Plug-In Analyzer Vs Circuit Tester

[Diane Selwyn]

Is there any difference between a plug-in analyzer and a circuit tester? Thanks.

P.S. I'm not an electrician, I'm a linguist. I need to know what exactly a plug-in analyzer is.

 

[Lurch]

It would depend on a few things, one could be said to be a sub-class of the other, and vice-versa depending on who you ask. An analyzer is American, an analyser would be English.

A plug-in analyser and a circuit tester could well be the same thing, or completely different depending on what it is exactly you are referring to specifically.

 

[Sidewinder]

Diane,

I am guessing that you are doing a translation.

The best way would be to post the original language paragraph, or at least sentence, along with your translation.

That way we can see at least the rudiments of the context of the technical language.

This is how I used to help my German colleagues translate technical German into correctly technical English.

To the extent after a few months even though I only had a VERY rudimentary grasp of German, I could translate the technical stuff easily for them as I knew the procedures that they were trying to describe.

 

[Diane Selwyn]

Well, I'm a teacher of English. It's from the textbook.

The context is the following: 'We also sell electronic equipment for electricians. We have multimeters, plug in analyzers and labeling machines.'

There is the following definition of the plug in analyzer: A plug-in analyzer is a machine used to check circuits to make sure they are correctly installed and safe.

I just wanted to know if a circuit tester is the same thing and to learn more about plug-in analyzers.

 

[roys]

Hi Diane, you don't happen to have a picture or price of said item as it could be anything from a simple plug in circuit tester costing about £5 to a plug in power analyser costing considerably more.

 

[Diane Selwyn]

Hi Roys. Unfortunately, there is neither a picture nor a price. That's why I became curious about the terminology.

Thank you everybody for the comments, I've found them helpful.

 

[kerching]

Do you uave a name, make, model,number or series number for this piece of kit?

Another issue is some people call these type of items by the wrong name as well!

To a UK spark an analyser would be something you connected to a piece of equipment or supply, then set various parameters and let the unit provide a real time set of results or provide a trace. This then , usually,,has to be interpreted by the user in order to extract the required results.

Somempieces of kit will,give you an exact answer....i have a phone line tester that will,not only provide a trace on screen, test all parameters, store results etc but will,give a VERY good interpretation of the results ie

OPEN CIRCUIT FAULT AT 567m

or

SHORT CIRCUIT AT 1279m

There are some many instruments it is hard to give a definitive answer

 

[apprentice87]

Hi Diane,

Just though i would send you a sensible clear answer as to how the terms would be used in "everyday" english by "ordinary people".... In order to test an electrical circuit, yes, you would normally use some form of "circuit tester". This would mean that you had to carry out several tests and be able to understand the results and interpret them to see what the problem, if any, was..

A "plug in analyser" would generally infer a much more simple to use device that you would just plug in, and then the device would do the testing for you automatically, and then for example,show a red light if there was a fault. A sort of simple "pass or fail" test..

This kind of device would mainly be used by amateurs....

See it like this. A circuit tester might be analogous to the fuel gauge on your car, it might say "20 litres" and you yourself would have to decide if you had enough fuel, whereas an "analyser" might be compared to a simple light that came on to tell you that the fuel was low....

As my friends have suggested, there ARE "analysers" that are very specialised devices, but these would only be used by highly qualified specialists, so i think you can forget about them for your purposes..

Hope this helps....

john..

 

[Lurch]

A "plug in analyser" would generally infer a much more simple to use device that you would just plug in, and then the device would do the testing for you automatically, and then for example,show a red light if there was a fault. A sort of simple "pass or fail" test..

This kind of device would mainly be used by amateurs....

See it like this. A circuit tester might be analogous to the fuel gauge on your car, it might say "20 litres" and you yourself would have to decide if you had enough fuel, whereas an "analyser" might be compared to a simple light that came on to tell you that the fuel was low....

I'd say the opposite! The only analysers I have are complex machines and the results would mean absolutely nothing to most people.

 

[kerching]

What lurch said!

Analogous to the fuel gauge.......plug in tester tells you that you have fuel and possibly how much.

Fuel,analyser would tell you if it was diesel or petrol,or parafin or meths or dogs urine.

Calorific value. Etc etc etc

Somewhere in between these two extremes would be the software in the car that tells you

Distance to refuel

Distance from refuel

Mpg

Avg speed etc

 

[apprentice87]

Yes, but we are not trying to demonstrate to the OP how clever electricians are, we are trying to help her translate things..... References to "circuit testers" indicate that the audience concerned are not phd electrical engineers, but the russian version of the "man on the clapham omnibus"

How would you feel if you asked a simple question about the translation into russian [and usage] of the terms "Measuring instrument" and "gauge" and got a speech about "variables and attributes"

john..

 

[Lurch]

Yes, but we are not trying to demonstrate to the OP how clever electricians are

That wasn't my intention, I was trying to point out that the actual question the OP asked is quite ambiguous and there isn't a clear answer with the information we have.

For instance (and I am not trying to look clever!) I have analyser for TV signals and most of the results show signal levels and BER etc, I have a flue gas analyser which shows loads of details about the content of gases, but neither of these show any sort of pass/fail.

I would also say most of us have a tester which shows loads of info about electrical installations, but generally it doesn't have a pass fail as it would depend on the installation that you were testing and the limits that would determine a pass or fail would be different.

A circuit tester I would class as a simple continuity tester, or a plug in Martindale type tester.

 

[apprentice87]

Hi Lurch,

My comments were not meant to be construed as a dig at you!! Sorry if it came across that way!!!! [Just gave you a scoob cos it is christmas!!]

john..

 

[Diane Selwyn]

Nice to see that my question has caused so much discussion.

I've got one more question. Can we call a Plug-Bug GFCI Receptacle Tester a plug-in analyzer?

P.S. I can't attach a picture because I don't have enough posts here.

 

[Andy™]

we dont have them, out equivilent is an RCD. but they provide protection against earth faults, they are not test equipment so cant realy be called an analyser

 

[Diane Selwyn]

Here is the link: http://www.elexp.biz/tst_9610.htm

 

[roys]

I would not call that an analyser, I would call it " receptacle plug in GFCI tester"

As said earlier an analyser would be taking the testing to a whole different level, that to me is too basic to be called an analyser

 

[Blue Duck]

That is what we call a socket tester. Not much good at finding anything other than basic wiring faults. useful for isolating circuits though.

the GFCI button will cause the GFCI to trip with set parameters but not provide any information as to the performance of said GFCI.

 

[Lurch]

we dont have them, out equivilent is an RCD. but they provide protection against earth faults, they are not test equipment so cant realy be called an analyser

I think you have misread a post again. This is what Diane was referring to.

I'd class it as more of a circuit tester than an analyser.

 

[binky]

defo not an analyser, think translation from American terminology is the issue