Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Mike Sokol" data-source="post: 96291" data-attributes="member: 1989">Re: Bad mic shockI have at least six different brands/models of NCVT&#039;s and always leave the beeper on for just that reason. Plus at least one of them (an Amprobe) has a built in &quot;shaker&quot; so it vibrates in your hand in addition to blinking a very bright light and sounding a very loud beeper. What you&#039;ll find with any of these testers is that since they were designed for testing potential on the surface area of a wire from less than an inch, when you get them close to a large &quot;hot&quot; surface such as a guitar amp, they&#039;ll BEEP from many inches away. Something as large as a &quot;hot&quot; mixing console chassis will make them light up from a foot or more away. The first time I tried one on an RV with a &quot;hot-skin&quot; condition my Fluke VoltAlert would beep from 18 inches away, and the video guy shooting the demonstration said &quot;holy s**t&quot; and nearly dropped his camera when he saw it light up from at far away. I also do a demonstration in my No~Shock~Zone seminar where I electrify the ground of an entire (small) PA system with a Mackie mixer, powered speaker, and a few microphones. I generally have a powered monitor on the floor close to my students, and start off with 40 volts AC on the ground, which will cause a standard sensitivity (90 to 1,000 volts) to beep on contact. When I then raise the demonstration voltage to 80 volts the NCVT will light up from a few inches away from the speaker at their feet, and the front row looks nervous. Finally, I crank up the transformer to 120 volts AC, and the entire front row pulls their feet away from the floor monitor and everyone gasps when I show the NCVT beeping from a foot away of the mixing console.&nbsp; I&#039;m sure that true for many pro sound technicians (and I&#039;m not being condescending), but the fact is most casual users will be confused by the idea of different color blinking lights and sensitivity controls that need to be &quot;calibrated&quot; to the situation. I&#039;m fishing for a grant that would allow me to teach NoShockZone seminars at music schools around the country and give away a bunch of NCVT&#039;s to students at each location. But it&#039;s gonna be a simple tester since they&#039;ll probably throw it in their guitar case and need something really simple to operate. It would be great if somebody made a NCVT that not only beeped, but included a little digital meter to show potential voltage. Of course it wouldn&#039;t be that accurate, but it would give a range of potential &quot;hot-ground&quot; voltages. What brand retention tester did you get?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mike Sokol, post: 96291, member: 1989"] Re: Bad mic shock I have at least six different brands/models of NCVT's and always leave the beeper on for just that reason. Plus at least one of them (an Amprobe) has a built in "shaker" so it vibrates in your hand in addition to blinking a very bright light and sounding a very loud beeper. What you'll find with any of these testers is that since they were designed for testing potential on the surface area of a wire from less than an inch, when you get them close to a large "hot" surface such as a guitar amp, they'll BEEP from many inches away. Something as large as a "hot" mixing console chassis will make them light up from a foot or more away. The first time I tried one on an RV with a "hot-skin" condition my Fluke VoltAlert would beep from 18 inches away, and the video guy shooting the demonstration said "holy s**t" and nearly dropped his camera when he saw it light up from at far away. I also do a demonstration in my No~Shock~Zone seminar where I electrify the ground of an entire (small) PA system with a Mackie mixer, powered speaker, and a few microphones. I generally have a powered monitor on the floor close to my students, and start off with 40 volts AC on the ground, which will cause a standard sensitivity (90 to 1,000 volts) to beep on contact. When I then raise the demonstration voltage to 80 volts the NCVT will light up from a few inches away from the speaker at their feet, and the front row looks nervous. Finally, I crank up the transformer to 120 volts AC, and the entire front row pulls their feet away from the floor monitor and everyone gasps when I show the NCVT beeping from a foot away of the mixing console. I'm sure that true for many pro sound technicians (and I'm not being condescending), but the fact is most casual users will be confused by the idea of different color blinking lights and sensitivity controls that need to be "calibrated" to the situation. I'm fishing for a grant that would allow me to teach NoShockZone seminars at music schools around the country and give away a bunch of NCVT's to students at each location. But it's gonna be a simple tester since they'll probably throw it in their guitar case and need something really simple to operate. It would be great if somebody made a NCVT that not only beeped, but included a little digital meter to show potential voltage. Of course it wouldn't be that accurate, but it would give a range of potential "hot-ground" voltages. What brand retention tester did you get? [/QUOTE]

Verification