Quote:
Originally Posted by evingar
I disagree.
White it's obviously the case that following the correct procedure minimises the risks greatly, a properly designed meter reduces the risk of dire consequences if you do something daft. Given that we all occasionally do daft things, this is a big deal !
Then there is the case of transients. Even if you are doing all the right procedural things, a transient can cause a Arc Flash. A properly designed meter reduces the risk substantially.
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When I originally mentioned transients as a problem, I wasn't referring to "arc flashes". I was thinking of a fried meter. Or to be more accurate a totally dead chip inside the meter. I did investigate one such case, and I found buying a replacement chip would cost about four times more than just buying a new meter. Go figure.
And of course, I only surmise that transients were the cause of the demise of several meters. It typically happened while I had the meter hooked up to some part of a valve unit. And just after I had I flicked switch or two. The trouble with flicking switches is that the circuit configuration changes, and if that results in heavy current changes in large inductors, high voltage transients are a likely result. Valves just shrug off such transients - but modern ICs expire if they have no heavyweight protection circuits in place.
Of course the prices of the units we are discussing are extremely low. Its more the annoyance factor I was thinking of. One moment you have a working test set up - the next one or more meters has departed this world. And you are left scurrying about for another one.......
Richard