Is this one of those tester thingee's, which is like a small Screwdriver with a neon Lamp inside a plastic casing; and to perform testing, the blade is placed on an ungrounded "Source" ("Hot" wire's lead), then the "Tester" touches a Silver colored contact - which "should" make the Lamp light up?
If yes, I really have no definite answer - as I have only seen persons using these things in the past - and even then it was very infrequently seen!
Never used them myself.
One guess would be the testing person is completing the circuit to either the Floor (Earth Ground) or to a Grounded/Bonded piece of metallic equipment.
Likely the connection is something direct - and the level of current flowing through the complete circuit (the Lamp and the "Testing Person") would be very low - in the range of 100 MicroAmps (0.1 milliAmps, or 0.0001 Amps) maximum.
Other option would be something being Capacitively Coupled to the AC supply through the Tester and Testee (pun, definitely intended!).
Anyone have insight on this one?
Scott35
