Hey Trumpy,
What do you mean when you say that neutrals can end up with line voltage at the ends when they're cut at a fitting? By fitting, do you mean wire nut or other termination? I should test the voltage more often on neutrals.
Why does a neutral sometimes have line voltage on it? I know that a neutral is supposed to carry the balance of the load of the hot wire, it's surprising to read that it can have full line voltage.
My Fluke is the new 336, 600 volts true rms with amp clamp, it does everything I want it to do, including DC volts and DC amps. My co-workers said I wouldn't need the DC part of it, but sometimes I work on my vehicle or other DC setup like alarms, so I really want DC capability.
I had a cheap meter, then stepped up to a Greenlee 1000v, but it was inconsistent and I returned it for another, but they didn't have another one so I took the Greenlee 600v meter instead. I was happier with that one, I like the smaller clamp to get into tight areas, but both Greenlees took forever to zero out and that was a pain.
I love the Fluke, to me it's worth the extra money. It zeroes out super fast and has all the features I want.
Thanks for the story about electricians getting electrocuted on a neutral busbar & wire, I'll remember that. I'll start checking voltage at the neutral and at the neutral busbar so I know what voltage is present. Maybe I'll even test the amperage on neutrals. I've seen neutrals that were hooked up to hot wires, so I know not to assume that a hot or gray wire is truly a neutral.
