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They might tell you there is current, but I wouldn't trust one to confirm there is NO current..so, useful at times, but not a life-saver.
 
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.
 
Issued by dno as polarity tester. That is the only use, after a circuit is proved live or dead by test lamps. Definitely not to prove dead
 
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!
 
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......
 
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......
To all those who are uninformed - a moleskin notepad is a Brand and not the result of the ‘patient trapping’ in order to clothe one’s pages with softness!
 
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.. :oops:
 
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.
 
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.. :oops:
You should have told him that his Mum doesn't like him and is trying to get rid of him.......
 
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.
 
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.
You live in South Africa, your car got hijacked and the Volt Stick was in the boot I bet........
 
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
 
i have a few sticks. the most useful is a sagem volt stick 230 pro. (google it).it has a unique fork tip so will only illuminate when the fork is around a live conductor. useful for finding out which cable is which when you have several in a switch box or similar.
 
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
 

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