18 August, 2014

UK Socket Tester

I got this from Spiratronics, a UK seller on eBay. It wasn't very expensive. About 3 GBP + 3 GBP for shipping, and I got it in 11 days. It tests for improperly wired sockets, like live-neutral swap or missing earths, but it doesn't detect neutral-earth swap (the hardest to test). There were more expensive models that could test ELCB/RCDs, but I thought I didn't need those features.

Testers for UK sockets are quite hard to find. I thought I could get them from HK sellers, but in the end I couldn't. China and US socket testers are, of course, the most common. This is still made in HK, though. Sheesh. It's by the company "Ever-Winner Electric Works Ltd", part number PL10052. They didn't list a website. Maybe someone will have better luck than me and be able to buy it directly from HK. I also saw something like this in Sim Lim Tower, I can't remember for how much, but certainly more than on eBay.

It's already proven its worth. My Sony Vaio was giving shocks, and although all the sockets in my house are wired correctly, I found out the power strip my Vaio was drawing from didn't have an earth!
I replaced the power strip and my Vaio is now shock-free!

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