Problems with Ideal SureTest Circuit Analyzer #61-165

[badair (Barry Adair, EIFSTX#39)]

@Mike Whitt

Thank you, I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time. If I could I would give you a greenie for that.

Someone give him one for me please.

Mike,

Covered your green
I know Manny well and he doctored that photo with a better looking guy :mrgreen:…he is a hoot to talk with and be around, though

[Mike_Whitt]

@badair

Mike,

Covered your green
I know Manny well and he doctored that photo with a better looking guy :mrgreen:…he is a hoot to talk with and be around, though

Thank you, Manny sure had me tore up with that post:mrgreen:

[ckeller (Cliff Keller)]

Appreciate the help on the Circuit Analyzer. Any advice on moisture meters?

[jfunderburk (Joe Funderburk, CMI)]

I have never seen Mike Holmes test for voltage drop.

[jpope (Jeffrey Pope, CMI)]

@jfunderburk

I have never seen Mike Holmes test for voltage drop.

That’s because he’s an actor, not an inspector. He just plays one on TV…

[jfunderburk (Joe Funderburk, CMI)]

@jpope

THat’s because he’s an actor, not an inspector. He just plays one on TV…

I was joking. :mrgreen:

[jpope (Jeffrey Pope, CMI)]

I know you were…

[elliot_rivas]

@jwickline

Help. I typically check receptacles in homes with an Ideal SureTest Circuit analyzer (#61-165). This unit will apply an appropriate load to a circuit and measure voltage drops. I will recommend further evaluation if over 10% voltage drop. I originally purchased it for testing AFCI at receptacles. I just recently discovered I lost an inspection due to a Realtors recommendation, since I recently “almost” killed a deal from being wrong about measured voltage drops on one of his listings. The owner had an electrician check voltage drops and they came up with a 3% …
John

John M. Wickline
JW Home Inspections, Inc.
Hilton Head Island, SC
JWInspect@hargray.com

Sorry to bring up an old thread, I came across this while trying to research measurement errors from the ideal suretest and I wanted to bring some information I found from my testing to the forum.
The way the suretest measures voltage drop may hide some problems with your utility service conductors. In my case it appeared there was a high voltage drop in most my outlets 10-13% @ 15A using the sure test. The sure test showed high impedance on only the hot conductor but fine on the neutral and ground. So I started checking splices in the outlet boxes and didn’t find much or get any improvement changing old wire nuts out.
The issue in my case was the way the suretest calculates neutral impedance. It takes a voltage measurement N to G unloaded and then N-G loaded, since the neutral is bonded to ground at panel it doesn’t know what is going on before that connection. If you have a high impedance neutral connection from the utility, in my case about 0.5ohms, the suretest just sees that as part of the total voltage drop and it is added to the Line/hot conductors impedance, misleading me to believe there was problems inside the house wiring but half of the voltage drop was coming from the neutral service wiring.
Long story short the utility placed a temporary conductor in place from the transformer to my main panel until they get someone out to run a proper neutral wire to my panel.
At least either way the suretest did lead me to test more to find the source of the problem, in my case a bad neutral which caused voltage imbalance at the main panel of up to around 10VAC with typical loads.