Touched VAC tester to glass and it beeped!

[kev]

Just a quick question for you all that know a lil more about electricity than me. I have a lil 20 dollar fluke VAC tester that I use in my Industrial Electricity class. Anyways while I was bored I touched it to my aquariums glass and it showed that the glass was picking up some voltage? Is this normal, and anything to be concerned about?

 

[wattsupdoc]

Those little inductance testaers measure the EMF (electro magnetic field). You're Dt has alot of things wich cause this. But not a problem. Using that tester like that wont tell you anything except that there's a field there. You could of course ALSO have a problem with some faulty equipment. Now would be a good time to check with a multi-meter. However just because you see a little voltage on it doesn't mean theres actually anything there. Because you may just be seeing the eddy currents caused by the EMF. But it'll give you an idea if you need to look further into it.

 

[sw65galma]

If you want to measure anything good...
take the postive and put it in the water and the negitive to the outlet ground..
Make sure you a have the lights off, they will sway your results.

 

[bojik]

And use the high amp port for the pos lead or you'll fry the multi if there is a serious problem. Though if its that high you'd see issues already. Though some Mutlis have a very low tolerance on the lower port for the lead.