The non contact volt tester will detect the presence of any kind of electricity. What I do is rub the tester against the clothes I'm wearing to create static electricity. Sometimes you're not around another source of power to pretest and post test the tester but, it will detect static electricity. So, before AND after I test for the presence of AC volts, I test for static electricity. Simple and easy and unless it's crazy humid, this works every time. If I don't get a reading, I really want to know that my tester is really working or maybe if using a multimeter, a lead has failed.
The non contact volt tester will detect the presence of any kind of electricity. What I do is rub the tester against the clothes I'm wearing to create static electricity. Sometimes you're not around another source of power to pretest and post test the tester but, it will detect static electricity. So, before AND after I test for the presence of AC volts, I test for static electricity. Simple and easy and unless it's crazy humid, this works every time. If I don't get a reading, I really want to know that my tester is really working or maybe if using a multimeter, a lead has failed.