Amprobe Home Electric Installation Kit - Professional Electrical Testing Tools for DIY & Electricians | Perfect for Home Wiring, Outlet Testing & Circuit Troubleshooting

I bought two of these small, lightweight Amprobe ST-102B Socket outlet testers to mail to my siblings to test their regular electrical outlets and their GFCI electrical outlets.I tested both of the units that I purchased with my home's GFCI electrical outlets and non-GFCI outlets, and both testers work as designed.The GFCI outlets, (also known as GFI's), are the electrical outlets that are designed to trip, or turn off, instantly, whenever it senses electrical current passing from hot to ground. These type of outlets are required by the National Electrical Code for almost all electrical outlets that are within 6 feet from any water source, and all outside outlets. (Sometimes the normal electrical outlet is protected by a GFCI circuit breaker inside your electrical panel) The GFCI electrical outlets and GFI circuit breakers help prevent deaths from electrocution. This device is a TESTER, which is used to quickly inform you if the electrical outlet in your house is wired correctly and also to ensure that your GFCI trips when you push the little black button in the center of this tester. You must then RESET the GFCI circuit breaker (if you have one), or press the RESET the button on your GFCI electrical outlet to restore the electrical power to the outlet. If you have large fingers, you might need to use something like a pencil to push in the reset button on the GFCI outlet far enough to reset it. If pushing the black test button on this tester does NOT trip your GFCI outlet, either the GFCI outlet needs to be replaced, or, (and I've seen this too many times) the GFCI outlet was wired incorrectly (it may have been wired electrically backwards, which will allow the outlet to work, but not trip off ). In most locations, one GFCI outlet can protect one or more "normal" electrical outlets, which are sometimes located in other rooms or outside electrical sockets. If you use this tester on what appears to be a normal non-GFCI electrical outlet and push the test button, and the outlet becomes de-energized, you need to find the GFCI outlet or CFGI circuit breaker that controls the power to the outlet you just tested, and reset it. This tester has six different basic wiring result outcomes and it has a little chart, or table, illustrated on the top of the unit to inform you if the outlet is wired correctly, or if the circuit is dead or wired incorrectly in four other ways. This tests both regular 110 to 120 volt electrical outlets and the GFCI electrical outlets. The instructions state that the unit does NOT test for a missing ground wire. This tester will only TEST your electrical outlets - it won't FIX your problems. There are some good videos on the internet (youtube dott comm, and others) that will help to give you some electrical knowledge. As with all things electrical, if you don't know what you are doing, pay an electrician to diagnose and repair your electrical problems. If you can plug this tester into an outlet and compare the bright lights you see to the illustration on the chart, and if you can push a button, then you can determine if your electrical outlet is good. It's that easy!This circuit breaker tracer works perfectly but you MUST follow the instructions. The unique auto-calibration system ensures that the correct breaker is identified every time without any false indications.Most devices like this suffer from problems with "false positives", meaning they beep at more than one circuit breaker and it's difficult to tell which one is actually powering the circuit you are working on. These false positives occur because the transmitter signal can be induced into other wires if they run parallel to the circuit under test. This occurs frequently in homes and businesses because all the wires must eventually go back to the breaker panel and many follow the same path to get there.This device uses a 2-step identification process to eliminate those false positives. When powered up, the device starts out at a high sensitivity level, meaning it will detect the transmitter signal even if it's weak from a far-away transmitter or caused by an "induced" signal. After the transmitter is plugged into the powered outlet, you slowly scan ALL the circuit breakers with the device to set the calibration level, disregarding any beeps. Each time the device detects a signal and beeps, it resets it's sensitivity threshold to match that signal. If it encounters another higher level signal it resets to that higher signal. In this way, by the time you are done scanning all the breakers the tester has set itself so that only the very highest signal in the circuit breaker box will activate it. This is what guarantees that when you make the second pass, only one circuit breaker, the one with the transmitter plugged in, is identified.I tested this in a breaker box where all the circuits were already