"Made in West Germany" was a great assurance of quality, not least at the time. The standards authorities like TŪV took things seriously, when others were putting out any old thing, tested by Geoff in the shed out in the yard. The fact that it still works is a tribute to that, notwithstanding the brightness of the then available LEDs. Thanks for the lookback.
@@RFC-3514 There are two types that last, the ones that are useless and never used, thrown in the tool box and forgotten and the rare extremely goods ones that used all the time but last. All others are thrown away.
The more robust ancestors is the Neon bulb with a 1M or larger resistor. The two electrodes will act like the two LEDs at 50V and above, which also happens to be the safety limit. Classic design is a Bakelite pen or clear plastic screwdriver.
There are decent tools nowadays too. They just cost significantly more than the cheap alternative which makes us compare the old stuff with the new cheap stuff. And the thing with old stuff is the survivor bias so to speak. The tools that survived were made well, but the cheap and crummy tools broke and therefore never reach us, so we don't have anything to compare to.
It first appearance was in 1977 in our company (Siemens) that produced this type of tester. It was very popular at this time for personal use but had a bad acceptance by the professionals. Because it was too light weight and the handle was too short. You would not work with it in a big distribution cabinet. We usually used tester they called DUSPOL a product from Benning. Duspol was the short term and it was the de-facto standard used by professional electricians at this time. Every electrician from this age knows what Duspol means. Very interesting video. I never opened such a thing.
I know no electrican using anything else than a Duspol (or a rebranded version of it) today. There will be a debate which one (analog, digital, old or new) is the best, but never saw fluke or anything in use by a professional. Not that other brands would be bad, just never saw anything else being used. Same with Knipex pliers.
@@semifavorableuncircle6952 in the US, the equivalent device was called a "WIGGY", probably short for Wigginton, an early maker of this type(it used a solenoid coil as a level indicator). Many companies made these..one that comes to mind is Square D
@@Mister_Brown Yep, they will do that well. Also, the good thing about these devices, because it actually draws a bit of current, it won't give a reading on phantom current(a DMM WILL, unless it's one of the units that has a low impedance mode, specifically intended for electricians).
I remember my chief electrician wearing the old heavy orange model Duspol around his neck like a doctor wears his stethoscope. It was always with him. 😄
I have one of these badged as "Steinel", 40 years old and still working. I also have it's big brother with several leds that indicate increasing voltage and one built in to a screwdriver. The screwdriver takes a couple of button cells and has a switch to verify that the leds are working.
Have the same Steinel ones, with the voltage detection neons and the LED polarity indicator. However the PTC there is a small green coated button, 2 in series, to withstand the higher voltages properly. The tubular form is the same PTC ceramic, just coated onto a long ceramic rod and then fired, with it then being ground to a spiral to increase resistance, and then cut to length, and then plated on the ends with silver, to make it solderable. Fast response and high resistance instead of making a thick button. You do get ones now that are remarkably similar, but which have approval to standards for creepage and flash over, and they are very useful. No battery needed unless you also keep the separate proving device next to them, which is simply a high voltage generator that is used to show the unit is functional before use.
I have one looking exactly the same, but actually having no markings on it whatsoever, even the label seems to be missing. ED indeed is the Duty Cycle, in German ED would mean "Einschaltdauer"
I have had one of those Autolec testers for many years. The one I bought about 40 years ago was packaged for 12 & 24v vehicle electrics. You are braver than me putting it on Mains Panels.
I was issued one of these, vag branded when I was an apprentice mechanic for vw in the early 80,s I still have it in my toolbox and it's still my go to test lamp for most electrical jobs, with some experience you can even use it to detect can bus lines once you recognise the pulsing of both the LEDs from the can signal!
I still have mine, its 40 years old and was brilliant for checking RCD/RCBOs, heat up the thermistor across L-N then L-E = no trip, leave cool and just L-E = 30mA trip, 240V, of coarse i used a proper test meter on final testing, I have used mine on 6V mopeds, 12V on cars, 24V on lorries, 110V on site supplies, 240V in houses and 415V in industrial controls, still working, just need a good clean
I have the exact same thing. Mine is branded "Steinel". And still working. Friend of mine had one as well. Once, he plugged it in a wall socket and left it there, intended to be a night light. His melted, haha. He wasn't the brightest. Once he had a cheap small analog multimeter plugged in at a wall socket. It didn't indicate any voltage. I told him to use the AC range, instead of DC. So he turned the knob without disconnecting. Between DC and AC there was the mA and Ohm ranges. That did not end well. It produced a loud bang and a bit of the magic smoke. It made a huge crater in the board, so that thing was toast as well. The circuit breaker didn't trip, so that meter was killed instantly and did not suffer for long.
