VIDEO: TOOLING UP – Faster and Safer Electrical Testing with Innovation From Fluke

Narrator: Welcome to Tooling Up, a series by MSC Industrial Supply Company that provides real-world insights brought to you by leading industry experts and aimed at improving the efficiency and productivity of your operations.

Eddie: Hey everybody, this is Eddie with MSC and welcome to MSC's Tooling Up featuring Fluke. Today we're going to be talking about how we can utilize Fluke's tools and technology to safely and accurately measure electricity. So to give us all the insight on the things that we need to know, we have our good friend from the Fluke team Sean. Hey Sean, thank you so much for joining us today. Hey before we get started, could you tell us a little bit about what you do for the team at Fluke?

Sean: Well thanks Eddie. Yeah my name is Sean Silvey. I'm a Product Application Specialist with Fluke. My goal is to help educate and train our customers on our products to help troubleshoot their applications when they're out in the field, so it's a win-win for Fluke and our customers.

Eddie: Hey absolutely, and thank you so much for joining us on today's episode. So as we get jumping right in here, now we know when it comes to measuring electricity Sean there's an old school and there's a new school method. So let's start with the old school. What would you consider to be that?

Sean: So the old school method and the continued use right now is using the standard test leads, using your test leads to make that metallic contact measurement.

Eddie: No, this absolutely makes sense. Now I'm sure there were some previous advantages of this but with given new technology there are some downfalls of this old method. What would you consider some of those to be?

Sean: Yeah, the downfall with using your test leads is like I mentioned before. You have to make a metallic contact. When you're putting metal against electricity you have the potential of having an arc fault, a failure, some safety mode that would cause a failure in that you know so the safety issue is there with a fault, a blast. Anything can happen due to user error.

Eddie: Right, all things that we absolutely need and want to avoid but there are alternatives with this new method. So Sean, what does that mean?

Sean: Yeah, so Fluke came out with this amazing tool that allows you to make a non-contact voltage measurement so no longer do you have to use test leads to make that voltage and current measurement. By just grounding out the meter and giving it a reference, we can now put the conductor inside the jaw of the meter and make a voltage and current measurement. This is the new Fluke 377 and 378 FieldSense Clamp Meter.

Eddie: No, this looks wonderful. And then in addition to this, when we're talking about the technology really that you're providing on the solution side, what is this FieldSense I hear about?

Sean: Yeah, so FieldSense is a great new tool that allows you to make a non-metallic contact by putting that conductor inside here. We actually have sensors that allow the measurement of the voltage and the current but what's great with this new tool as well is now we can make three-phase measurements very quickly. We can go in and do your line-to-ground and line-to-line measurements with your current very quickly. Typically you can make nine measurements within not 10 seconds and as you can see, basically we ground the tool out. When the light turns green, we're getting our voltage and our current. It's a great measurement how quickly and safely we can now get into these spots and make these measurements.

Eddie: Again, an additional layer of convenience and safety that you're providing to the mark. And in addition to that, what about your power quality indicator? What value is that adding to end users?

Sean: Yeah, so that's a great example. We now have this tool, the 378 FC, and it allows you to go in and troubleshoot some of those power quality issues. It has a power quality indicator built into the meter and by doing this you can do some power factor and total harmonic issues that might be happening in the facility. It'll tell you which leg is causing the problem or maybe all of them are, and what's amazing with the tool is it gives you three layers of sensitivity. Some places we know they have power quality problems. Again, this is a great tool to go out and troubleshoot, identify a problem that's happening early, and get that solution so we don't have any downtime.

Eddie: Right, reducing that downtime. Very good point indeed. As we're talking about additional good points that you're bringing to the market, what about Fluke Connect?

Sean: Yeah, so Fluke Connect is a valuable asset within any of our products. With Fluke Connect we're allowed to do logging, recording. We can now save these measurements and log these measurements over a given time, but the great thing about it is now we can report these out easily and quickly to our customers, share the information to our colleagues. We can rapidly do quick analysis on these products and on these assets whether they're motors, compressors, and then this allows you to either determine hey, we're working great still, continue on, or we're seeing something that's going to break, let's now be preventative instead of proactive after the fact.

Eddie: No and hey, the real question comes down to Sean is how is this adding value and increasing the level of safety for end users?

Sean: So the great thing about Fluke Connect is because it allows you to connect to a smart device like an iPhone or an Android phone or whatever that looks like, we can now leave the meter in a situation and step away from that arc blast, that arc zone. We're able to turn something on and record from a distance and see those measurements instead of having to be right in front of that potential danger.

Eddie: Now these are all relevant points and loads of convenience that you're providing to customers around the world. So one, this is all great information. We went from discussing the old school versus that new school method, talked about your amazing field sense technology, discussed your power quality indicator, and wrapped everything up with the convenience and safety you're providing with Fluke Connect. So as we wrap up this episode, really are there any final points you'd like to give all of our viewers today?

Sean: Yeah, I would like to say that with this new product as well it now allows you to do non-contact, three-phase rotation. That's a huge win in this industry. Also too, the new tool comes out with our iFlex. This is a flexible 2500 amp current clamp that you can get into those tight spaces. Great tool when you're really trying to work out there, make those measurements and be safe about it.

Eddie: Here we go, safety continuing to be the core concept of our conversation today and I love it. So additionally Sean for anyone who's looking for more information on not only the products and solutions we've discussed today, but also to keep in touch with all the other amazing things that Fluke is doing out in the market, where can we get more information?

Sean: Yeah, Eddie. Just go out to www.mscdirect.com/flukefcmeter.

Eddie: Right on. Well now we know where to get more info., so thank you so much Sean for being our passionate industry leader on the safety topic today. And thank all of you for joining us for our latest episode of MSC's Tooling Up featuring Fluke.

Narrator: Want more insights and ideas to improve the efficiency and productivity of your operations? Check out the Tooling Up video playlist to see how we can help improve your operations and subscribe to our channel so you never miss out.