Testing whether a mains cable is live

[B17NNS]

Lick it. It works with batteries.

[stupidbutkeen]

hammer frozen meat into the ground around it and wait a couple days to see if any fried looking animals are around the wire.

[auto1]

Alucidnation said:

FFS.......

OP, just get a local registered sparky to check it for you as it wont take long to check by someone who knows what they are doing.

At lease that way, a)you will still be alive and b) he can safely isolate it or recommend what would need doing etc.

Please take this advice

[Brother D]

v12bh said:

Brother D said:

So what is the consensus on the best tool? I've always used a multimeter in the past for testing (live-neutral, live-earth, neutral-earth).

Out of interest, as all the smoke detectors and panel are made of plastic etc, is an earth legally required for the LV side? - and if so, what is the cutoff when an LV circuit requires an earth? its not always a voltage cut off point but the way the item is made, all plastic needs no earth some plastic with some metal may also not need earth if double insulated. all these item will have codes or a logo displayed an earth fault under ground could be a joint with damp getting in electrical issues are not east to find by chatting, hands on teating is required, as a pointer tho if you have 10 on a circuit, split the cicuit or remove a detector at a time fault finding can be a pain sometimes

Thanks for that - still not sure why an earth on the LV side has been included as everything is made from plastic (and by the looks double insulated) - I'll get a man in as troubleshooting sounds like a bit of a pain.