Mine is also Steinel around 45 years old. The alternative, the "DUSPOL" was much too expensive. However, professional electricians rejected the Steinel as it drew much less current as the Duspol and may give false results coming from capacitive currents.
I've made myself something like this. I have 2 LED's in inverse parallel (one red and one green, applied DC polarity will only light the green or red) that are in series with 4*120VAC 5 watt tungsten lamps. The lamps do a good job of limiting the current to around 15ma and can handle up to 480 VAC or 1Kv DC (assuming the insulation of the device was done well enough). Good for a go/no go and polarity test for anything from 3Vdc to anything I would poke at on the AC ranges.
This reminds me of the tester I used as an electrician in the U.S. It says, "UniTest 600" on it, and it measures from 12-600 volts, ac or dc. It does take two batteries, but it's a simple probe unit that registers the range of voltage using LEDs. It's not exactly "accurate" but it's great for finding if the circuit is 120 or 240 volt, for example.
Well I never, my dad had a one identical and I'd never seen another until today. I have it now and I still use it, most often when working on my cars when it's dead useful for basic circuit testing. I had no idea how simple it was inside!
Somewhere I have the worlds most abused but somehow still working metabo jigsaw. Not sure on its age but it is also labelled as made in west Germany. It was my dads for 25+ years first as his best jigsaw then later downgraded to a tool for rougher harsh environments. He then gave it to me about 15 years ago.I’m an engineer and that saw has cut a hell of a lot of metal. It’s not as precise as it once was but I’d put a weeks wages on anything new not lasting a quarter of that time. Although they might have had some questionable politics going on at that time they sure as hell knew how to make something. German manufacturing I salute you.
got exactly the tester in my kit used to use it when i was fitting carphones and stereos back in the day. nice to see whats inside as i never took mine apart, thanks for shareing clive.
Hi Clive hope you’re well. I think I commented on theses before a couple of years ago, you did two or three videos on them . I told you I had a yellow one back in early eighties , I got a new one as a free gift a couple of years ago when I bought a new tool , can’t remember what. I have to say it really gets my back up when I see and hear so many people saying these testers are dangerous , there not if they are used correctly for there intended purpose by people like you and me ie qualified electricians who know what we are doing. You know you can use that nice little thing today and it/ you will be perfectly safe simply because you know what you’re doing and you know the tester’s limitations. The last video you did on them was a 3in1 model , my freebie is an 8in1 model I keep it in my tool bag as a backup in case my TIS 851 voltage indicator packs up. Also we only use them for proving dead . But I like how you break them down to show how wonderfully simple they are . Admittedly some of the cheep ones from china can be a bit dubious , but the one from well known manufacturers are pretty decent the one in the video is German made as is mine so you know it’s a decent quality and safe bit of kit . Great video review as always Clive👍
Unfortunately they're having to dumb things down for the new generation of slideshow electricians who might hold one end of the test leads while poking the other end in random connections. Apparently the slideshow doesn't cover that.
I have one of these. Used a lot back in the day for car stereo installs, that is until when I smoked a stereo as a ground was false and switched positive when headlights were turned on. Then I used a meter to read the actual voltages.
Never had one but remember being given a neon tester when I briefly work for e.ON about 1997 big chunky thing, was quite surprised that still used them
I just love how simple these tools are, and it shows how inventive we can be if components are scarce or comparatively expensive. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like whole genius in this tool is having a thermistor that heats up and gains resistance before the LED gets a chance to glow. Very nice!
It’s the VAG 1527 tester , not to be confused with the VAG 1527 B that only worked up to 48volt , I’ve still got one somewhere, mid 80’s when we first started using them
I was going to buy one of these after finishing my car maitenance course back in 95, but decided a voltmeter was better all round, as given the reading for voltage, amps, and also the fact it does the circuit test, and when weren't that significant in price difference the voltmeter won, and never looked back as still a voltmeter I pick up as a goto device for diagnosing a car fault, and don't think I can say that the voltmeter was the wrong choice either.
Nice. My first tester was a japanese one, it uses two miniature incandescent light bulbs in series up to 500V, bought it from a retired electrician and I still use it from time to time. Draws a lot more current though so it can trip modern RCDs if present, they're not very common where I live though so np.
