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what type of voltage testers technicians use


shadow79

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i have bought a few of them in the years but they seem to have a habit of magically disappear from sight when you need them and appear when you don't need it i have stopped purchasing them now

 tester.jpg.66d81781f96db84809363098180a4632.jpg

 

now whenever i need one i just strip a bulb holder to just measure the if adequate power is there or not or the lines are good or not its very handy and does the work just fine IMG_20180704_095403.jpg.222a92218088d45af65d4474c5d4317d.jpg

 

if more precision is required then my handy dandy multimeter is always there to the rescue  IMG_20180704_100649.thumb.jpg.b70bb490f42ce63fd7fba098160e864f.jpg

 

so what you guys are using if you can share maybe we all could learn a new shortcut...?

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Generally I don’t bother with test lights. I usually go straight for the multimeter because it can save time rather than using 2 tools and testing twice for presence of power then amount of power. 

However, the Sealey PP1 power probe is a fantastic bit of kit and I wouldn’t be without one. 100 dhs or so will get one online. When you touch something with the end of the probe it will light up green or red to indicate presence of voltage and polarity. It also has a switch which can feed either positive or negative to the end of the probe and has a separate negative power lead for testing components.  Works on 6-24 volts so it’s good for everything from bikes to trucks. The first thing to do if you buy one is cut the power wire off and fit a longer one that can reach all around the car. It’s great for testing relays and things because it means you don’t need 4 hands  

056F96A1-8C37-47AB-B9AD-247341EADC61.jpeg

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saw that thing when was buying the normal tester they were asking for 140 and i was like anyway its gonna get lost so no thank you

now that you have mentioned it.. you are right i always have to shout to someone at the battery who will be changing the polarity so i can peacefully do my work of checking the circuit right...

having been playing around with such testers i have almost got the idea behind it if the light is beaming bright then its having good volts there

and in case of checking for leaks i first test the circuit with the brake bulb then again test it with the small park lights then in the end to make sure its fully cured i test it with the dashboard light that way i make really sure that there is no further current leaks running in the cars...i know its a long process but still i get it the problem with a iron feist so it wont pop up again unless some other appliance starts to act drunk....

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4 hours ago, shadow79 said:

saw that thing when was buying the normal tester they were asking for 140 and i was like anyway its gonna get lost so no thank you

now that you have mentioned it.. you are right i always have to shout to someone at the battery who will be changing the polarity so i can peacefully do my work of checking the circuit right...

having been playing around with such testers i have almost got the idea behind it if the light is beaming bright then its having good volts there

and in case of checking for leaks i first test the circuit with the brake bulb then again test it with the small park lights then in the end to make sure its fully cured i test it with the dashboard light that way i make really sure that there is no further current leaks running in the cars...i know its a long process but still i get it the problem with a iron feist so it wont pop up again unless some other appliance starts to act drunk....

I'm intrigued- how many of these bulb holders have you lost over the years? Do you just reach for another whenever you lose one? :-?

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You need to get better organised. Couple of roll cabs with cut out foam inserts. A place for everything and everything in its place. Clean and put all the tools away when your finished a job and and a quick check before you go home to see if anything is missing. Makes jobs faster too as you can reach into the box and get anything when you need it because it’s where it’s supposed to be. Customers like to see a nice clean garage with things organised, it gives the impression that the mechanic is organised. I rarely lose any tools. Mostly because I know how much it costs to replace stuff. The biggest problem is people borrowing stuff and not bringing it back but there are very few people I will lend to now and when I do I stay on top of it and send gentle reminders if not returned. If I don’t know or don’t like a person I’ll just say sorry I don’t have that tool or I’m using it. 

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many many that i have really lost count of it...lately i just buy 10 to 15 bulb holders and keep them in a box and have wiring looms handy whenever i need to extend those wires

organised is a loving word i really love it but cant seem to get in to it...i have 4 boxes and some tools which i treasure i keep them separate in the metal cupboard i have lost my 10mm 12mm and 14mms quite a few times lately i just ask for the tools from my associate and later on after finishing the work he just asks them back and places them in their place i sure know its a dent in the pocket to buy the same tools again as i am the one who ends up buying it... specially those bits and small sockets with falls in the engine bay then is magically transported to some other dimension 

i have stopped almost all the shops except from one who borrows from me and i also get tools from them others have a habit of losing them i don't know why

i remember you coming to my shop once at that time i was alone so just used to throw everything in and close the shutter and make a run for home so the shop was almost up to the brim full of old stuffs and i used to work out of the shop now that the associate has come in the shop he wanted some changes in the shop and he cleared almost everything here now i can park a car in the shop and work on it after a long time again...

no i don't have walk in customers as my shop is located away from the main road the customers in this part of the town are 99.99% only those who are sent by someone who specifically gives them my shop address...

