Klein receptacle tester

[mmelton005]

I had finished up installing new receptacles and I was using a klein RT210 tester to go over everything and accidentally hit the "test GFI" button on a non GFI receptacle. Now none of the receptacles in that circuit are working and did not trip the breaker. I've tried resetting the breaker and nothing....any ideas?

 

[cybrdyke]

Hidden GFI somewhere?
CD

 

[mmelton005]

Hidden GFI somewhere?
CD

That may exactly be it. I have a GFI on the back side of my house that is on the same circuit. (forgot about it) i will have to try to reset it and hopefully that works!

 

[Crazyjake8493]

The outlet you tested has to be fed by either a GFCI outlet or breaker that you tripped with the reset button. Since you already checked the breaker, there has to be a GFCI outlet upstream somewhere.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Ive never investigated the circuitry in my GFCI outlet tester but it will NOT do anything when i push the test button while it is plugged into a circuit that doesnt have a GFCI.

The button doesnt work essentially.

If i plug it into a GFCI circuit or outlet then the test button works..

Would be interesting to know what kind of sensing circuitry it has...

 

[malibu101]

Ive never investigated the circuitry in my GFCI outlet tester but it will NOT do anything when i push the test button while it is plugged into a circuit that doesnt have a GFCI.

The button doesnt work essentially.

If i plug it into a GFCI circuit or outlet then the test button works..

Would be interesting to know what kind of sensing circuitry it has...

I do not know their internals either.
I'm sure you know that touching ground and neutral together on the load side of the GFI will trip it.
I assumed these testers did that but I have no idea.

Gee thanks. Something else for me to wonder about.

EDIT- When I plug my Ideal 61-051 into a proper wired non-GFI outlet and press the test button, the lights turn to show as "open ground".
I get no continuity between any combination of prongs no matter if the button is pushed or not.
There must be a mystery circuit in there.

 

[JD3020]

Definitely poke around for a GFI. I run into it all the time with lawn irrigation systems and water features/outdoor lights on systems we didn't install. Outlets upstairs will be fed off a GFI downstairs, outlets in the garage or outside fed by a GFI in the basement or a bathroom, etc... Always fun playing "electrician" trying to find a hidden outlet just so i can do my job because somebody else didn't do theres. Labels are important.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

I do not know their internals either.
I'm sure you know that touching ground and neutral together on the load side of the GFI will trip it.
I assumed these testers did that but I have no idea.

Gee thanks. Something else for me to wonder about.

EDIT- When I plug my Ideal 61-051 into a proper wired non-GFI outlet and press the test button, the lights turn to show as "open ground".
I get no continuity between any combination of prongs no matter if the button is pushed or not.
There must be a mystery circuit in there.

lol

yes touching neutral to ground will trip GFCI. The tester either shorts neutral to ground or hot to ground.

EDIT: It just dawned on me that it must short neutral to ground thats why there are no sparks or tripped breakers on non- GFCI circuit.

 

[mrjaw14]

maybe there's an internal resistor that protects against sudden amperage flow? Small enough so that the GFCi knows it's there, but large enough so as not to give you a pretty lights show when you press the button?

 

[ishiboo]

lol

yes touching neutral to ground will trip GFCI. The tester either shorts neutral to ground or hot to ground.

EDIT: It just dawned on me that it must short neutral to ground thats why there are no sparks or tripped breakers on non- GFCI circuit.

It's likely just a switch and a current-limiting resistor (perhaps a thermistor too to prevent you from cooking it by holding in the button) which would send X mA to ground.

It would short hot to ground, not neutral... neutral and ground are at the same potential... you couldn't test it that way. (I suppose it would trip IF there was a load on the GFCI-protected circuit AND the path of least resistance was the ground for the moment you hit the switch)

 

[wyliesdiesels]

It's likely just a switch and a current-limiting resistor (perhaps a thermistor too to prevent you from cooking it by holding in the button) which would send X mA to ground.

It would short hot to ground, not neutral... neutral and ground are at the same potential... you couldn't test it that way. (I suppose it would trip IF there was a load on the GFCI-protected circuit AND the path of least resistance was the ground for the moment you hit the switch)

Ive been able to trip a GFCI by simpling taking a wire and shorting load neutral to ground.

 

[mm08822]

I'm thinking it is a resistor from hot to ground.

Shorting neutral to ground could split the load current between the 2 paths creating the sensed imbalance between hot and neutral in the gfci.

However, if there was no connected load and therefor no load current, then there is no current imbalance to be measured.

 

[Bert_]

GFCI tester uses a resistor between hot and ground. The resistor is sized to flow between 4 and 6 milliamps, which is the range of leakage current that a gfci is required to trip at.

The GFCI needs to be tested at this low current, testing at 1 amp or something ridiculous like that wouldn't do much for safety. It takes only 70 milliamps to stop the heart (less than 1/10 of am amp).

 

[ishiboo]

Ive been able to trip a GFCI by simpling taking a wire and shorting load neutral to ground.

That's possible IF there's a load on the GFCI circuit and greater than whatever the trip current chooses to return from that load on the ground instead of the neutral then. But that wouldn't be a reliable way of testing.

 

[tonyciambrone]

One time I unplugged a water cooler at work to service it. When I returned the unit to the receptacle nothing happened. I thought maybe the breaker had tripped, tried resetting the GFCI- nothing. Turned out it was backstabbed and the hot wire had finally decided to pop out at that time. The neutral was barely hanging on as well.

Depends on the circuit layout obviously but something like this could have happened to you

 

[claymont]

I had finished up installing new receptacles and I was using a klein RT210 tester to go over everything and accidentally hit the "test GFI" button on a non GFI receptacle. Now none of the receptacles in that circuit are working and did not trip the breaker. I've tried resetting the breaker and nothing....any ideas?

Have you tried the tester on another circuit?

 

[mmelton005]

Have you tried the tester on another circuit?

Yes, I have resolved this issue and found a outdoor GFI I had no clue was on the same circuit. problem solved and my open neutral was found thankfully!