Interesting that you should make a video of this. I found an old tool not long ago, by Rapitest. It's along the same lines, but with three neons for mains testing, showing increasing voltage steps, and four or five LEDs for lower voltage DC circuits, and DC polarity checks, plus an LED and sounder for checking continuity. Again, a cheap and cheerful tool that was quite useful in its day, and in low voltage circuits, still can be, though to think of relying on it for mains voltages these days? - Not since I bought my Fluke 117 some years back. It has that "Lo-Z" feature which is much more reliable and trustworthy when looking for higher voltages. It at least imposes a low impedance across the circuit you're testing, and autoranges the volts so that you don't get caught out by manually stepping over a range and finding St. Elmo dancing on your fingertips!
As an auto electrician, the best test lights are standard incandescent style ones, LED ones or any high impedance tester can confuse someone with stray currents, series currents through loads, etc.
My father always had one like this in his toolbox. From 1990's or so. Found the multimeter too complex. And good enough to see if something is powered.
Surprised it still works after all this time. Simple design, decent material= longevity, I guess. And, since it was made in WGermany, it's a little piece of history. Neat!
When LEDs were starting to become easily available in the '70s I made up a couple of similar testers but since I only intended them to be used up to 120VAC I got away with using a plain resistor (actually several in parallel for power handling). I used a red LED and a green LED (red/green ones weren't available yet) to indicate polarity (green = DC with red wire to positive, red = DC with red wire to negative, both = AC). I think I still have one around here somewhere
Very reminiscent of my first DIY probe no pcb circuit shoved into hollowed out marker shell - worked flawslessly pointing lit LED into the positive voltage and signaling AC if both were lit. Another one I had back then was 4093 single schmitt gate tone generator and a buzzer for continuity tester. Dark times 😆
I also have one of this, but also operated with a 12V remote command battery: it doubles as a voltage detector (AC/DC with the sense and rough voltage given by the dimming), and as a continuity tester, pushing a button on the body
When i was an electrician I made myself a voltage tester from a 240volt indicator lamp wrapped in rubber with leads attached. (It drew enough current so as not to respond to ghosts.)
After receiving a drop of 3-in-1 oil to stop the squeaking joints (no not the smoking type). We get to see is a remarkably simple and basic circuit inside these testers. Fig, one could 3D Print a case for a home electronics build with the correct components to fit inside.
This is very similar to a simple logic probe… if your computer motherboard operates at mains voltages. That would be quite “spicy” for TTL! 🤣😂 Replace the thermistor with a 1k, 10-turn trimpot set midway and connect the wiper (center tap) of the pot to the LEDs, connect a black hookup wire to one end of the pot, and red hookup wire to the other end. Solder/crimp on your clip (J-clip, alligator clip, etc…) of choice to pick up power, and away you go. If the red LED lights on logic high, either reverse the LEDs, or the red/black wires at the pot. The whole thing should fit right back in the case, though minor modifications (a.k.a. Hacking) might be needed, depending on the size of the trimpot. 😌 To set the trimpot, find a cheap Chinese thing with a 555 in it (that works), and measure pin 3, then adjust until you get roughly the same brightness from the red and green LEDs, or wire up a 555 astable circuit with 50% duty cycle (schematics can be found all over the Internet) if you don’t have cheap Chinese electronics handy. Put the probe back together (so you don’t electrocute yourself on 5 VDC - yeah, right! 🤣😆😂) You can further “hack: this by replacing the two discrete LEDs with a 2-pin “bicolor” LED, then adjust for a nice yellow color on 50% duty cycle. Now you can detect Hi-Z (no LED lit), logic low (red LED lit), logic high (green LED lit), and oscillations (yellow for roughly 50% duty cycle), such as a clock circuit, or the address/data-bus lines on a CPU.
The thermistor kind of looks like one of the old "Dog Bone" resistors without any resin covering it :) I love how older equipment still works...over 40 years later for this one! I watch Mr. Carlson's Lab to see the old stuff renewed.
Thanks Clive. It strikes me that they may have used the tubular PTC thermistor rather than the disc-type as it would likely cool faster and hence re-set faster allowing the user to check again sooner at higher voltages if they missed the initial flash. Cheers.
I've got a set of Martindale test lamps at work which light at 50, 100, 200 and 400V but I've wondered what those are like internally compared to something as simple as this tester.
