Electricians: Why did I see sparks when using my voltmeter?

[khelza]

Two separate incidents:

-testing lines when replacing light fixture. Hot (120VAC) and N are insulated separately but connected together. Black lead to GND screw (which turns out wasn't actually grounded) and Red lead to Hot.. I'm guessing it's just arcing from touching a live wire with no return.

-testing an output on a PLC where everything has been running fine. Red lead to output, Black lead to 24VDC and then to DCCOM just to see both.. I saw sparks and just stopped testing it.

I'm more concerned about what happened the second time.. but it concerns me when I see sparks when my meter is set to V, and leads are in the proper V and COM ports.

 

[JeremyM]

What meter?

 

[khelza]

multimeter set to V(olts)

 

[JeremyM]

What meter?

 

[RussB]

I bet it was NOT a Simpson 260.

 

[thebuj]

Without more information I'd say bad meter, I never seen sparks on a multimeter before unless you were set to amps and connected across the lines and blew your fuse.

It's your lifeline, don't cheap out on a meter.

 

[keithkyll]

The only way a meter will arc is if it's in Amps mode. Throw the meter away before you hurt yourself with it.

 

[WillM]

As above bad meter or was set to amps.

If its sparking it means there a fair amount of current passing though.

 

[John Morris]

I carried a Simpson 260 for three years. God what a beast. You can't kill it unless the batteries die.

But....I really love my Fluke.

 

[dmroeder]

edit: Failed to read OP completely, disregard.

 

[harryting]

Is this why they call them "Sparky"?

 

[khelza]

Ok, I was pretty sure that wasn't supposed to happen .. and yes, I have a cheapie.

Time to upgrade... I'm thinking a Fluke Clamp Meter

 

[John Morris]

Might I suggest the Fluke 336 very accurate, fairly inexpensive, AC/DC, volts, ohms, amps.

Carried this one for five years, never had a problem.

My apologies. Its been discontinued,

Try this

Fluke 375 True-RMS 600A AC/DC Clamp Meter

 

[dcooper33]

That's terrifying. Throwing that junk in the trash is sound advice.
Can't help but wonder why you didn't blow any fuses in the circuits you were testing