Why buy a $20 AC outlet tester, when you can build one for free?
The parts necessary are:
- 1 – old AC plug. I got mine from an old power cord.
- 3 – 100K Ohm resistors in parallel. This keeps the power dissipation down so they don’t get hot.
- 1 – LED. I chose red, size T-1 3/4
- some heat shrink tubing for electrical insulation between the leads
NOTE: this circuit will not detect reverse polarity of the AC lines, or missing earth ground, etc.
man, you are smart! I don’t even know what you need an outlet tester for!
hmm…after some analysis–is it for testing outlets?
Couldn’t you just take a lamp or an alarm clock around to each outlet and plug it in to see if it works?
Lol! The female mind constantly… surprises me. Just when I think something is self-evident… very good question. Yes, it’s to test outlets. Especially when you just move into a new place and there’s like 3 switches that don’t seem to turn anything on.
The alarm clock/lamp approach would work, true, but they are unwieldy.
Unwieldy????
“Difficult to carry or manage because of size, shape, weight, or complexity” (so says Dictionary.com)
I guess I could’ve looked it up myself!
Very cool. I would so totally hurt myself if I were to try that though…I’d be safer toting around the alarm clock!
So…what do the resistors and LED cost if you don’t have them? I’m guessing it’s a “free” $10 outlet tester…or something like that.
Hope you’re doing well up there my friend!
Miss you and hope all is going great!
Ahh, very good point, Jesse.
Same could go for the soldering iron, solder, shrink tube, and solder sucker (when you mess up!). That brings the price up to, oh… about $150?
In that case, Evie’s, Melissa’s, and Ciera’s methods are much cheaper.
Funny stuff! I was interested in the whole method until you rang up the grand total…
Very sweet.
As I already bought a circuit alert pen & receptacle analyzer (open & reversed wiring & what not) and have some lamps
I’ll stick to those 