What's the difference between these 2 test lights?

[NiceCupOfTea]

Decided to get a test light so I don't need to faff around with the multimeter every time I am fault tracing, and saw this "Car light tester" :

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p84459

and then saw this "circuit tester" :

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p53383

What's the difference!?

[DrDeAtH]

....about £1.20...

Get the second one as the first one appears to be metal bodied... Ideal for shorting things out when searching across live parts

[OldBuoy]

Get em both.

The 1st one has an insulation piercing contact (you unscrew the end) very usefull, pierce the wire so you can leave the connectors in place.

A lot of times a light is better than a meter. If you have an almost severed wire or bad connection it can still show 12v but not pass enough current to illuminate a lamp.

Edited by OldBuoy on Friday 22 August 15:36

[S0 What]

The 2nd one has easy to replace bulbs is all i can say TBH (i have both but never use them TBH).
If you can stretch to it a 12V probe is way better and all i use nowdays (see below) it does way more than test for live or earth it's also good for testing continuity, living up things (or indeed earthing things) and testing bulbs, fuses ect
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/131262664800?limghl...


One thing i will say is the metal one has a cap so when sticking your hand in the tool box there's less chance of drawing blood on the spike

[NiceCupOfTea]

S0 What said:

The 2nd one has easy to replace bulbs is all i can say TBH (i have both but never use them TBH).
If you can stretch to it a 12V probe is way better and all i use nowdays (see below) it does way more than test for live or earth it's also good for testing continuity, living up things (or indeed earthing things) and testing bulbs, fuses ect
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/131262664800?limghl...


One thing i will say is the metal one has a cap so when sticking your hand in the tool box there's less chance of drawing blood on the spike

Cheers So What, that probe looks just the job! As well as testing for continuity, will it test for voltage present? Using a multimeter at the moment but it's a bit slow witted (currently troubleshooting central locking so it's only a transient signal). I suppose the bulb one would be good to get too to check whether there is continuity but not enough to draw a decent current (as somebody else said).

[S0 What]

NiceCupOfTea said:

Cheers So What, that probe looks just the job! As well as testing for continuity, will it test for voltage present? Using a multimeter at the moment but it's a bit slow witted (currently troubleshooting central locking so it's only a transient signal). I suppose the bulb one would be good to get too to check whether there is continuity but not enough to draw a decent current (as somebody else said).

It wont tell you how much voltage is present just wether it's live or earth (5v to 24v), it's lead clips on the battery live and earth so the head unit can tell what is what (led is red for live green for earth), it has a short earth fly lead on the head unit so if you clip it on 1 bulb terminal and the head units probe picks up an earth from the other terminal you know the bulb is ok, same with any curcuit or fuse, a swutch on the head unit supplys the tip of the probe with an earth or live (rocker switch) to power up things (it protected by a thermal cut off with reset button on the side) and the led is sensitive enough to act as a noid light and pick up very quick pulses to injectors and the like.
I use it on C/L when fitting alarms to
A find the trigger wire and
B to find out if the trigger is earth or live
Just watch the tip, it hurts

[NiceCupOfTea]

That's great, just what I'm after - got a multimeter to check voltages, but a probe to check presence of voltage and continuity would be good. Can you detach the batt cables at all (I assume you only need them when you're powering up a component)?

[S0 What]

NiceCupOfTea said:

That's great, just what I'm after - got a multimeter to check voltages, but a probe to check presence of voltage and continuity would be good. Can you detach the batt cables at all (I assume you only need them when you're powering up a component)?

Not on the one i have no, it wont work unless connected to the battery as it uses the cables for the live/earth referance
possably something like a snap-on one you may be able to unplug the cables but not the sealy

[shoehorn]

S0 What said:

Not on the one i have no, it wont work unless connected to the battery as it uses the cables for the live/earth referance
possably something like a snap-on one you may be able to unplug the cables but not the sealy

I have a snap on,(it`s actually blue point)power probe 3 it shows voltage,indicates neg or pos and it has a circuit breaker built in for those of an abrupt nature.
It can be used as a conventional tester or to power up stuff,it sends 12+ or 12- up the probe via the rocker switch.
It`s good for testing low-ish amps stuff like window motors,bulbs,relays,solenoids etc.
It does come with either croc or cig lighter ends but must be used with the lead which is long enough to work round even a big car easily.
I have ground the probe point on mine,unlike the first one in the op`s post most can`t pierce insulation,or reach the backs of pins in loom plugs.
Always unplug the item you are going to power up with it from the wiring first though,inadvertently sending 12v up the wrong wire on anything new-ish could be expensive.