Nice and simple tester. I don't know if you ever done a video of a Wiggy tester ? A Wiggy tester use a solenoid to "load" the measuring for excluding ghost voltages. The higher the voltage, the more the solenoid moves. The moving part is connected to a reading scale.
That thing is older than me, but unlike me seems to functioning well.. Manufactured back when things were built to last... not get a year out of it and then onto the e-waste pile.
Clive you might want to clean the dust out incase someone uses it on the higher voltages and they get an arc over in the dust. We know how bad flower mills go bang from dust explosions. Granted it would only make a small pop. But I bet the person tha got the pop might need a change of shorts after the fact. Stay safe at work.
The tester blowing up in your hand would be the least of your worries if you managed to draw an arc between the busbars when you pulled the probes away! People have been killed doing just that!
Remind me pls. Why i should not check voltage in socket holding common of multimeter in hand? I know i shouldn't but i not remember why, but i remember it works.
I would be curious to see a plot of resistance over time for different voltages. I realise that would need some form of recording device, perhaps an oscilloscope. Something I know you're not keen on but, it would be interesting.
ofc those have been carefully designed. It is german engeneering. In many applications there is a factor of safety which often was choosen higher then really needed. Steel cable as xmp my dad used to hoist stuff with a car crane and one time he liftet a 10 ton concrete block with 4 2.5ton rated cables 3 snapped as they had damage beforhand but 4th did not. btw im german my dad is german and the steel cables aswell was like 25 years ago i think
Wow a pre-Hasslehoff item! Had to be west Germany, if east Germany even saw anything close to high voltage, it would be by peering over the wall or by watching the mysterious lights in the sky 😂
To test a 13 AMP socket, we use a 100-watt bulb plug into a lamp holder with two wirers that were soldered two nails with the head cut off and tape up with half an inch left bear so we would push the nails into the 13 sockets and the lamp would light up and yes that socket OK Would we do that now NO
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"Made in West Germany" was a great assurance of quality, not least at the time. The standards authorities like TŪV took things seriously, when others were putting out any old thing, tested by Geoff in the shed out in the yard. The fact that it still works is a tribute to that, notwithstanding the brightness of the then available LEDs. Thanks for the lookback.
I love these old fashioned tools, they were really built robust and to last.
Well, the ones that lasted. A lot of old tools were crap, too; those just didn't survive.
@@RFC-3514 There are two types that last, the ones that are useless and never used, thrown in the tool box and forgotten and the rare extremely goods ones that used all the time but last. All others are thrown away.
The more robust ancestors is the Neon bulb with a 1M or larger resistor. The two electrodes will act like the two LEDs at 50V and above, which also happens to be the safety limit. Classic design is a Bakelite pen or clear plastic screwdriver.
There are decent tools nowadays too. They just cost significantly more than the cheap alternative which makes us compare the old stuff with the new cheap stuff.
And the thing with old stuff is the survivor bias so to speak. The tools that survived were made well, but the cheap and crummy tools broke and therefore never reach us, so we don't have anything to compare to.
It first appearance was in 1977 in our company (Siemens) that produced this type of tester. It was very popular at this time for personal use but had a bad acceptance by the professionals. Because it was too light weight and the handle was too short. You would not work with it in a big distribution cabinet. We usually used tester they called DUSPOL a product from Benning. Duspol was the short term and it was the de-facto standard used by professional electricians at this time. Every electrician from this age knows what Duspol means.
Very interesting video. I never opened such a thing.
I know no electrican using anything else than a Duspol (or a rebranded version of it) today. There will be a debate which one (analog, digital, old or new) is the best, but never saw fluke or anything in use by a professional. Not that other brands would be bad, just never saw anything else being used. Same with Knipex pliers.
@@semifavorableuncircle6952 in the US, the equivalent device was called a "WIGGY", probably short for Wigginton, an early maker of this type(it used a
solenoid coil as a level indicator).
Many companies made these..one that comes to mind is Square D
@@m.k.8158 those solenoid ones are super useful for discharging capacitors
@@Mister_Brown Yep, they will do that well.
Also, the good thing about these devices, because it actually draws a bit of current, it won't give a reading on phantom current(a DMM WILL, unless it's one of the units that has a low impedance mode, specifically intended for electricians).
