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Wiggins/Wiggington tester information

Froneck

Titanium
Joined
Dec 4, 2010
Location
McClure, PA 17059
I posted another topic on house wiring help. It was suggested I use a Wiggy common slang to wiggington tester that was made by AB. I have one some place but if I can't find it what are the names of other testers made by AB competitors? Only one I found on ebay was an old AB Wiggington tester.
I am somewhat familiar with the Wiggins tester but never used it in the way I needed. From what I found there is a common Neutral, I used a 60Watt Incandescent light bulb to provide current to the Neutral side of the line. It worked as intended. I'm wondering if a Wiggins tester will do the same thing in the it will allow enough current to flow when testing so that items on the line such as light bulbs will glow as if on reduced voltage? My Simpsom 260 will only provide 50ma due to the use of a 50ma amp meter.
No use in buying another Whiggy if I do have one and getting another if I can't find it or spend a lot of time searching for it if it will not do as required. I checked Google but get photos of other brands as well as other testers that I know will not work. Therefor would like help getting the type that will conduct about 1Amp.
While searching I came upon a 120VAC outlet tester to check outlets with ground connection to see if they are wired properly. There was a schematic posted. Various light connections would indicate problems. A switch was included that connected the "Hot" side thru a resister to ground. I assume it's to test GF outlets. I looked at the schematic briefly and can't find it again. Is there any plug-in type outlet tester that will test to see that ground and Neutral are not connected together to fool common plug in testers?
 
Check Post 30 for a couple of decent testers. One is a "Wiggy type" by the look of it, appears to have magnetic coils (not the LED strip that some do) and should be good.

I have an old style, as well as a newer one with full UL etc. Both are good.

The "wiggy" pulls enough current in it's magnetic coils to be sure of the reading, but I don't think it will make a lamp glow, unless it is a small one, like a 5W nightlight. I actually do not know what the "Wiggy" pulls on 120V. I should check that.
 
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I checked and the old style Wigginton tester draws 20 mA on 120V, or close to 2.5 VA. Not a lot, but plenty to avoid being fooled by leakage and crosstalk.

I did not check it at 480VAC. It probably is not linear with voltage, as that would be almost 40 VA.
 
Interesting, a Simpson 260 meter should draw about 20ma being it uses a 50ma meter. 250VAC setting will draw 50ma full scale so 125VAC will be half that. I guess if I make a test set and measure Voltage with an Incandescent light bulb across the line will be better for the type testing I was doing. The Electrician that "fixed" the problem by hard wiring what me and my son did as a temp. fix. Told my daughter that 2 breakers were feeding the line he was working on. He had his meter on the line and had an assistant switch breakers so as to remove voltage from the line he was intending to work on and needed #3 and #6 off. He claimed that someplace a junction box had the 2 connected together. Later he showed her the 2, both were on the Right side, he also marked them. I told her that was impossible!! All odd number breakers are on opposite phase of those that are even on Right side. I asked if he "fixed" 2nd floor before going to 3rd. No he found the problem when switching off 3rd floor then went to 2nd floor after "fixing" 3rd. Dummy must have been seeing voltage supplied to line with open Neutral on 2ns floor! My light bulb tester proved that to me when my Simpson did the same as what the electrician seen. Good thing me and my son found the problem and had my daughter tell the electricians or they would still be there looking for problems!
Thanks again for the info and Help!
 








 
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