Power probe (keep it clean)

[Chicken lights]

Got talked into buying this, likely going to try using it tomorrow.

It can send power or ground, depending on what the goal is

I have one beacon not working, so as an example, I can isolate the beacon, and help diagnose if the beacon is dead, lacks power, or lacks ground.

I've been warned, you need to be careful sending power to something you shouldn't send power to

 

[140mower]

I'm a little bit intrigued as to how well it works, and whether you would recommend it after using it for a while.
I have to admit though, that title ran a shiver up my spine. I thought "my god, he's got a spaceship......"

 

[Darren]

I have 4 of them and been using them for 20 or so years now. Very handy tool to have.

To test the integrity of a ground, don't rely on ground indicator, instead use the probe to send power to the ground. If the ground is good it'll pop the breaker. It's not so easy on the power side. You can test for voltage with the probe, but you can't load test it. For that I use bulbs of various wattage.

Remember that a single strand of corroded wire can show 12.5v on a meter but won't carry enough current to do the work. That's why we use bulbs to actually load the circuit and prove the integrity or show where the smoke is coming from.

The probe can add power to a circuit though. In the case of a beacon that's not working, you can test for good ground, as I noted above, then add power with the probe right at the light and see if it works. You can also add a ground, or using the ground clip, you can add power and ground.

 

[Chicken lights]

True, and for fixing chicken lights, I usually pull the panel off the truck and use a battery charger. I made up some dummy pigtails that plug right in, it isolates the lights away from the truck. It's providing a constant power and ground

And yep, I have a headlight with a dummy plug just like you mentioned

I guess in a way, the power probe is doing the same thing as the battery charger, now that I think about it

 

[Darren]

If I need to diagnose a light, the pp is usually my first goto. Pop the bulb out, test the bulb, test the ground then use the Aux ground on the PP to ground a test bulb. It's just convenient to be able to bring a known good battery ground/power to anywhere you need while checking harnesses for the green death.

If wiggle testing a harness. Sometimes it is hard to watch the test bulb. So sometimes I use a backup beeper instead of a bulb as a load.

 

[Chicken lights]

That's really annoying

Years ago, I discovered if I used my beacons and work lights at the same time, they'd act up. The mechanic ran a new ground from the batteries to "fix" that.

So today I figured out why. There's only one 2 wire feeding both lights. Beacons are power on white, ground on black. Work lights are power on black, ground on white. That makes my head hurt, with it wired that way, that means that both wires are both power and ground at the same time? (while using both)

 

[Chicken lights]

The old one...