Video: AMPI-530

Video transcript

What the AMPI-530 measures in a low-voltage installation, how it is connected for each test, and how to read the results. Before an installation is handed over, and at every inspection, its protection against electric shock has to be proven, with the measurements described in HD 63 64, part 6. One instrument to IEC 61557 covers them all. Fault loop with 23 amps. RC Ds from 10 to 1000 milliamps. Insulation up to 10 gigaohms. Continuity with 200 milliamps in both directions.

The test sockets are on top. The rotary switch picks the function, the F keys set its parameters, and START runs the test. The touch electrode next to START warns if the protective conductor carries voltage. It comes with a mains-plug lead with its own START key, colour-coded leads, probes and clips, reels and earth rods, the battery and its power supply. Current clamps, the light probe and a multi-core cable adapter are options. Every test follows the same routine. Select the function. Set its parameters with the F keys. Connect. Press START.

Read the result, and store it. For the LPE loop, the meter's PE lead goes to the exposed conductive part, and its L lead to the phase. For the LN loop, the N lead goes to the neutral instead of PE, and between two phases, L and N go to the two phases. From the loop impedance the meter calculates the prospective short-circuit current, and checks it against the protective device you set. Behind an RCD, the 15 milliamp mode measures without tripping it.

RC Ds are tested downstream of the device: PE to the protective conductor, N to the neutral, and L to the phase, or the mains-plug lead in the socket. The meter measures tripping time and current, and touch voltage and earth resistance without tripping. In AUTO mode one press of START runs the whole series. Insulation is measured with the circuit dead and the loads disconnected. The R ISO minus lead goes to one conductor,

the R ISO plus lead to the other, and the far end stays open. Choose the test voltage, up to 1000 volts, and a minimum limit. Hold START for the test; at the end the object is discharged automatically. Sockets are tested with the mains-plug lead, multi-core cables with the adapter. Protective conductors are checked with 200 milliamps in both directions. Zero the leads first. Then one lead on the main earthing terminal, the other on the exposed part. The test starts by itself.

For earth resistance, open the test link. E goes to the electrode, S to the voltage probe and H to the current probe, all in one line. Interference above 24 volts blocks the test. Four poles remove the lead resistance. Three poles plus a clamp measure one electrode without disconnecting it. Two clamps need no probes. And the Wenner method gives soil resistivity. For the phase sequence, the leads go to L one, L two and L3.

An arrow turning clockwise means the sequence is correct. It also records a single-phase supply: voltage, current with clamps up to 3 kiloamps, powers, power factor and harmonics up to the 40th. With an external probe, it measures light. Results go into a tree memory by client, object and point, and transfer over USB or Bluetooth for the report. It runs on 5 LR 14 cells or its rechargeable pack, charged inside the meter.

Measuring category 4 at 300 volts, an IP 54 housing, zero to 50 degrees, and about two and a half kilos. Domestic and industrial installations, at commissioning and in maintenance: shock protection, RC Ds, protective conductors, earthing and a first look at the supply. Electrical installation testing, from Amperis.