any job, short cuts and complacency do set in when carrying out the same tasks regularly and reality is people do rely on them for a quick answer that's "probably" correct. No different to an experienced driver knowingly not driving how they would if they were taking a driving test.
Very useful especially in dark attics but wouldn't rely on solely for dead testing.
I have one which has a graduated display bar, so can discriminate to some extent between 230V and spurious voltages..
I have one which has a graduated display bar, so can discriminate to some extent between 230V and spurious voltages..
IMHO a life saver, you isolate and then give it a wave over with the old volt stick prior to cutting, saved my backside (or snips!) a few times!
Results do depend on how well you are earthed.
(!!!...Or completely up-side down if near live-leaning against one of those touch lamps..!!!)
(!!!...Or completely up-side down if near live-leaning against one of those touch lamps..!!!)
S
Squid
Put one in your top pocket of your boiler suit and everyone on site looks at you in awe as you are the master electrical engineer, you also need a few pens and a moleskin notepad to really pull off the look......
One of my apprentices keeps one with him all the time. I gave him a round of fk's the other day because I caught him testing to see if a circuit was dead only using the stick and not following safe isolating procedure. I explained to him the only real usefulness of the stick and if i caught him using it incorrectly again I'll stick his stick... well you know where. He got rather upset with me as it turned out that the stick was a gift from his mum..
M
MDJ
Totally pointless bit of kit really, looks good next to the neon screwdriver in your top pocket though lol, I would say though if you use a volt stick then have two taped together, the odds of both not working is a lot less than one which lets be honest never works every time, or find a bin for them.
S
Squid
You should have told him that his Mum doesn't like him and is trying to get rid of him.......One of my apprentices keeps one with him all the time. I gave him a round of fk's the other day because I caught him testing to see if a circuit was dead only using the stick and not following safe isolating procedure. I explained to him the only real usefulness of the stick and if i caught him using it incorrectly again I'll stick his stick... well you know where. He got rather upset with me as it turned out that the stick was a gift from his mum..
M
Marvo
I'd agree they might be useful for finding certain types of faults but I have a company rule forbidding them because I think the temptation to mis-use them is too high. I personally don't own one.
S
Squid
You live in South Africa, your car got hijacked and the Volt Stick was in the boot I bet........
M
Marvo
I never botherd buying one because I figured they're not sharp enough to fight of a hijacker with.
S
Squid
Ahhhh hand them out for free and then they kill themselves when fiddling the elecktrikery for their shanty hut........
I worked for a while for a company doing maintenance/ installations on concrete plants
One company insisted in their safety rules, RAMS etc that we were to use a non contact method of testing for dead when doing Safe Isolation on equipment and plant
I was issued a volt stick with proving unit by my boss and told we had to use them on their sites to conform
So I just went through the motions with the voltstick and tested with an API afterwards to satisfy myself it was dead
Their Safety guy on one site tried to stop me doing it with the API as he said it wasn't company procedure !
I said I'm following your procedure and checking with my own tester to be sure as I don't have confidence in these devices, and a double check surely can't be bad
I said that the Hse don't recommend volt
sticks as per HSg85
He said I was wrong so I downloaded and showed it to him
His argument was that EAWR states that an appropriate device should be used
And this was an appropriate device........
I said ok you isolate this circuit with a volt stick and you pull the wires out if you're so confident
Funny that he suddenly remembered a meeting he had to attend off site and he'd do it another day
One company insisted in their safety rules, RAMS etc that we were to use a non contact method of testing for dead when doing Safe Isolation on equipment and plant
I was issued a volt stick with proving unit by my boss and told we had to use them on their sites to conform
So I just went through the motions with the voltstick and tested with an API afterwards to satisfy myself it was dead
Their Safety guy on one site tried to stop me doing it with the API as he said it wasn't company procedure !
I said I'm following your procedure and checking with my own tester to be sure as I don't have confidence in these devices, and a double check surely can't be bad
I said that the Hse don't recommend volt
sticks as per HSg85
He said I was wrong so I downloaded and showed it to him
His argument was that EAWR states that an appropriate device should be used
And this was an appropriate device........
I said ok you isolate this circuit with a volt stick and you pull the wires out if you're so confident
Funny that he suddenly remembered a meeting he had to attend off site and he'd do it another day
Funny how things change in time
I was looking through some of the early posts in the tools section and it seems that back in 2008 voltsticks were the best thing since sliced bread,
Most useful thing I found about them was when my kids were toddlers they loved them , sat quietly for ages mesmerized by a plastic flashy thing
( Before anyone gets upset this particular model was a fluke which self tested by flashing
I 100% did not encourage the kids to start poking them anywhere near anything with electricity)
So maybe nothing changes in people after all who can say that they don't love bright coloured plastic flashy beepy things
I guess that is until you start getting shocks because of it !
As said before can be a handy tool but not to be relied on
I was looking through some of the early posts in the tools section and it seems that back in 2008 voltsticks were the best thing since sliced bread,
Most useful thing I found about them was when my kids were toddlers they loved them , sat quietly for ages mesmerized by a plastic flashy thing
( Before anyone gets upset this particular model was a fluke which self tested by flashing
I 100% did not encourage the kids to start poking them anywhere near anything with electricity)
So maybe nothing changes in people after all who can say that they don't love bright coloured plastic flashy beepy things
I guess that is until you start getting shocks because of it !
As said before can be a handy tool but not to be relied on
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