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Five ways Fluke FieldSense technology can help you work safer

flukeltd

The first goal of any electrician or technician who works around live voltage is to go home safe. Traditionally voltage has been measured by attaching test lead probes or alligator clips directly to electrical conductors. This requires metal-to-metal contact that brings with it the risk of arc flash and potential harm to both the person doing the measuring and the equipment being measured.

 

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Fluke FieldSense technology offers a safer way to measure voltage by isolating the measurement tool from the voltage source under test. This reduces the risk of electrical shock and arc flash. Through the principle of galvanic isolation, FieldSense allows electricians and technicians to measure voltage without exposing themselves to contact points with live voltage. Instead, a FieldSense-enabled test tool such as the Fluke T6-1000 Electrical Tester senses the electrical field in the open fork and measures the voltage through the cable insulation. Commercial and light industrial electricians can use FieldSense-based devices for voltage and current measurements, verifying continuity values, and testing individual circuits. Here are the top five ways this non-contact voltage measurement technology can help you work safer:

 

1 - No metal-to-metal contact when measuring ac voltage

In the past, measuring voltage has required metal-to-metal contact. You had to either attach probes or alligator clips to the conductor, which immediately put you at risk of spark or arc flash. Fluke FieldSense technology allows you to measure ac voltage, current, and frequency through the cable’s insulation by sliding the fork of the tester over the conductor. There is no direct electrical contact with live voltage so there’s much less potential for electrical shock or arc flash. You can work safer and faster. FieldSense technology does require a capacitive path to earth ground which, with the T6 electrical tester, can be made in one of two ways.

 

You can create a capacitive path to ground by first firmly inserting both test leads into the storage dock on the back of the tester, then placing your finger firmly on the ground touch point on the back of the battery cover. Next, slide the fork around the ac conductor. The second method is recommended if you are wearing safety gloves or are otherwise insulated from ground. In that case, you simply touch or clip the black test lead of the FieldSense tester to a grounded conductor such as a conduit or junction box.

 

2 - Goes beyond detection to let you know how much voltage is present

There are a variety of devices that can detect whether voltage is present, ranging from pen style testers to clamp meters. FieldSense devices go way beyond those to show you not only that live voltage is present, but to accurately measure that voltage. FieldSense technology injects a known signal to accurately derive the unknown ac voltage. This produces an actual ac voltage measurement, unlike traditional non-contact voltage detectors that only detect if voltage is present through magnetic field sensors. So, you now have voltage detection and a measurement in one step, with one tool.

 

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3 - Reduces the need to open panels because you can access wires at junction boxes

FieldSense-enabled devices don’t need access to wire end points so you can take a measurement at any point along the conductor. This makes it much easier to quickly measure ac voltage and current on traditionally inaccessible measurement points such as crowded junction boxes. All you have to do is slide a single conducting wire into the open fork, read the results, and you’re done in no time.

 

4 - One-handed voltage measurements

Because FieldSense technology eliminates the need to fuss with test leads, in many cases, you can accurately measure voltage with one hand. The open fork form factor makes it easier to isolate individual hot and neutral wires, which in turn helps reduce the chance of accidental contact with another voltage point and the likelihood of errors. You’ll save time…and perhaps a lot more.

5 - Combines with proving unit to verify proper operation

A key requirement for any test tool, before you use it for live voltage tests, is to verify that it is working properly both before and after taking a measurement. And you want to be able to do that without unnecessary exposure to shock and arc flash. The PRV240FS proving unit sources 240V of continuous ac voltage to allow you to safely verify that your FieldSense electrical test tool is working properly before you conduct live tests. It’s a good practice to test your tester both before and after live tests, to ensure safer and more accurate measurements.

 

A final safety note

Even with the improved safety of FieldSense enabled testers, workers should still wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). Measuring without test leads does not mean you can skip wearing the required PPE. This means electricians should still wear arc-rated clothing and protective equipment including gloves, safety glasses or goggles, hearing protection and leather footwear as required. In lower voltage areas, measurements can be taken wearing minimal PPE, including gloves and protective eyewear. A complete list of PPE categories, as defined by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard 70E, are available in Table 130.7(C)(16). Greater electrical hazards require PPE with a higher arc rating that is able to withstand an arc-flash incident.