I remember my chief electrician wearing the old heavy orange model Duspol around his neck like a doctor wears his stethoscope. It was always with him. 😄
I have one of these badged as "Steinel", 40 years old and still working. I also have it's big brother with several leds that indicate increasing voltage and one built in to a screwdriver. The screwdriver takes a couple of button cells and has a switch to verify that the leds are working.
I use Steinel products here in New Zealand. Good products, usually. ( we have a lot of exposed salt air areas)
Have the same Steinel ones, with the voltage detection neons and the LED polarity indicator. However the PTC there is a small green coated button, 2 in series, to withstand the higher voltages properly. The tubular form is the same PTC ceramic, just coated onto a long ceramic rod and then fired, with it then being ground to a spiral to increase resistance, and then cut to length, and then plated on the ends with silver, to make it solderable. Fast response and high resistance instead of making a thick button.
You do get ones now that are remarkably similar, but which have approval to standards for creepage and flash over, and they are very useful. No battery needed unless you also keep the separate proving device next to them, which is simply a high voltage generator that is used to show the unit is functional before use.
@@SeanBZA Got the same one as you. Still works.. (just tested it ;-)
@@flexairz Was using it today as well, to check polarity of CCTV wiring.
I have one looking exactly the same, but actually having no markings on it whatsoever, even the label seems to be missing.
ED indeed is the Duty Cycle, in German ED would mean "Einschaltdauer"
My dad still has the same ones and they still work fine. He was a chargehand engineer in the coal industry.
I didn't even know West German Voltage was a thing, much less that I need a special detector for it.
The electrons were free. East German Voltage, not so much.
Search for a satellite image of Berlin at night. You can see the former divide in the street lighting.
"... Freedom is indivisible, and when one electron is enslaved, all are not free.
Ik bin ein Volt-Meter... "
I think you'll find West Germany is a popular flavor of ice cream.
Your finger will do.
I too have one of those. Had it for something over 40 years I think. Used it on the docks when I was the electrician there. Still use it now.
I have had one of those Autolec testers for many years. The one I bought about 40 years ago was packaged for 12 & 24v vehicle electrics. You are braver than me putting it on Mains Panels.
I was issued one of these, vag branded when I was an apprentice mechanic for vw in the early 80,s I still have it in my toolbox and it's still my go to test lamp for most electrical jobs, with some experience you can even use it to detect can bus lines once you recognise the pulsing of both the LEDs from the can signal!
I still have mine, its 40 years old and was brilliant for checking RCD/RCBOs, heat up the thermistor across L-N then L-E = no trip, leave cool and just L-E = 30mA trip, 240V, of coarse i used a proper test meter on final testing, I have used mine on 6V mopeds, 12V on cars, 24V on lorries, 110V on site supplies, 240V in houses and 415V in industrial controls, still working, just need a good clean
I have the exact same thing. Mine is branded "Steinel". And still working. Friend of mine had one as well. Once, he plugged it in a wall socket and left it there, intended to be a night light. His melted, haha.
He wasn't the brightest. Once he had a cheap small analog multimeter plugged in at a wall socket. It didn't indicate any voltage. I told him to use the AC range, instead of DC. So he turned the knob without disconnecting. Between DC and AC there was the mA and Ohm ranges. That did not end well. It produced a loud bang and a bit of the magic smoke. It made a huge crater in the board, so that thing was toast as well. The circuit breaker didn't trip, so that meter was killed instantly and did not suffer for long.
Mine is also Steinel around 45 years old. The alternative, the "DUSPOL" was much too expensive. However, professional electricians rejected the Steinel as it drew much less current as the Duspol and may give false results coming from capacitive currents.
I've made myself something like this. I have 2 LED's in inverse parallel (one red and one green, applied DC polarity will only light the green or red) that are in series with 4*120VAC 5 watt tungsten lamps. The lamps do a good job of limiting the current to around 15ma and can handle up to 480 VAC or 1Kv DC (assuming the insulation of the device was done well enough). Good for a go/no go and polarity test for anything from 3Vdc to anything I would poke at on the AC ranges.
The US standard probe for line voltage was an NE-2 based one for decades. Probably pretty safe in comparison with LED-based ones.
I have one of those in my car emergency kit. Interesting to see inside.
I had no idea it could work on higher volts though.
Thanks Clive.
The voltage rating should be printed on it.
This reminds me of the tester I used as an electrician in the U.S. It says, "UniTest 600" on it, and it measures from 12-600 volts, ac or dc. It does take two batteries, but it's a simple probe unit that registers the range of voltage using LEDs. It's not exactly "accurate" but it's great for finding if the circuit is 120 or 240 volt, for example.
