Di-Log tester

[Ray66]

Haa anyone used these Di log testers? Any good?

 

[Tim Howard]

Nothing wrong with them.
If you are buying one 2nd hand, I'd suggest you find one with 12 months calibration on it from a seller that accepts returns.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Haa anyone used these Di log testers? Any good?

Never used them.. So I cannot comment.. I guess they are probably as good as various other brands..

But my question would be.. how easy are they to hold and operate up ladders on a lighting circuit?

 

[Tim Howard]

But my question would be.. how easy are they to hold and operate up ladders on a lighting circuit?

If you have the probe with test button, not too bad.
But I know what you mean.
Megger has had hands free continuity tests going back to the BM series and once you’ve used it you want it!
If I was starting out I’d get a 15xx, they are bullet proof, batteries last forever, and they are easy to use.

 

[Marvo]

I had a Dilog earth leakage clamp tester many years ago, it was about a third of the price of the Fluke or Megger and it did the job for about 3 years before it died for no apparent reason.

 

[Phoenix]

Megger has had hands free continuity tests going back to the BM series and once you’ve used it you want it!

I liked the hands free loop tests on the LTW range of loop testers, they were 2 wire (even on no-trip) and would autostart as soon as it detected 240v. You did have to be a little careful though, if you were careless and put line on first and ended up touching the earth probe and you were a bit earthy, it would see 240v and try and do a loop test, once it bit you once, you'd learn to be more carful so wasn't a big thing. The non trip loop testing was like it is on a lot of testers though, a bit like a fruit machine sometimes with the result.

Using a megger X1 multi-function at the moment, I do like it, but reliability is not there, its had to go back under warrenty a couple of times, and sometimes it'll randomly scramble the screen and you have to switch it off and on again. The non-trip loop test (at least on the three wire setting) is accurate most of the time and quite quick, which I like, but they have gone backwards on the auto start functionality. Took me a while of thinking there was something wrong because I'd enabled it in the menu, but it wasn't doing it, but it more like you can pre-press the test button before putting the probes on, then it'll do the test when youve got power, but you have to press the button for each test you do, which I find pariculaly annoying on 3phase supplies where you just want to move onto the next phase, it needs another press. The other thing, is that if you pre-press the button, and you end up connecting line before (earth) or neutral then it'll stop and bring up an error, which has to be cleared with a different button, then you can press test again! (Now I understand that this is probably a safety thing to stop folk loop testing through themselves as per above with the LTW series, but I do wish there would be an option to have it change to having it bring up a message telling you to check your earth is pushed onto terminal enough and then clear when issue is resolved and then carry on with the test automatically. Obviously whoever designed it has not been stuck at the top of a pair of steps holding the gear tray of a ani-corrosive fitting with short incomming cables while trying to hold test probes on the connector block while trying not to call the tester some 4 letter words in an environment it would not be appriciated....

 

[Tim Howard]

I liked the hands free loop tests on the LTW range of loop testers, they were 2 wire (even on no-trip) and would autostart as soon as it detected 240v. You did have to be a little careful though, if you were careless and put line on first and ended up touching the earth probe and you were a bit earthy, it would see 240v and try and do a loop test, once it bit you once, you'd learn to be more carful so wasn't a big thing.

Been there are done that.
I like Megger gear - I know the 15xx series intimately, I had one that failed calibration, I got hold of a service manual and worked out how to calibrate it at home, and next time around it passed with flying colours. It's a very well made machine, in my opinion having had both in pieces I'd rate it higher than the 17xx series in terms of design and build quality.

Using a megger X1 multi-function at the moment

Similarly I recently got one, mainly as I got a contract testing a site with 54 boards and the CertSuite link was appealing.

I'm with you all the way on auto-start loop tests, needing to press the button first is annoying, especially when you forget and have climbed a ladder to get two probes onto the right terminals in an FCU.
Similarly for testing a row of RCBOs.
The delay in starting the IR tests also annoys me; I've still got a functional Robin KTS 1620 that comes out to play for serious fault finding as you get 500v immediately to the leads and the answer immediately!

I had a strange new X1 quirk yesterday, I IR'd a circuit and got 230M but also a very loud beep. Nothing else on screen to say why (apart from leakage = 2 nano amps). It certainly wasn't live.
I take comfort in the user-firmware update ability though. They will get it right in the end. Probably.

 

[Tim Howard]

@Phoenix - firmware 9.0.0 for X1 allegedly sorts out the auto-start of loop tests.

 

[Phoenix]

Thanks for that... bit of silly question, but how do I update the firmware in it :s is there a USB port somewhere to plug it into a PC

 

[Tim Howard]

Thanks for that... bit of silly question, but how do I update the firmware in it :s is there a USB port somewhere to plug it into a PC

You need a micro-SD card. You put the firmware on it, stick it in the tester, turn it on, wait until it turns off, remove it, and off you go.



I'm not updating mine this time until I finish a large testing job, but I've done it before and it was fairly simple.