DilogGroup
New Member
Just want to know your thoughts on calibration.
When did you last get your equipment calibrated? Answer quickly in the Poll above.
When did you last get your equipment calibrated? Answer quickly in the Poll above.
[Poll] Calibration?
- Thread starter DilogGroup
- Start date
The Happy Builder
Screwfix Select
The last three years I have had my Megger MFT calibrated annually, previous meters I pushed out to three years with self checks. that was me that voted to say in the last three months.
All electricians should be capable of testing their own testing meters and being satisfied they are reasonably accurate if they are using testers professionally, otherwise they should not be using the testers.
It is a lot of money to be told there is nothing wrong with your tester, when you knew that before they were sent for calibration.
All electricians should be capable of testing their own testing meters and being satisfied they are reasonably accurate if they are using testers professionally, otherwise they should not be using the testers.
It is a lot of money to be told there is nothing wrong with your tester, when you knew that before they were sent for calibration.
FlyByNight
Screwfix Select
I certainly will not use a company that tries to disguise its free/unpaid for advestising asa "marketing survey".
Tony Goddard
Screwfix Select
Calibration is a bit of a scam these days, I remember taking my first testers, in person to a local firm who calibrated instruments, I watched as the technician opened the case of my AVO 8 and carefully adjusted the trimmers to make sure it was bang on with the resistance and voltage standards.
Now, with digital instruments they just plug them into a calibration check box (albeit a very fancy one) and note any discrepencies rather than adjusting the instrument to make it accurate.
I have my MFT calibrated once a year by a decent calibration house that I trust, long time family business that does everything from electrical instruments to weighing scales - the I use a Transmille (a firm that makes a lot of the kit calibration houses use) calibration test box, which has low ohm resistance, insulation, loop and RCD testing facilities, which I check from the newly calibrated meter and then test all my other gear (stand alones, second MFT, PAT tester etc.. on that.)
Now, with digital instruments they just plug them into a calibration check box (albeit a very fancy one) and note any discrepencies rather than adjusting the instrument to make it accurate.
I have my MFT calibrated once a year by a decent calibration house that I trust, long time family business that does everything from electrical instruments to weighing scales - the I use a Transmille (a firm that makes a lot of the kit calibration houses use) calibration test box, which has low ohm resistance, insulation, loop and RCD testing facilities, which I check from the newly calibrated meter and then test all my other gear (stand alones, second MFT, PAT tester etc.. on that.)
Tony Goddard
Screwfix Select
The Happy Builder
Screwfix Select
Ah! But! Have you had your check box calibrated? 
Tony Goddard
Screwfix Select
Sort of, I get the one meter properly calibrated them immediately check the check box - suppose I could just get the check box calibrated - hmm.
Domesticsparky
Active Member
Just had 2 done last year, £87 each........I cried a little inside
Ouch, I did mine last month, dropped off at local CEF that is just over the road from ACS (They wont let you go direct to them). £54, was ready to pick up the next day.. CEF used to do calibration days that were even cheaper but stopped due to covid and never started back up..
Domesticsparky
Active Member
I moaned like hell when I picked it up from calibration company....... apparently it's because they are ukas accredited..........won't be going back there next year
Bob Rathbone
Screwfix Select
Hello Re Cal, looks like your advertising campaign has backfired a little. However, you have learned that Electricians are willing to pay £54 for calibration, get it in at that price and we will all be happy. Maybe you should offer a service to check at a reduced cost which is then absorbed into the calibration cost if calibration is needed.
Tony Goddard
Screwfix Select
For me calibration and regs. books are the two things that have that feeling of paying for more than you got.
With calibration you pay £60 and get a sticker and a bit of paper telling you what you already own and works fine - and if you are lucky they will put it back together with all the case edges aligned.
Regs books must sell by the hundreds of thousands, but you pay your £80 for the latest colour and get a manky black and white tome in softback that they could have sold for £19.99, they don't even use decent drawing where there is an illustration <that wretched drawing of an outside broadcast truck being a case in point!> - a few years later it ends up in the growing pile of back issues - like a sadder version of a comic or sticker book collection, we can tell when we started by the first colour, for me it was the executive dissentry brown 16th Ed.
With calibration you pay £60 and get a sticker and a bit of paper telling you what you already own and works fine - and if you are lucky they will put it back together with all the case edges aligned.
Regs books must sell by the hundreds of thousands, but you pay your £80 for the latest colour and get a manky black and white tome in softback that they could have sold for £19.99, they don't even use decent drawing where there is an illustration <that wretched drawing of an outside broadcast truck being a case in point!> - a few years later it ends up in the growing pile of back issues - like a sadder version of a comic or sticker book collection, we can tell when we started by the first colour, for me it was the executive dissentry brown 16th Ed.
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