Rant: wasted $180 on a 'certified' power supply tester that was totally off

I bought this supposedly top-of-the-line tester off a guy on Facebook Marketplace for a Cessna 172 I was diagnosing. Turns out it was reading 14.2 volts when the bus was actually at 12.8, and I chased a phantom alternator issue for three days. The seller swore it was calibrated last month, but I bet he just printed a fake sticker. Has anyone else gotten burned by used test gear that wasn't what it claimed to be?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugo23613d ago

Oh man, that's brutal! I got burned the same way buying a used compression tester off Craigslist once. It showed good numbers but the gauge was actually sticking, wasted a whole weekend chasing a problem that wasn't there. What finally worked for me was borrowing a buddy's known good multimeter and cross checking every reading before I trusted anything. Also started asking sellers for a photo of the calibration cert with today's newspaper or something to prove it's legit. Sucks you had to learn that way, but at least now you know for next time.

the_mary13d ago

Did the newspaper trick actually work for you or did sellers just ghost you? I feel like most people would think you're messing with them if you asked for that.