I have one of these, purchased in the early 80s when I was a mechanic.
Well I never, my dad had a one identical and I'd never seen another until today. I have it now and I still use it, most often when working on my cars when it's dead useful for basic circuit testing. I had no idea how simple it was inside!
Somewhere I have the worlds most abused but somehow still working metabo jigsaw. Not sure on its age but it is also labelled as made in west Germany. It was my dads for 25+ years first as his best jigsaw then later downgraded to a tool for rougher harsh environments. He then gave it to me about 15 years ago.I’m an engineer and that saw has cut a hell of a lot of metal. It’s not as precise as it once was but I’d put a weeks wages on anything new not lasting a quarter of that time. Although they might have had some questionable politics going on at that time they sure as hell knew how to make something.
German manufacturing I salute you.
My dad should have his still somewhere. Early 80s sounds about right for it.
got exactly the tester in my kit used to use it when i was fitting carphones and stereos back in the day. nice to see whats inside as i never took mine apart, thanks for shareing clive.
Hi Clive hope you’re well.
I think I commented on theses before a couple of years ago, you did two or three videos on them .
I told you I had a yellow one back in early eighties , I got a new one as a free gift a couple of years ago when I bought a new tool , can’t remember what. I have to say it really gets my back up when I see and hear so many people saying these testers are dangerous , there not if they are used correctly for there intended purpose by people like you and me ie qualified electricians who know what we are doing. You know you can use that nice little thing today and it/ you will be perfectly safe simply because you know what you’re doing and you know the tester’s limitations. The last video you did on them was a 3in1 model , my freebie is an 8in1 model I keep it in my tool bag as a backup in case my TIS 851 voltage indicator packs up.
Also we only use them for proving dead . But I like how you break them down to show how wonderfully simple they are . Admittedly some of the cheep ones from china can be a bit dubious , but the one from well known manufacturers are pretty decent the one in the video is German made as is mine so you know it’s a decent quality and safe bit of kit . Great video review as always Clive👍
Unfortunately they're having to dumb things down for the new generation of slideshow electricians who might hold one end of the test leads while poking the other end in random connections. Apparently the slideshow doesn't cover that.
I have one of these. Used a lot back in the day for car stereo installs, that is until when I smoked a stereo as a ground was false and switched positive when headlights were turned on. Then I used a meter to read the actual voltages.
Very simple, nice and reliable. And again, I hope you (by "you" I mean modern electronic engineers and product designers) learned something!
Good evening Clive and all!
Never had one but remember being given a neon tester when I briefly work for e.ON about 1997 big chunky thing, was quite surprised that still used them
I just love how simple these tools are, and it shows how inventive we can be if components are scarce or comparatively expensive. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like whole genius in this tool is having a thermistor that heats up and gains resistance before the LED gets a chance to glow. Very nice!
I still have a couple of these about, they always work.
It’s the VAG 1527 tester , not to be confused with the VAG 1527 B that only worked up to 48volt , I’ve still got one somewhere, mid 80’s when we first started using them
Oh my, just recently I disposed of a broken even more vintage Siemens tester and actually thought about sending it to you :)
I realize I'm really old when I catch myself thinking "Wait, LEDs aren't vintage, they've only been on the market for a relatively short time"
I was going to buy one of these after finishing my car maitenance course back in 95, but decided a voltmeter was better all round, as given the reading for voltage, amps, and also the fact it does the circuit test, and when weren't that significant in price difference the voltmeter won, and never looked back as still a voltmeter I pick up as a goto device for diagnosing a car fault, and don't think I can say that the voltmeter was the wrong choice either.
You seem to be digging out all your retro stuff. Good job!
If you change the led's, use red and green (red for positive on the main tip) ;)
Nice. My first tester was a japanese one, it uses two miniature incandescent light bulbs in series up to 500V, bought it from a retired electrician and I still use it from time to time. Draws a lot more current though so it can trip modern RCDs if present, they're not very common where I live though so np.
