Just lost a $200 repair job because of a cheap power supply tester

I was fixing a gaming PC that wouldn't boot, and my old tester gave a false 'good' reading on the 12V rail. Spent three hours swapping parts before I hooked up my actual multimeter and found the voltage was way low. The customer got fed up waiting and took it somewhere else. Anyone have a tester they actually trust for quick checks?

3 comments

3 Comments

elizabethg531mo ago

That's brutal, man. I had a similar thing happen with a cheap voltage pen when I was wiring a bathroom fan. Thing lit up green on a dead circuit, so I cut into the wall only to find zero power. Wasted half a day and a sheet of drywall. Sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet and use the real meter from the start, even if it's slower. Those quick check tools can lie straight to your face.

river_palmer731mo ago

Ugh, my buddy's an electrician and he HATES those pens. Says they pick up ghost voltage from other wires way too easy.

gray55713d ago

My Klein meter saved me after a pen lied, and river_palmer73's buddy is totally right about ghost voltage.