identified. In every case the first pass through the box yielded several beeps, as circuits with induced signals were detected. But also in every case, the second pass through the box correctly identified the circuit under test, with no false positives.There is one drawback to this particular tester - the power switch is too sensitive and it takes a very light touch to turn it on. Just holding the device it's possible to turn it on accidentally and if it's left in a portable tool box it's likely to be turned on by jostling around. It will turn itself off after a delay, but it would be better if the on/off switch was not so sensitive.I have both the Amprobe BT-250 and BT-120 circuit breaker tracers and use them all the time at work. They are physically identical and operate exactly the same. The main difference is that the BT-120 is rated for use on circuits up to 120V [50-60Hz] and the BT-250 is rated for circuits up to 250V [40 -70Hz]. The BT-120 includes the transmitter and the receiver with a 9V battery installed, but nothing else. It may be hard to tell from the product description, but the BT-250 actually comes as a kit that includes a nice foam padded hard case, test cord with alligator clips, light socket adapter and a 9V battery installed in the receiver. The transmitters on both models are powered by line-voltage from the circuit under test. Both tracers seem to work equally well at locating circuit breakers for me probably 99-percent of the time. There are some odd circumstances though where the receivers can’t locate a circuit breaker accurately. I’m not sure exactly why this happened, but for me at least, it is only a rare occurrence. Overall tough, I'm happy with how these perform and would definitely purchase again.Durable, reliable, ergonomicalI liked it was easy to use, it located the correct circuit breaker every time. It is light but the plastic body is sufficient as long as it not to be thrown. The only thing I don't care for is the on and off button. Is too easy to press by accident without much pressure or I would have rated it 5On off switch s many have sid is very very sensitive and will turn itself on with very little pressure. If your a DIYer and will use infrequently it works great. Just take the batteries out between use and you will be fine. It's perfect for a homeowner. A pro will get frustrated and throw it cross the room.For the tester itself I have no issues, works OK, not the most sensitive but gets me out of the trouble most of the time. So I would give it 4 stars. Would be nice if transmitter had Plug tester like Klein. Shown polarity and also send signal to trace the circuit.Worst thing and most of them all is the design, this person who designed this tool, should have be fired long time ago, complete bellend.. You can't keep it in pouch, can't have it in your pocket, can't have it on the shelf and no tool bag.. As soon as you barely touch the button it turns ON and stays ON. Absolutely awful design. I wish I picked newer Klein type design tester..This is the second outlet tester I had bought during my time as an electrician and I went with Amprobe because they make some great products albeit at a higher price. It worked fine right out of the box and felt was built well, until months later. I had used another brand of outlet tester before and only bought this after I had lost the other tester. I wanted to see if this was better than my old Sperry, and it let me down in respect to build quality as far as I know. I am not super rough with these but after a few times wiggling this thing back and forth out of tight outlets one of the lights started to flicker and now I have to adjust the device in the outlet until the other light works. This can be annoying when testing many outlets as you might not be sure it's the outlet or the tester that's faulty. It was pretty disappointing since I had only used it for around half a year. Is this a deal breaker, not entirely as it could have just been my being rough with it or just a manufacturing defect. I would purchase again if it was at the same price as other testers as it's a nice looking and functioning tester.Besides the very sensitive on button this circuit finder had worked perfectly for me every time. If the on button was redesigned this device would be perfect, still I'm very happy with it.I was disappointed. The device is not too accurate or consistent. It was only able to point to the correct breaker about 50% of time. It sometimes indicates the wrong breaker, so you cannot trust it. Also , the On/Off button is badly placed, and very sensitive, so often turns the device on or off just by bumping against other tools or your pocket. I returned it, and will seek something better.It is not a bad product, but buyer beware if you have an older panel where the circuits are grouped closely together. I tested it on a more modern panel with significant spacing between the individual breakers and it worked great. Unfortunately the panel I needed to identify, it didn't work at all.