I made one of these as part of my apprenticeship using an emptied out marker pen for the body with a large nail covered in heat shrink for the probe
I have a Autolec, have had it for years. Still works well
Interesting that you should make a video of this. I found an old tool not long ago, by Rapitest. It's along the same lines, but with three neons for mains testing, showing increasing voltage steps, and four or five LEDs for lower voltage DC circuits, and DC polarity checks, plus an LED and sounder for checking continuity. Again, a cheap and cheerful tool that was quite useful in its day, and in low voltage circuits, still can be, though to think of relying on it for mains voltages these days? - Not since I bought my Fluke 117 some years back. It has that "Lo-Z" feature which is much more reliable and trustworthy when looking for higher voltages. It at least imposes a low impedance across the circuit you're testing, and autoranges the volts so that you don't get caught out by manually stepping over a range and finding St. Elmo dancing on your fingertips!
"quite a nice little thing " bigclive tells us, it gave me flash backs to the first night my missus saw me naked.
I had one of those back in the days as a child :)
As an auto electrician, the best test lights are standard incandescent style ones, LED ones or any high impedance tester can confuse someone with stray currents, series currents through loads, etc.
My father always had one like this in his toolbox. From 1990's or so.
Found the multimeter too complex.
And good enough to see if something is powered.
Surprised it still works after all this time. Simple design, decent material= longevity, I guess. And, since it was made in WGermany, it's a little piece of history. Neat!
Personally a fan of the "And it never blew up" seal of quality.
It's always easy in hindsight to see where we shouldn't have poked our tools.
When LEDs were starting to become easily available in the '70s I made up a couple of similar testers but since I only intended them to be used up to 120VAC I got away with using a plain resistor (actually several in parallel for power handling). I used a red LED and a green LED (red/green ones weren't available yet) to indicate polarity (green = DC with red wire to positive, red = DC with red wire to negative, both = AC).
I think I still have one around here somewhere
Very reminiscent of my first DIY probe no pcb circuit shoved into hollowed out marker shell - worked flawslessly pointing lit LED into the positive voltage and signaling AC if both were lit. Another one I had back then was 4093 single schmitt gate tone generator and a buzzer for continuity tester. Dark times 😆
I also have one of this, but also operated with a 12V remote command battery: it doubles as a voltage detector (AC/DC with the sense and rough voltage given by the dimming), and as a continuity tester, pushing a button on the body
Great, I'll order one when the Big Clive Industries catalog arrives! Good luck and keep working! 👍
wow that nice.. very old fashioned tools. that cool and still work too.
When i was an electrician I made myself a voltage tester from a 240volt indicator lamp wrapped in rubber with leads attached. (It drew enough current so as not to respond to ghosts.)
Thanks for your presentation, you make a great job!
Man. So interesting. Thanks Big Clive.
After receiving a drop of 3-in-1 oil to stop the squeaking joints (no not the smoking type). We get to see is a remarkably simple and basic circuit inside these testers. Fig, one could 3D Print a case for a home electronics build with the correct components to fit inside.
This is very similar to a simple logic probe… if your computer motherboard operates at mains voltages. That would be quite “spicy” for TTL! 🤣😂 Replace the thermistor with a 1k, 10-turn trimpot set midway and connect the wiper (center tap) of the pot to the LEDs, connect a black hookup wire to one end of the pot, and red hookup wire to the other end. Solder/crimp on your clip (J-clip, alligator clip, etc…) of choice to pick up power, and away you go. If the red LED lights on logic high, either reverse the LEDs, or the red/black wires at the pot. The whole thing should fit right back in the case, though minor modifications (a.k.a. Hacking) might be needed, depending on the size of the trimpot. 😌 To set the trimpot, find a cheap Chinese thing with a 555 in it (that works), and measure pin 3, then adjust until you get roughly the same brightness from the red and green LEDs, or wire up a 555 astable circuit with 50% duty cycle (schematics can be found all over the Internet) if you don’t have cheap Chinese electronics handy. Put the probe back together (so you don’t electrocute yourself on 5 VDC - yeah, right! 🤣😆😂) You can further “hack: this by replacing the two discrete LEDs with a 2-pin “bicolor” LED, then adjust for a nice yellow color on 50% duty cycle. Now you can detect Hi-Z (no LED lit), logic low (red LED lit), logic high (green LED lit), and oscillations (yellow for roughly 50% duty cycle), such as a clock circuit, or the address/data-bus lines on a CPU.
The thermistor kind of looks like one of the old "Dog Bone" resistors without any resin covering it :)
I love how older equipment still works...over 40 years later for this one!
I watch Mr. Carlson's Lab to see the old stuff renewed.
