baza890

Trainee
Need to get a voltage and continuity tester I do like the fluke one from screwfix but it's a little out of my price range for now. anyone know any good budget alternatives?
 
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Try here, they have plenty of options at better prices than Screwfix.

Personally I prefer DiLog but their cheapest offering, the Martindale, is absolutely fine.

 
Try here, they have plenty of options at better prices than Screwfix.

Personally I prefer DiLog but their cheapest offering, the Martindale, is absolutely fine.

good shout thank u mate
 
Try here, they have plenty of options at better prices than Screwfix.

Personally I prefer DiLog but their cheapest offering, the Martindale, is absolutely fine.

Fluke T90 Voltage/Continuity Tester

Dilog Combivolt 1 - DL6780 Voltage and Continuity Tester

Martindale VT25 Voltage & Continuity Tester

Which one do I get or is there any better ones for similar price?
 
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Hi baza
When you first asked the question last week, I had in mind (prob incorrectly) that you were asking about a two pole tester for checking circuits are dead before working on them. The martindale I suggested is really mainly for that, and for very basic continuity. In addition I use a multimeter for fault finding etc.
If you want a safety tester that will also double up to do measurements (ie instead of having a multimeter as well), then you need something more advanced than the Martindale.
Personally I think the advice to go for the Fluke T150 is good, but I appreciate it's expensive.
If you check 'sold' prices on eBay, you can find a few that sold for £60 to £80 fairly recently. There is a risk in buying such (I wouldn't recommend the Chinese source) but at that sort of price you could probably sell it on if there turned out to be a problem! You might be able to afford to get it calibrated too!
I've bought literally thousands of items from eBay, and very rarely had a problem, even with electronics (eg TV circuit boards, appliance spares) although these days eBay prices can be higher than online retail.
Ebay bargain Computers, tablets, phones I keep away from!
 
Hi baza
When you first asked the question last week, I had in mind (prob incorrectly) that you were asking about a two pole tester for checking circuits are dead before working on them. The martindale I suggested is really mainly for that, and for very basic continuity. In addition I use a multimeter for fault finding etc.
If you want a safety tester that will also double up to do measurements (ie instead of having a multimeter as well), then you need something more advanced than the Martindale.
Personally I think the advice to go for the Fluke T150 is good, but I appreciate it's expensive.
If you check 'sold' prices on eBay, you can find a few that sold for £60 to £80 fairly recently. There is a risk in buying such (I wouldn't recommend the Chinese source) but at that sort of price you could probably sell it on if there turned out to be a problem! You might be able to afford to get it calibrated too!
I've bought literally thousands of items from eBay, and very rarely had a problem, even with electronics (eg TV circuit boards, appliance spares) although these days eBay prices can be higher than online retail.
Ebay bargain Computers, tablets, phones I keep away from!
Ok so If I buy a t150 I wouldn't need to buy a multi meter + a two pole voltage&continuity tester?
I'm not too fussed on buying a two pole tester atm, I'd rather just buy a budget friendly multi meter for £10 and under lol prob won't get one for that much and test what I need to for now, I can buy the latter in the future. If it comes down to the mm being like £20 then i might aswell just throw another 60 on that and buy the t150
 
Last edited:
Ok so If I buy a t150 I wouldn't need to buy a multi meter + a two pole voltage&continuity tester?
I'm not too fussed on buying a two pole tester atm, I'd rather just buy a budget friendly multi meter for £10 and under lol prob won't get one for that much and test what I need to for now, I can buy the latter in the future. If it comes down to the mm being like £20 then i might aswell just throw another 60 on that and buy the t150

What exactly do you want/need the tester for?

A £10 multimeter will almost certainly not meet the safety requirements for use on LV, but would likely be ok for ELV.
 
need to test socket readings to figure out if a circuit is on a ring or radial
If you mean by doing resistance tests, you would need a MFT or low resistance ohmmeter for that, which typically give readings to 2 decimal places.
I believe the Fluke T150 only has a resolution of 1 ohm, so your reading would be either 0, 1, or 2, not giving the accuracy you would need.
A cheap multimeter wouldn't really be suitable either.

A bit of (out of date) discussion here a few years ago: Cheapest Multimeter (low ohm - in - Electrical Tools and Products - https://www.electriciansforums.net/threads/cheapest-multimeter-low-ohm.190178/
 
Last edited:
If you mean by doing resistance tests, you would need a MFT or low resistance ohmmeter for that, which typically give readings to 2 decimal places.
I believe the Fluke T150 only has a resolution of 1 ohm, so your reading would be either 0, 1, or 2, not giving the accuracy you would need.
A cheap multimeter wouldn't really be suitable either.

A bit of (out of date) discussion here a few years ago: Cheapest Multimeter (low ohm - in - Electrical Tools and Products - https://www.electriciansforums.net/threads/cheapest-multimeter-low-ohm.190178/
can't i just use a dbl pole volt tester to see if the circuit is a ring or radial, it's a b32 mcb with 2 wires going into the Cb but, there's 3 sockets with single wires (1 socket use to have a switch spur for a floodlight but a electrician removed that recently since we didn't need it anymore) and then one socket with 2 wires entering it.

one of the sockets was a single gang which was just removed it's the only one wire that's going into a junction box which is above the floorboards i think it was just used to extend the cable to put the socket higher, I was thinking if i trace that wire back to where it's going and just get a longer length 4mm cable and install the socket on that on the opposite wall which is where we need it.
 
Ok so If I buy a t150 I wouldn't need to buy a multi meter + a two pole voltage&continuity tester?
I'm not too fussed on buying a two pole tester atm, I'd rather just buy a budget friendly multi meter for £10 and under lol prob won't get one for that much and test what I need to for now, I can buy the latter in the future. If it comes down to the mm being like £20 then i might aswell just throw another 60 on that and buy the t150
You may as well find a cheap MFT for now, and it will also give you the experience of using one.

 

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baza890

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