I live at an airport in Florida - land of hurricanes & lightning and in bad weather we effectively become an island. I am part of our Community Emergency Response Team, and am testing some NCVTs to see if any are suitable as team protection equipment.
I found two areas of concern:
1. They turn themselves off to conserve power and there’s no way to lengthen the power-on time, or disable the auto-off feature.
2. For some brands, changing the battery requires The Patience of Job, tools, and/or the absence of fingernails.
Any thoughts on a NCVT brand that will stay on for an extended period and has batteries that can be changed without a fuss? The current pack leader is made by Commercial Electric…but it still doesn’t meet 100% criteria. Thoughts?
Our cabin is about 30 years older than your house, but the wiring was added later (1950s?). So, no Knob & Tube wiring, but we do still have some older 'hybrid' cable -- 2 conductors with plastic insulation (no ground) and a sheath made from woven cloth. It is still in good shape, and only feeds 2-prong outlets (very few of the devices we have require a ground anyway). I may replace the 2-prong outlets with GFCI outlets.
BTW, why haven't you tested the high voltage line laying on the ground yet? ;-)
When I was in high school (1970s) we had friends who lived on Gillis Falls Road (near Mount Airy). There were power lines running through their property. They showed us how an ordinary fluorescent tube would illuminate when held below the lines.
I live at an airport in Florida - land of hurricanes & lightning and in bad weather we effectively become an island. I am part of our Community Emergency Response Team, and am testing some NCVTs to see if any are suitable as team protection equipment.
I found two areas of concern:
1. They turn themselves off to conserve power and there’s no way to lengthen the power-on time, or disable the auto-off feature.
2. For some brands, changing the battery requires The Patience of Job, tools, and/or the absence of fingernails.
Any thoughts on a NCVT brand that will stay on for an extended period and has batteries that can be changed without a fuss? The current pack leader is made by Commercial Electric…but it still doesn’t meet 100% criteria. Thoughts?
Gretchen
I have a few in my lab that are always on. What specifically are you wanting to test?
Have you tried this? I have a few in my lab and they’re always on. Are you teaching volunteers how to do the testing? https://a.co/d/eyH4Ukv
Thanks Mike..I really appreciate your expertise and your sharing it.
Our cabin is about 30 years older than your house, but the wiring was added later (1950s?). So, no Knob & Tube wiring, but we do still have some older 'hybrid' cable -- 2 conductors with plastic insulation (no ground) and a sheath made from woven cloth. It is still in good shape, and only feeds 2-prong outlets (very few of the devices we have require a ground anyway). I may replace the 2-prong outlets with GFCI outlets.
BTW, why haven't you tested the high voltage line laying on the ground yet? ;-)
I had an offer to do some induced voltage testing directly below 500,000 Volt power lines, but my wife convinced me it was a bad idea. 😁
When I was in high school (1970s) we had friends who lived on Gillis Falls Road (near Mount Airy). There were power lines running through their property. They showed us how an ordinary fluorescent tube would illuminate when held below the lines.
Great article! Thanks Mike. Sounds like we need a product that has a NCVT built into a shoe or other clothing articles that can be worn all the time!