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Unpopular opinion: I used to hate compressor testers until a job in Denver changed my mind
I always thought those dedicated compressor testers were a waste of money. I just used my multimeter to check windings and called it good. But last month I had a fridge that kept tripping the breaker and I couldn't figure out why. My multimeter showed everything fine, but a buddy let me borrow his tester. It caught a partial short to ground that my meter totally missed. I was wrong about skipping that tool. Anyone else have a tool they ignored for years?
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thomasb416d ago
Yeah, "does the job most of the time" is exactly it. It's those random one-off weird failures that make the specialty tool worth it. I was the same way til I had a start relay acting flaky and my meter showed nothing but the compressor tester caught it immediately.
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kai_ramirez386d ago
Look, I get what you're saying but I think people overcomplicate this way too much. A basic meter catches 95% of the problems you'll ever see in the field. Those one-off weird failures are rare enough that you're better off spending the extra money on a good set of leads or a nice clamp meter. I've been doing this long enough to know that chasing every edge case just makes you broke and paranoid. Most of the time a flaky relay shows itself with a continuity check or a voltage drop test if you know what to look for. The compressor tester is nice and all but its just another thing to lug around and batteries to die on you when you need it most.
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