Fluke 1AC II A1, 1AC II A2, 1AC II E1, 2AC Service Guide

A million and one uses
for voltage detectors

Application Note

Voltage detectors are a quick, inexpensive way to check
for the presence of live voltage on ac circuits, switches
and outlets before working on them. Also known as
voltage wands, sticks, “power sniffers” or pens, they
clip into a shirt pocket and “chirp” or glow when they
detect voltage on exposed conducting parts or through
insulation.

These types of voltage detectors are designed for
non-contact, live-not live voltage detection on electrical
circuits found in residential, commercial and industrial
buildings. Incidental contact with live electrical conduc­tors is not an issue as long as the detector is rated
appropriately for the voltage level and the electrical
safety category in which it will be used. In addition, the
user must exercise safe work practices and wear any
appropriate PPE required.

Voltage detector safety

By telling you whether or not a
circuit is live before you work on
it, voltage detectors provide a
critical safety function. How­ever—getting safe, reliable read­ings requires purchasing the
right kind of voltage detector for
your work environment and then
following these guidelines.

1.

Always verify that the volt­age detector is working
properly

Use the detector to test a
known live circuit both before
and after you test an unknown
circuit, and make sure it gives
you the proper response. The
same practice applies to multi­meters. If there is any doubt in
your mind about whether the
circuit is truly live or dead, use
an additional method to verify
the test results. You only have
to be right once to make it all
worthwhile.

ote: Some voltage detectors, such as the

N
updated Fluke 1AC II, have a self-test
function built-in that will verify whether
the detector is operational

2. Ensure that the voltage

detector you are using is
appropriately rated

measurement environment
you’re working in and is
within the voltage range
you’re testing. Industrial envi­ronments are generally CAT III
or CAT IV. Not all voltage
detectors are safety rated,
however, and they’re not
equally sensitive. Some detec
tors w
voltage that others won
detect at all
the detector you
will perform the same as oth­ers you

before you rely on it.

.

for the

ill read small levels of

’t

’t assume that

on

. D

’re using now

’ve used in the past

.

-

From the Fluke Digital Library @ www.fluke.com/library

3. Capacitive voltage detectors

have certain limitations.

rect operation depends upon

the capacitance between the

detector’s barrel and ground

(normally through your hand

and body). If this path is bro-

ken for any reason, the detec-

tor probably won’t work. For

example, if you’re standing on

a wooden ladder, the capaci-

tance between your body and

ground will be much less than

if you were standing on a con-

crete floor. To help avoid

incorrect detector readings,

find an installation g

you can touch when using the

voltage detector

a series c

capacitance, the greater the

voltage drop: there might be

too much voltage drop from

you to the floor and too little

across the detector. The detec-

tors will also have a certain

minimum voltage to turn on. In

our wooden ladder scenario,

the detector might not turn on

despite the circuit being hot.

By similar reasoning, the

detector

conductors inside a grounded

metal conduit.

For best results always hold

the detector by the body and

remember to keep your fin-

gers away from the tip of the

detector.

. Remember, in

ircuit, the smaller the

cannot detect live

Cor-

round that

Favorite applications from the field

Most technicians use their voltage detectors daily, to
verify power is off before working in an electrical area
and to quickly map circuits. However, like most such
practical tools, real-life offers many other applications
for a good voltage detector.

By David Welch

I work in an extremely corrosive
atmosphere. On this particular
day our crew was to disconnect
a 480 volt motor. No big deal: we
shut off the breaker and tested
the circuit with a standard volt
tester. It didn’t show any voltage
when the leads touched the
screws on the breaker phase to
phase and phase to ground. I
happened to have my Fluke 1AC
tester in my pocket and decided
to test the load side of the
breaker. The Fluke tester showed
voltage on C phase where the
breaker had failed to open. The
breaker failure was a result of
that phase in the motor ground­ing. The test leads on my other
tester did not show the voltage,
due to the amount of corrosion
on the screws. The Fluke tester
with its inductive capabilities
might just have saved a life.
From this day forward I always
double check with my Fluke 1AC
tester. Safety is the number pri­ority and we now issue ever
a 1AC tester as standard issued
test equipment.

yone

By Logan Cleek

Well my truck started acting up,
running rough etc. Not being an
auto mechanic I didn’t have any
diagnostic tools for that. So I
grabbed my Fluke 1AC pen, held
it by all four plug wires, and
found one that was flashing dif­ferent than the rest. So, I pulled
that plug and found that it was
fouled and its plug wire was bad.

