Ideal 61-164
Pierpont Oldham
The IDEAL Electrical 61164 SureTest Circuit Analyzer utilizes patented technology to "look behind walls" and identify wiring problems that can lead to personal shock hazards, electrical fires, or equipment performance issues. Personal shock hazards stem from poor grounding, false grounds, and/or no ground fault protection.
The IDEAL Electrical 61-164 SureTest Circuit Analyzer utilizes patented technology to "look behind walls" and identify wiring problems that can lead to personal shock hazards, electrical fires, or equipment performance issues. Personal shock hazards stem from poor grounding, false grounds, and/or no ground fault protection. Electrical fires are primarily caused from arc faults and high resistance points that lead to glowing connections in the circuit wiring. And, equipment performance issues arise due to insufficient voltage available under load, poor ground impedance, and high ground-to-neutral voltage.
The 61164 analyzer takes only seconds to test each outlet and circuit under a full load. This test tool checks for various wiring conditions, including: correct wiring, polarity reversal and no ground per UL-1436. A simple menu gives access to measurements of line voltage, voltage drop under a full load condition, ground-to-neutral voltage, and line impedances. The ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) test is performed separately in accordance with UL-1436 and disrupts the electrical supply if a functional GFCI is present.
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Model: 61-164
Nh sản xuất: Ideal ( Hoa kỳ )
Of the three items above, simple cube testers can only perform the first function reliably. To understand this, you need to understand what is actually inside a common three-light receptacle tester. See Figure 1 above.
As can be seen from Figure 1, there are just three neon bulbs wired as follows (and a push button):
The remainder of this article will go over the real-life performance of each of these compared to the others so you, as an inspector, can make an intelligent decision as to which one, if any, makes sense to add to your equipment arsenal. (Links to where you can purchase these items may be found online at www.workingre.com/electrical-receptacle-testers-demystified.)
The feature set is rich. Only one parameter is displayed at a time, and other features are selected by the use of the right and down arrow buttons. The right arrow will scroll through all the choices for the available subfunctions and then it will return back to the first choice. Likewise, for the down arrow. Each press takes you to the next major function and then returns you to the top choice (power-on state) once you scroll to the bottom. If you scroll past what you wanted to look at, you need to scroll all the way through. Not a big deal, as most of us will go one function at a time and then look at each parameter under that main function.
The third main menu item down is voltage drop. The default load is 15A. Pressing the right button selects a load of 20A, pressing it again selects 12A and pressing the right arrow once again returns to the 15A default load. The voltage under the selected load is displayed at the top and the percentage drop in the center and the selected load is displayed at the bottom. The display does NOT blink or change in any way to indicate what some might consider excessive voltage drop. You will have to make your own decision here.
The fourth item on the main menu is amperage. The SureTest has a function that is unique amongst those here, and that is Estimated Line Load (ELL on the display). This feature displays the estimated load already on the circuit under test. This is very useful, especially if you are getting voltage readings that are lower than other circuits that have been tested. A large load may cause a lower voltage reading and give misleading voltages under the 12, 15 and 20 ampere test loads.
Amprobe INSP-3
I reached out to Amprobe for this article and never heard back. The one tested is one I personally purchased and have used for several years. The Amprobe INSP- 3 requires a single 9V battery to operate properly. The need for an auxiliary power source will become evident as we go through the features.
The main display is large and normally has light blue values on a dark blue screen. The main screen contains a polarity indication on the top right, with the RMS voltage in the center and the frequency at the bottom. The top left has the same main menu items as the SureTest (V, Vd, Z and ASCC). The controls are the same as the SureTest, with a down and right arrow keys and a GFCI button.
Pressing the right arrow on the main voltage screen changes the polarity screen to show N/G voltage, while still showing the frequency. Pressing the right arrow again changes the polarity screen back to normal and shows the peak voltage and the frequency. One last press and you are back to the power-up screen.
Pressing the down arrow brings up the voltage drop screen. The polarity is still displayed at the top. The voltage under load is displayed in the center and the percentage drop is displayed beneath it. The CT70 is unique in that the entire display changes to bright red values on a darker red background when the voltage drop gets to 5% or greater. The right arrow cycles through the load choices, starting at a default of 15A, then 20A, 12A and then back to 15A.
Mastech MS5908A
This tester is the heaviest of the group at 11.25 oz. It comes with a crazy long 18 AWG cord that is 5 feet long. It also the only tester that must be turned on before you plug it in. It will time out and shut off after 30 minutes of idle time (a feature you can override at power-up). It also has this annoying beep every time you press a button that cannot be turned off.
The MS5908A is also the only tester that must be turned on with the power button before you can test anything. It takes less than one second for the display to come up. The default is with the backlight off. The button on the bottom left activates the backlight, which stays on for approximately 20 seconds and then turns off again, presumably to save battery power.
The main screen starts with the voltage displayed and shows the line frequency at the top right, the RMS voltage (L-N) in the center and the wiring legend at the top right along with the energized/power symbol (these are present on all function menus). Down the left side shows what voltage is being displayed: L-N, N-E or Peak voltage. The values are large and easy to read (LCD display) and the backlight is very effective in EL green.
There are two yellow buttons on the right side. Pressing them with cycle to the next menu choice withing a function (displayed along the bottom of the screen with the selected function surrounded by a box). This allows the user to go back and forth from L-N to N-E and back without cycling through all the options. Below the yellow arrow buttons is the TEST button. On the left side are the power button, the FUNC (function) button, the HOLD button and at the bottom the backlight button.
The last two functions are for GFCI functions. The first is RCD (residual-current device and has the same 30mA test as EPD). Pressing the TEST button will test at approximately 30mA and the actual test current and trip time will be displayed. If you press the FUNC button to get to the GFCI menu, and press TEST, the actual test current (approximately 7mA) and trip time will be displayed.
The SureTest 61-164 is feature-packed. It has the most complete set of functions of any of the testers. I have issues with the small display that is unreadable in direct sunlight. It also takes a long time to boot up when plugged in, which will add to your inspection time if you check all the receptacles (as I do). It is the only tester to explicitly flag a False/Bootleg ground and the only one to estimate the existing load on a line to put the voltage readings in perspective. One negative is that if you take pictures of the display for your reports, the refresh rate is slow and you may not get the entire display. This was very frustrating. It currently retails for just over $360 on Amazon (although IDEAL Industries did donate this for this comparison).
The Mastech MS5908A was the sleeper in this group. It consistently produced readings that were nearly identical to that of the SureTest 61-164, which was very surprising to me. It is fairly intuitive to use, has a large display and can be backlit when required. The drawbacks are it requires six AA batteries; the cord is just way too long and that beeper on every button press was annoying. For just $100 on Amazon, it is by far the cheapest of the group, but how long it will last is up for debate.
Overall Winner
Overall, for the features provided and the two-year warranty, the SureTest 61-164 takes the win despite its high price. It is manufactured by a reputable US-based company that specializes in industrial test equipment and stands behind its products. It is expensive, though, so if you want to try one of these without breaking the bank, try the Value Winner.
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