 

 

 

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There is nothing I hate more than clutter. Apart from creating a bad impression on walk-in clients, continually having to look for stuff used to cost me money. Instead of actually working, my mechanics would stumble around looking for something, so I stopped them using their own tools and equipment about two years after I bought my shop. 

To make things easier on all of us, I supplied them all with everything they needed (cost a fortune and nearly bankrupted me, but that's another story), and made them pay for anything that "magically got transported to other dimensions". I replaced everything that broke or wore out during normal use. 

I also gave each mechanic his own workbench and lockable cabinets, and fined them ten bucks if I found anything on the floor in their work stations. At first they hated the idea of working under those conditions, but once they got used to it, they refused to leave- in fact, during the last twelve years I had the shop, I had the same staff.  

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When I was working back home every mechanic had to supply his own tools. The company only paid for big stuff like air tools over 1/2", double barrel torque wrenches etc. I liked it like that, taught me a lot of respect for my tools and I had enough of a collection to do my own work in the garage at home. No excuse for not having a tool either. 2 tool vans came twice a week and had a credit scheme but some of the guys went crazy on it and were paying off £5,000 + Snap On roll cabs for years. I ended up leaving most of my stuff to a friend when I left. He had been very good to me and helped me with a lot of personal stuff and it was the least I could do to try to pay him back.

My first mechanic job here was in a workshop in Sharjah. Got off the plane in Abu Dhabi and headed to the workshop. Arrived around midnight and had a sleep to start at 8 AM the next day. Bear in mind I had no clue about Sharjah, I was as green as grass and I thought it was like Dubai. I got a shock when I rolled into the shop in the morning. The biggest bunch of rag tag hammer wielders I had ever seen in my life. One beaten up old roll cab with the drawers falling off shared between 8-9 guys. One ratchet being shared between everyone in the shop so I spent most of my time standing around drinking karak and scratching my arse. The owner was so mean he wouldn't even buy a breaker bar for loosening nuts. Yet he had to replace our one and only ratchet every few days when someone put a pipe on in and broke the mechanism. I never understood that mentality. I lasted 6 weeks before I noped right out of there.

 

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i had that rachet it was more then 25 years old my dad gave it to me we also used to put pipe on it and open tough bolts 

dad used to come by every other week to open it up and grease the balls and springs in it until it also passed on to some other dimension 

P.S dad was really pissed for that one... 

later on i got 2 ratchets one for my car and one for the shop and i also got the proper rod handle for using it with pipes :-D

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4 hours ago, Barry said:

When I was working back home every mechanic had to supply his own tools. The company only paid for big stuff like air tools over 1/2", double barrel torque wrenches etc. I liked it like that, taught me a lot of respect for my tools and I had enough of a collection to do my own work in the garage at home. No excuse for not having a tool either. 2 tool vans came twice a week and had a credit scheme but some of the guys went crazy on it and were paying off £5,000 + Snap On roll cabs for years. I ended up leaving most of my stuff to a friend when I left. He had been very good to me and helped me with a lot of personal stuff and it was the least I could do to try to pay him back.

My first mechanic job here was in a workshop in Sharjah. Got off the plane in Abu Dhabi and headed to the workshop. Arrived around midnight and had a sleep to start at 8 AM the next day. Bear in mind I had no clue about Sharjah, I was as green as grass and I thought it was like Dubai. I got a shock when I rolled into the shop in the morning. The biggest bunch of rag tag hammer wielders I had ever seen in my life. One beaten up old roll cab with the drawers falling off shared between 8-9 guys. One ratchet being shared between everyone in the shop so I spent most of my time standing around drinking karak and scratching my arse. The owner was so mean he wouldn't even buy a breaker bar for loosening nuts. Yet he had to replace our one and only ratchet every few days when someone put a pipe on in and broke the mechanism. I never understood that mentality. I lasted 6 weeks before I noped right out of there.

 

Using your own tools is the norm here, too, except for as you say, the heavy stuff. 

However, if the employer supplies the tools, that employer is sure that every mechanic has all the tools needed to do any job. I've seen cases where "mechanics" pitch up for work with a rusty box containing a few screwdrivers, a pair of pliers, and maybe a few sockets, and nothing else but a lot of hope that someone will lend him what he needs to get through a job. Needless to say, I never employed such dung-rollers.

 

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