By Michael Hays

I’d been helping the plant elec­trician do the industrial shop
lighting repairs/PM’s. Up until
recently, it was a two, sometimes
three man job—two in our Man­lift, and a third on the ground, to
find and switch off power to the
various light banks. Since equip­ping ourselves with Fluke volt
pens, we’ve reduced the ‘men’ to
two, and on week ends, just one,
as we now can quickly and
safely check the presence of
440 V ac on our lighting, as well
as other basic voltage checks,
throughout the plant.

New and improved: The Fluke 1AC II Voltage Detector

Chuck Hansen of Professional Electric, Inc
the new Series II 1AC voltage detector and liked it - a lot. “Other voltage
detectors I’ve tried haven’t worked reliably. I couldn’t trust them. This
new 1A
primarily for troubleshooting and tracing old work.”

New feature

•

•

•

•

2 Fluke Corporation A million and one uses for voltage detectors

C works every time. It’s never given me a false reading. I use it

I 1A

s on the Serie

T I

Safety rated to C
Sensitivity as low as 20 V

(model depending)
Chirping noise and red light

alert when live voltage is present
Self test to ensure c

A

orrect operation

s I

II 1000 V

. in Arlington, Wash tried out

C

By Scott Cleveland

I was getting ready to perform a
repair on a major machine at the
plant and used a Fluke 1AC to
spot check. I found a breaker
someone had rewired without
updating the drawings and
bypassing the lock-out point. I
started checking with my multi­meter and it did have live 480
volts on a breaker that should
have been dead. We now give
1ACs to all of our trouble shoot­ers and PM crew. It’s so easy to
check with, and we have also
used it to trace circuits. In once
case, we isolated the circuit,
powered it, and used the 1AC to
follow the circuit through several
cabinets until we found the trou­ble. It saved a lot of downtime.

By Nathan Kane

I was working on 277 volt over­head lighting with another elec­trician. We needed to make sure
the power was off. So he used
his voltage detector to check if
there was power. He had just
put new batteries in his detec­tor, and it showed no sign of life
in the wires. So, he was going
to start working. But I have a
fluke 1AC voltage detector and I
climbed up the ladder and
tested the wires with my tester.

The Fluke showed that the
power was still on. That little
tool saved us from possible
shock. I also use the tester to
make sure receptacles aren’t
wired backwards—I’ve found
that a lot just by using the 1AC.

By Eric Lewis

My company services profes­sional lighting, audio and video
equipment. That means dark
night clubs and back stages with
minimal work light. The Fluke
LVD1 and the 1AC get used
every day when working on site.
The LVD1 is perfect for clipping
to a piece of equipment, allow­ing us to actually see what we
are doing, and its voltage detec­tor capability has paid for itself
by finding breaks in ac power
cables and letting us know if the
power is getting to a component
or not. Many of the things I fix
have internal fuses, and the 1AC
detector can quickly tell me if I
need to disassemble a piece or
just replace the ac cord. They
are also indispensable in live
‘rock and roll’ shows for finding
if a stage drop (extension cord,
or ‘stinger’) is hot. If I’m on a
show, the 1AC is in my tool
pouch!

By James Turba

Normally the individual bulbs on
a new Christmas light strings
have internal shorting fuses that
maintain circuit continuity when
the filament opens. But every so
often, the wire leads break or
lose contact. When that hap­pens, all the lights in that series
go out and you have to check
each bulb to find the problem.
Instead, put your 1AC voltage
detector near the bulb socket
wires at each end of the string
to identify the “Hot” wire. Then
go to the mid point and check
the socket wires for voltage. If
voltage is present, go half way
back and check again. Keep nar­rowing down until you have a
target area and then check those
bulbs until you find the bad one.
This won’t work if the string has
a third “hot” wire, or if it has the
older kind of bulbs.

3 Fluke Corporation A million and one uses for voltage detectors

Fluke. Keeping your world

up and running.

Fluke Corporation

PO Box 9090, Everett, WA USA 98206
Fluke Europe B.V.

PO Box 1186, 5602 BD
Eindhoven, The N

For more information call:
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©2005 Fluke Corporation
Printed in U.S.A. 7/2005 2519667 A-EN-N Rev A

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