  • in reply to three-phase

    Dear Donald Lane,

     

    Thank you for your input on our blog post regarding FieldSense. We greatly appreciate the thought you’ve put into this and enjoy engaging with our customers on the technical aspects of our products. At Fluke, we want to be able to bring tools to the market which allow our customers to do their jobs more safely and more efficiently. That’s one of the reasons we brought out the T6 with FieldSense technology – so that voltage measurements could be made along a conductor without requiring metallic contact. You’re right – bending and manipulating wires could cause them to break loose.  Note that the T6 doesn’t have to be used right at the termination point.  In fact, we’ve had many customers comment on the convenience and safety of being able to make voltage measurements away from the termination point, such as in a junction box. In this case, all they have to do is remove the junction box cover, insert the T6 around the conductor and they can have a voltage and current reading. For
    those situations where a measurement must be made near a termination point but where there isn’t enough wire available to be able to insert the fork around, the T6
    still includes test leads and a voltage measurement in the traditional method can still be made.

     

    As you know, when you use your meter to make a voltage measurement, you are measuring the voltage to a reference. Whether it is phase to ground or phase to phase, there is a reference. FieldSense uses the same principle, but you are the reference to ground, or in some cases, you can use the black test lead to contact a ground reference, such as the common or ground. You are correct that most measurements would be conducted phase to ground. There are some situations, however, where the conductor to be measured on does not have easy access to a metallic contact point for measurement, which is where FieldSense technology is designed to be helpful.

     

    We agree that when testing for absence of voltage, a two-pole tester should always be used. Two-pole testers, such as the Fluke T110, T130 or T150 are specifically
    designed to be able to detect the presence or absence of voltage even when the batteries are missing or depleted. The T6 is not. The T6 is designed to be a
    convenient, frontline troubleshooting tool with which you can get a quick voltage, current or continuity and resistance measurement. Regardless of which
    tool you’re using, though, it’s always good practice to verify your tool against a known voltage source both before and after your measurement. There are
    various ways of doing this, but to make it more convenient we offer the PRV240FS which is designed to not only be able to test tools with test probes, such as a two-pole tester, but also the T6 with FieldSense. The PRV240FS should provide 1100 tests and includes an automatic shutoff after 10 seconds to try
    and preserve battery life.  As an alternative, for those customers who don’t have a T6, we also offer the PRV240 proving unit which can source ac or
    dc voltage but can’t be used to test FieldSense. The PRV240 is designed to be able to provide 5000 individual tests. We would like to replace the PRV240FS
    with the PRV240 that may be more suited to your needs.  If this is the case, please provide us with a ship to address to send you the replacement.

     

    We hope to have addressed your concerns.  If you have any further thoughts, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at dach.uk.social@fluke.com.

     

    Thank you,

     

    Fluke UK team

     

  • Mmmm, I have read through this a few times now, and to be honest, I am struggling with some of your comments a bit. Whilst direct contact onto live terminals with test probes carries some risk, given the design of modern instrumentation, GS38 probe design with finger guards and IP2x terminations on equipment, the risk of an arc flash incident is minimal.

     

    The manipulation of wires required to gain access with a non-contact fork can have risks that you have not mentioned. Manipulating wires close to a termination point could cause a wire to break or be pulled out of the terminal. Wire insulation can be damaged during installation that may only become apparent when someone manipulates the wire within an enclosure. For the panels I work in, 75 to 80% of the time I would need to manipulate the individual wire and or adjacent wires to get proper access for the fork.

     

    You are also promoting a test procedure for measuring a voltage from phase to earth. For fault finding on circuits, the earth should not really be used for a reference point. The functional circuit is between phase to phase and / or phase to neutral, that is the voltage you should be predominantly interested in. When using the earth for reference, false readings can be obtained via return paths in circuits.

     

    Phase to earth can be measured under some fault finding scenarios where phase to neutral is not producing the expected readings, but predominantly phase to earth measurements are made during a test for dead, or absence of voltage test. However, non-contact verification for an absence of voltage test should only ever be used in conjunction with a two probe tester and never instead of. To do so is fundamentally dangerous.

     

    I do not have a T6 unit, so I have no specific experience with its use. I did buy a PRV240FS unit and it was not good. Battery life was very poor, four to six weeks. This in itself is a safety issue. Going out to a job and finding that you then need to return back to a workshop to get new batteries could lead to a scenario of an electrician not testing for dead correctly due to time pressures.

     

    The comment regarding testing an instrument before measuring live voltages is an interesting one, and not something I had considered before - specifically measuring live voltages carries a different approach than testing for dead.

     

    Whilst the T6 could prove to be useful under some circumstances, my experience tells me that those scenarios are limited and I seriously doubt that manipulating wiring can be considered safer than carrying out a traditional two probe voltage measurement.

     

    Kind regards.