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N

NZSPARK

HI all!!!! Greetings from NEW ZEALAND! I am a quallified Electrician.


I ask this question on these fourms , as my work mate is from Yorksure and he told me that these meters are what most of the Brittish are using. He migrated here about 7 years ago.


I have recently aqquired a metrel 61557 Installation tester , and apart from removing the brittish 13A ( and i must say REAL PLUG , Hate to stand on that bugger in middle of the night!! ) , from the test lead , and fitting a Crappy NZ 10A one......mostly it works well.

Love the tester , and it preforms well , well for the most part but im confused with the loop test part.

It says in the manual its measurment range is from 0.2-2000OHM ,and PSC up to 1220A , or 1.2KA.

that would mean regardless of the actual impedance of the cct.......the MAX ill get is 0.20 , and 1220A prospecticve Current....a bit of a waste of time i think.



What are other peoples views on this meter , what concerns me about this , is that the MAX PSCC i seam to be able to read is 1220 A ( 1.2KA ). Our Little small plug in type MCBs are rated at 3KA, If i put this on a 150+kva transformer , with massive tails , then that be a bad situation!


IF the lowest value i can obtain is 1220A then the actual value could potentially be a lot lower , but how much?


Ive got a recenct "calabration" cert , but the Ze........doesnt go that low....they only tested with a 0.5OHM Impedance.


It does say tho that the "display" results are min 0.00 , and display up to 24KA........



Am i reading something wrong , any other users out there, results?


Many thanks guys!

Craig
NEW ZEALAND
 
I think you must be, your Metrel should be able to give values up to 24KA, all be it at a much lower resolution. Having never used this test equipment, you'll have to wait for someone here, that uses Metrel test equipment on a day to day basis to give you a much better over all view on this or similar units...
 
Thanks Engineer54..........My Question should have been what is the MAX PSCC that the Metrel Instaltest Alphatec 61557 can read , and display....... because from what i read the measuring range is 0.20OHMs , which is only about 1.2KA???....but having said that i have only tested it in domestic propertys of recent , have to wait to get to a decent supply with a bit of "grunt"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Fault Loop Resistance
and Prospective Short-circuit Current
Meas. range RL-PE...........................(0.20 ÷ 1999)Ω What got me was this. What does this mean?
 
Meas. range RL-PE...........................(0.20 ÷ 1999)Ω.............and???



Display range ...............(who cares if you cant measure it??)
RL-PE, (Ω)
Resolution
(Ω)
Accuracy
0.00 ÷ 19.99 0.01
20.0 ÷ 199.9 0.1
200 ÷ 1999 1
±(5% of r. + 5D)
Display range
Ipsc (A)
Resolution
(A)
Accuracy
0.06 ÷ 19.99 0.01
20.0 ÷ 199.9 0.1
200 ÷ 1999 1
2.00k ÷ 19.99k 10
20.0k ÷ 24.4k 100
Consider
accuracy
of RL-PE
Ipsc calculation: ....................Ipsc = UN⋅1.06 / RL-PE
UN = 115 V; (100 V ≤ UL-PE < 160 V)
UN = 230 V; (160 V ≤ UL-PE ≤ 264 V)
Max. test current (at 230 V) .............................2.5 A
Nominal voltage range........100 ÷264V / 45 - 65 Hz
 
It has different settings for each bracket, the ranges are shown in the PDF posted above at bottom of the page. I have the easy test version and has the same settings.
 
Really confused now!!!

Do you mean in the lowest bracket ..........its acuracte to 0.20 of 0.00...or 0.06?


From the way i read the measurement was from 0.20- 1999...


so the lowest loop test ill ever get would be 0.20.

I= V/R = 230/ 0.20 = 1220A.........1.2KA ,

Purhaps i misinterprete? lol

Craig
 
I don't know why it's got that there. There are 3 ranges for ohms and 5 for ka each with a difference accuracy dependent on setting. It will measure upto 24ka ie down to 0.01 ohms
 
Thats what got me confused.......why would it state that its measurement range id between 0.20 and 2Kohms , and then go into vast detail about the other......going on about 0.00 etc..............to me the first bit tells me ( or perhaps i misread ) that the lowest it can measure would be 0.20 witch would be a worry!


Purhaps i should go to bed :-(


Craig
 
OK this may be a silly question but why are you using a British test meter set up for the British market I presume in New Zealand.

The reason I ask is does NZ have an equivilent electrical regs to the UK and if not then why not use a NZ speced tester
 
Power is Power , Voltage is the Same.........It flows the same way........and still hurts when you touch the active.........in america the current flows the same , the voltage and frequency are different.

I brought this meter at a very good price.


a loop test , insulation ,and continuinity will still be the same if i take the meter to NZ OZ or UK , i brought this meter because it gives me facts about what i am measuring....


after all you buy a meter to give you facts.........i dont expect a reading to be 0.5 because UK says thats ok..........and the the NZ verson say 1OHM coz thats what there regs say


I brought the meter pure and simple to give me facts about the cct i am measuring , not just the "push of a button" , if i get a reading i suspect too high , ill question it.

I can see what you mean tho , the "RCD auto" funtion , is not required in NZ.



The rules used to be that if the RCD ( has to be 30mA , for general use ) , trips with in 300mS , then all is well.........but from what i hear now pushing the "test" button is surfice.....



I was asking this question as i was reading the manual again and thats when i picked up on the 0.20 min reading.......


And thorght id ask the question!


Cheers

Craig.
 
I have the exact same model and has many extra features not found on standard multi function meters ...also allows for preset of warnings and scaling of insulation test from 10v to 1000v ... your getting confused with the tech' charts the meter goes down to a resolution of 0,001 for insulation and earth loop is 0,01.
Once you got used to it youll find the ramp test useful and the rcd auto as you can just set the meter going and go to rcd/rcbo and reset it 4 times while the meter advances itself it also allows to test both G and S type rcd by changing the settings but normally youll leave this as G.
 
61557s are OK...but they weigh a ton by modern standerds...
they are no longer made but will run all the Metrel software for certing....
 
Hi again

so can someone please explan why it says it has a range of 0.20-1999 in the loop function ....if the resolution is lower???
 
i assume its calibration results at different resolutions ... more info than you need ..... its more advanced than most multi function testers and some uses need the extra info just take the resolution i supplied and dont lose any sleep over it.
 
I certainly wont.

I just wondered what other uses results were.....also Phase to Phase test , wont the PSSC be higher? Mine seams to give me the same resuts
 

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