Fused Test Leads.

Re: Fused Test Leads.

A Colleague seems to think that nobody in the appliance trade would bother spending the money on them, just wondered how right he was. I’ve got a set on my meter but they came with the meter so I have’nt gone out & spent extra money on them.

Re: Fused Test Leads.

All good meters have fuses & cutout’s to protect the meter, the idea of Fused test leads is to protect the operator when voltage testing. In the event of an overload or arcover they apparently blow virtually instantly & faster than the internal fuse of the meter.

Re: Fused Test Leads.

Hi Martin: Not trying to start an argument here but i’d be interested where you got the above information about fused test leads coming as standard with quality meters ? At the moment i’ve got an Amprobe 38 series & a Robin AR4007 both quality meters, neither of which come with fused leads as standard. I checked Agilent & Fluke multimeters with several test equipment wholesalers & none of the show fused test leads as standard, most come with TL75 hardpoint leads but you can buy Fused test leads to add to them at around £79 a set.

Don’t think he does have a chip on his shoulder about the appliance trade, when we were doing a job together in a Restaurant I was using my meter with Fused test leads & he asked about them. During the conversation he said he could’nt see many appliance engineers (Commercial or Domestic) spending a packet on fused test leads if they did’nt have to he does’nt do Domestic just catering equipment & he’s never seen a Catering equipment engineer with them either

Re: Fused Test Leads.

Hi Martin: Sorry for the delay in replying, only just turned the lappy back on. Fair assumption to be honest going on your own experience, I suppose from the manufacturers point of view they lose money if they put a set of fused leads with the meter. I looked at some pretty high priced meters from both Agilent & Fluke and none seem to come with Fused leads, not even the Industrial meters.
GS38 seems to say that Fused test leads should be used, but does’nt specifically mention our trade. Most rules & regulations regarding the electrical industry nowadays seem to be a bit Hazy around the edges though.

Re: Fused Test Leads.

Hi Stratfordgirl: Fused test leads can be a good investment. If your thinking of buying a set, take a look in your local TLC Electrical as they do them at a good price. Don’t take this the wrong way but don’t you think diagnosis by resistance testing takes longer ?

Re: Fused Test Leads.

Ah right, I spend a lot of time doing Electrical Fault Finding & testing on different things so I suppose it gives me a sort of lopsided view of things.