inexpensive insulation tester?

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Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
Remember, cheap and quality aren't always referencing the same thing. I have Flukes. $300-500. Don't remember. Those are relatively inexpensive compared to some. Johnstone Supply sells some that are $100 plus or.minus a bit.

i went with the fluke 1587... $625 or so. now, it doesn't have the stones that one of zogs sets has
(his make UFO's drop out of the sky from the corona) but it'll tell you most of what you need to
know in the field.

fluke's are overpriced, and they work. you can get equivalent for less, and i had one of
those till i checked the output on a tig welder, and found it was only good to use on 60 HZ.

it blinked twice, and went Pffftttt....

the fluke that replaced it measured the offending tig welder nicely. a fluke 87, now 22
years old, still works perfectly. not the latest insulation rating, but i'm not going into
therapy over it. a backup for the 1587, but largely unused.

my day to day mulitmeter is a fluke 12. discontinued. i like it enough that i have two
new ones in boxes for spares, so i'm good to go for the rest of the time i need meters.
the one in service is 20 years old, as well.
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
I was looking at this insulation tester, 50MOHM, for almost 300 bucks. Most I have looked at are around 1000. What's the cheapest/quality tester that's on the market today. I would appreciate any feedback


http://www.mitchellinstrument.com/y...n-tester-my10-02.html?source=froogle-mitchell


um.... it's a handcrank.... analog..... geez....

get a fluke. the cheapest one is $500, the pricier one is $625.
this thing is $300.....

this thing is best used for bringing up nightcrawlers. seriously.
 

brian john

Senior Member
Location
Leesburg, VA
If you are bothering testing why not get something that can be calibrated and from a reliable manufacture

Get the Fluke 1507 and be done with it.
 

renosteinke

Senior Member
Location
NE Arkansas
Spoken like a true Fluke salesman!

If you wish to say that Supco is an unreliable manufacturer ... say so, and let's see what you base your opinion on. Otherwise, feel free to apply for work at a supermarket tabloid, where innuendo is the catch of the day.

"Calibrated?" Please. Not every operation is suitable for calibration .... and, for our purposes, a simple pass/fail test is all we need. For $150, you can't beat the Supco.

But, that's OK by me. If folks want to throw their money away on overly complicated widgets, be my guest.

Don't get me wrong; Fluke generally makes fine stuff - perhaps 'finer' than most. They're not the only game in town, and are definitely a latecomer to the 'megger' business. They are also quite proud of their products. It wasn't that long ago that even DMM's were "company" tools, as they were priced out of the reach of the employee.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Remember, cheap and quality aren't always referencing the same thing. I have Flukes. $300-500. Don't remember. Those are relatively inexpensive compared to some. Johnstone Supply sells some that are $100 plus or.minus a bit.

I bought this one from Johnstone Supply for about $150.00 about 6 years ago.

I don't think I would depend on it for accuracy or for preventive maintenance recordings, but is very effective for simple pass/fail tests.
 

renosteinke

Senior Member
Location
NE Arkansas
I have had the Supco - a slightly different, earlier version - for just under five years.

It was most recently used to identify a bad field wire in a DC motor; motor was sent for repair.
 

macmikeman

Senior Member
The Supco 500 is a true dream tool for a residential "sales" person. I would know, and that is it's primary use for me.

The technical details of that is best left to your imaginations.
 
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