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Just realized the old timers were right about carrying a multimeter, and the number that proved it to me was 60
I always figured a voltage pen was good enough for most calls, you poke the wire, it beeps, done. Then last month I was on a dryer in Mesa that kept tripping the breaker and my pen said the outlet was dead, so I started pulling the machine apart looking for a short. Four hours later I finally grabbed my multimeter and the outlet was reading 60 volts, not 120, not zero. A pen can't tell you that. It just sees enough voltage to light up or it doesn't. I looked it up that night and a floating neutral or a half dead breaker can leave you sitting at half voltage all day, and a pen will never show it to you. I've been doing this nine years and I felt like a first year guy standing there holding a toy. So yeah, I think the guys who say a meter is the first tool you buy and the last one you cheap out on are right, and I was wrong for treating it like an upgrade. How many of you still run a pen as your main check, and has it ever burned you like that?
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kaib1828d ago
What made you finally grab the meter instead of trusting the pen after nine years?
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