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Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.153.24] on Monday, July 23, 2012 at 20:12:05 :
In Reply to: Re: Man up? posted by junoir copey [174.35.245.61] on Monday, July 23, 2012 at 19:14:46 :
If it had been a Fluke meter, you wouldn't have had a smoke show. Fluke meters are designed to survive being hooked across a 600 volt line while set to the amps range. In the early days for Fluke meters, when the amps range was only protected by a 2 amp 250V glass fuse, somebody did like you did, but across an industrial power line. The fuse wire vaporized so fast that it coated the inside of the tube with metal which continued to conduct electricity. The display then blew up and shot glass into the user's eye. At that time, John Fluke Sr. was still alive, and he decreed that henceforth there shall be a 3 amp 600 V fuse in series with the 2 amp 250 V fuse, so that nothing like that can ever happen again, and it hasn't. Of course Fluke meters still cost a good bit more than Canadian Tire / Harbor Freight meters.
I bet your meter didn't even have a 2 amp fuse in it. A lot of the cheap ones don't, or they have a little Christmas light fuse. It was sort of your fault, but it's a common mistake, and good meters won't go up in smoke if you do that.
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