Hmm Martindale tster over the years would be fun from the magnetic vibrating cylindrical thing the neon variable voltmeters 🙂 as always a great video
Thanks Clive. It strikes me that they may have used the tubular PTC thermistor rather than the disc-type as it would likely cool faster and hence re-set faster allowing the user to check again sooner at higher voltages if they missed the initial flash. Cheers.
I like the old wiggies because you got a light and an aproxomante voltage estimation plus you can feel it vibrating. Also pretty cheap. 🙂
I've got a set of Martindale test lamps at work which light at 50, 100, 200 and 400V but I've wondered what those are like internally compared to something as simple as this tester.
East German voltage tester :- lick your fingers and hope for the best.
We had an Autolec car battery charger, it came free when my parents bought a Vauxhall Cavalier Mk1
Nice and simple tester.
I don't know if you ever done a video of a Wiggy tester ? A Wiggy tester use a solenoid to "load" the measuring for excluding ghost voltages.
The higher the voltage, the more the solenoid moves. The moving part is connected to a reading scale.
Thanks for that Clive
That thing is older than me, but unlike me seems to functioning well.. Manufactured back when things were built to last... not get a year out of it and then onto the e-waste pile.
"Slightly squirmy...but...it never blew up, which is also reassuring."
Clive you might want to clean the dust out incase someone uses it on the higher voltages and they get an arc over in the dust. We know how bad flower mills go bang from dust explosions. Granted it would only make a small pop. But I bet the person tha got the pop might need a change of shorts after the fact. Stay safe at work.
Almost identical to my old steiner one which does have a wee 12v battery inside & an orange button for continuity .
Ah.. sweet childhood memorys. Somewhere in the dark corners of my basement mine could still exist.
I sometimes use a tester like this for test tripping rcd (30mA ones) simply put it in phase + earth. works nice for me...
The tester blowing up in your hand would be the least of your worries if you managed to draw an arc between the busbars when you pulled the probes away! People have been killed doing just that!
When I was an apprentice it was Duspols, Now being an industrial electrician its a Fluke multimeter because I work on so many odd voltages
Simple, clever and tough
a simple design like that is made to hold up and last !
Nice, I always wondered how these things regulated LED brightness over such a wide voltage range while staying safe and not exploding.
ED 30 s stands for "Einschaltdauer" 30 Seconds, the maximum time after which the device has to be disconnected to cool down.
No need to ReInvent the wheel !
Thanks Clive.
;)
Remind me pls. Why i should not check voltage in socket holding common of multimeter in hand? I know i shouldn't but i not remember why, but i remember it works.
I would be curious to see a plot of resistance over time for different voltages.
I realise that would need some form of recording device, perhaps an oscilloscope. Something I know you're not keen on but, it would be interesting.
ofc those have been carefully designed. It is german engeneering. In many applications there is a factor of safety which often was choosen higher then really needed.
Steel cable as xmp
my dad used to hoist stuff with a car crane and one time he liftet a 10 ton concrete block with 4 2.5ton rated cables
3 snapped as they had damage beforhand but 4th did not.
btw im german my dad is german and the steel cables aswell
was like 25 years ago i think
Wow a pre-Hasslehoff item!
Had to be west Germany, if east Germany even saw anything close to high voltage, it would be by peering over the wall or by watching the mysterious lights in the sky 😂
I never throw tools out, but when I cleared out my late fathers electrical box - that thing went in the bin.
I used to own one of these in the 80s
I am interested in knowing how it would work with modern led, I hope you make that modification.
If you change the LEDs, you could also add an audible indicator.
I had one of them Clive they were good at time
No way I got this exact version from my grandpa a long time ago. His version had red instead of orange plastics though :)
Thos brings up memories. I had the same.
1980, holy shit I was 5. And I am old as hell.
thanks for that!
Ooh I had that one! Probably 25-30 years ago
i have tested a similar tester.. but it had LEDs for each different ranges.
I didn't even know there was such thing as a test lamp over 50 volts.
Now I know how to get round pins in UK sockets.
Awesome Video big clive
West German here!
To test a 13 AMP socket, we use a 100-watt bulb plug into a lamp holder with two wirers that were soldered two nails with the head cut off and tape up with half an inch left bear so we would push the nails into the 13 sockets and the lamp would light up and yes that socket OK Would we do that now NO
Vintage! I still use one most days!!
Snap ! I had the very same
Awesome, I have the exact same tester. Unbranded though, or maybe the brand has been worn off over time.
Clive, Have you filmed any tech content from the fringe/tattoo this year?