Almost lost a finger using a cheap voltage tester on a 277v circuit

I was working a lighting retrofit at a warehouse off I-94 and used a no-name tester from Amazon. It beeped saying the circuit was dead, but when I touched the wires it arced bad and blew the tester apart. Got lucky I was wearing my 1000v gloves. Anyone else had a cheap meter fail on them in a commercial setting?

2 comments

2 Comments

sagen361d ago

Scary stuff. Glad those gloves saved your hand, man.

skyler_baker1d ago

Yeah I had a similar thing happen a few years back with a circular saw kickback. The blade chewed right through my glove but somehow only nicked my thumb, just a shallow cut. Those gloves were shredded but I swear they saved me from losing a finger or two. I still have them in my toolbox as a reminder to never cheap out on PPE.