Ideal Suretest 61-165

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roger

roger

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76nemo said:
You can thank Bill, (wptski), he's the one who first found out of the upgrade. He directed me into all of the new info.:smile:
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Well. not trying to steal anyones thunder but, I heard about it from a local supplier in October or November of last year. I hope those who may benefit from the upgrade do hear about it here or through any medium before the deadline is over.

I have supported Ideal's testers and circuit tracers for quite awhile but, I am not very impressed with their effort to make this public.

Roger
 
76nemo

76nemo

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Location
Ogdensburg, NY
roger said:
Well. not trying to steal anyones thunder but, I heard about it from a local supplier in October or November of last year. I hope those who may benefit from the upgrade do hear about it here or through any medium before the deadline is over.

I have supported Ideal's testers and circuit tracers for quite awhile but, I am not very impressed with their effort to make this public.

Roger
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Roger, no one's thunder is stolen. Bill informed me back in mid-October. I just credited him because he had the unit and knew I did as well. As a friend, he reported the upgrade to me ASAP. We all know there is no such thing as a true AFCI tester. The reason I brought it up was because of the new ELL feature added to it, and thought some others might like that. If it wasn't for the new ELL feature, I wouldn't of mentioned this due to the fact that the new AFCI upgrade won't bring us anywhere closer to an actual tester to truly rule out AFCI devices.

The upgrade is free and I hoped everyone will take advantage of it, as so did Bill. Just trying to keep everyone in the loop, and wpstki started it for me;)
 
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wptski

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Location
Warren, MI
roger said:
Well. not trying to steal anyones thunder but, I heard about it from a local supplier in October or November of last year. I hope those who may benefit from the upgrade do hear about it here or through any medium before the deadline is over.

I have supported Ideal's testers and circuit tracers for quite awhile but, I am not very impressed with their effort to make this public.

Roger
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I read about the problem way back in July last year in the Electrician Talk Forum posted by a vendor. I had a contact at Ideal and asked about it. The contact mentioned the new ELL feature and sent me a draft of the instuctions which I've posted here. I even asked if the new ELL feature would be included in the upgrade. I don't think that I ever received an answer!

I forget who posted here that the new ELL was included and I finally sent mine back after reading that post. Thanks to the poster, whoever you are!:grin:
 
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ohm

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Location
Birmingham, AL
76nemo said:
If it wasn't for the new ELL feature, I wouldn't of mentioned this due to the fact that the new AFCI upgrade won't bring us anywhere closer to an actual tester to truly rule out AFCI devices.
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Brad, because AFCI's are allowed to solve the problem any way they choose some are going to be more sensitive than others etc. and I don't see a "universal" AFCI tester hitting the streets anytime soon.

Look how vague megger readings are. If I said I had a megger reading in a house of 100 M line to gnd at 70 deg and 60% RH is that a good reading?
 
76nemo

76nemo

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Ogdensburg, NY
ohm said:
Brad, because AFCI's are allowed to solve the problem any way they choose some are going to be more sensitive than others etc. and I don't see a "universal" AFCI tester hitting the streets anytime soon.

Look how vague megger readings are. If I said I had a megger reading in a house of 100 M line to gnd at 70 deg and 60% RH is that a good reading?
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That's understood. I guess I said that because it seems alot of folks here turn their nose up at the SureTest. The upgrade solves several issues with the new dual breakers, but that still won't satisfy many that know and argue that there is no such thing as an AFCI tester besides the device itself, "......So I don't even want to hear about!!!", seems to be the vibe I have gotten alot on the matter, and that it's ".....just a glorified receptacle tester".

I purchased one strictly for loop impedance measurement, as I didn't have that capability before. That in itself was worth the cost of it right there for me.:wink:
 
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gndrod

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Ca and Wa
76nemo said:
I purchased one strictly for loop impedance measurement, as I didn't have that capability before. That in itself was worth the cost of it right there for me.:wink:
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Thanks Brad, Bill and Roger for the heads up info. 61-165 works for me also. rbj
 
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wptski

Senior Member
Location
Warren, MI
I got my SureTest 61-165 back today. For one thing, no manual update was included!:rolleyes:

I can't verify if it has a different serial number because I've lost my original one.

I plugged it into a known wired correctly receptacle and the AFCI test pops up!! I used the down arrow to get back to what should be the opening screen where the basic wiring check is done. It showed a open ground. I unplugged it and replugged it in again. Now the right screen came up showing a correctly wired receptacle and continued to come up on other receptacles. I have no idea why that happened only on the first test.:confused:

The ELL feature is on the same screen as the original ASCC1/2 feature. I'll have to refer to link above where I posted a draft of the ELL instructions since they didn't include one. I did get values of 0,1 and 2A on some receptacles.
 
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wptski

Senior Member
Location
Warren, MI
I have a bench grinder which I think is a 1/4HP single phase motor. Read right where it's plugged in. Got 1A with it OFF and 6A with it ON using the ELL feature. Looks pretty close to me!
 
76nemo

76nemo

Senior Member
Location
Ogdensburg, NY
Bill, what is your serial # at now? Obviously above 08260001, right? The tester was supposed to come with a manual supplement. You should call about that. I'll let you know if one comes with mine.
 
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Sparky555

Senior Member
wptski said:
It showed a open ground. I unplugged it and replugged it in again. Now the right screen came up showing a correctly wired receptacle and continued to come up on other receptacles. I have no idea why that happened only on the first test.:confused:
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I've had a history of problems with the false open ground readings and returned two of them. IMO it's a power cord problem.
 
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wptski

Senior Member
Location
Warren, MI
76nemo said:
Bill, what is your serial # at now? Obviously above 08260001, right? The tester was supposed to come with a manual supplement. You should call about that. I'll let you know if one comes with mine.
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Nope, it's way below that leading me to beleive that the number wasn't changed!:confused:

I just found the piece of paper where I wrote down the serial number and it's the same!
 
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wptski

Senior Member
Location
Warren, MI
ohm said:
Are power cord problems common with the 61-165 ?
Do they actually try to pull 75A RMS for the AFCI test?
What size cord is it?
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If like the voltage drop tests, it's only for a fraction of a cycle. The voltage drop test doesn't trip a breaker or blow a fuse. The included cord is #14AWG.
 
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wptski

Senior Member
Location
Warren, MI
I just noticed something else too! The wiring indicator chart on the back of the unit has all lights off listed as open hot only which is wrong, even the manual shows that as open hot/neutral. In that situation, it doesn't even power up.

Forgot to mention above that on a "legimate" open ground, it shows that.
 
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wptski

Senior Member
Location
Warren, MI
I called Ideal yesterday to ask about the lack of the manual update and the serial number being the same. They took my name and phone number to call me back with the answers but never did!:rolleyes:
 
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