This Shrouded Plug Doesn’t Fit

In the world of shrouded banana plugs and sockets, E-Z-Hook has a simple solution when your old meter doesn’t accept the newer shrouded banana plug leads that most companies manufacture as “standard” today. You don’t need to update your perfectly good meter, just invest in our part number 9371 which offers a standard banana plug with shrouded socket. Use its standard plug to gain access to your meter and then plug your shrouded test lead into the rear of the plug. Now you can use both standard and shrouded plugs.

Recently a Power Company approached us with certain requirements for two different test lead options. Their field technicians had various Fluke meters, some accepting shrouded plug and some that did not. They were not in a position to standardize meters, but wanted a specialized banana plug test lead that could work with a shrouded meter, yet allowed for another plug (shrouded or non-shrouded) to be plugged in or stacked in the back. The test lead needed to have this stacking shrouded banana plug connector to an alligator clip. In addition they needed color coding on the leads for easy identification. With the E-Z-Hook kilo color options we were able to provide leads in one solid color (connector and wire) as well as leads that had connectors in one color and the wire in another color. Ultimately we made test leads in 6 different color combinations, all 16 feet long, and all with a shrouded banana plug connector to alligator clip. Customer satisfied!

So what was the solution for the field technicians with old meters that wouldn’t accept a shrouded plug test lead? Easy. We were able to provide a similar customized test lead option by combining our 9371 standard plug which has a stacking shrouded socket, to a 9306 shrouded banana plug. This option then gave those technicians with an older style meter to use any of the company designed shrouded test leads. The shrouded banana plug could stack in the back of our 9371 or into the 9306 on the other side. These lead options created a better level of uniformity and the Power Company was not required to replace and unify older meters for their large technician base.

9371

 

Power Company Test Leads

A large multi-state Mid-West power company approached E-Z-Hook to see if we could manufacture custom leads using the copper blade version of our macro-hook test connectors, model XH and XHL. The leads would ultimately be used by plant technicians testing power and required a secure right angle bend on the hooks.

Included in the requirement was the ability to close the power circuit after checking that the hook connection was properly connected. We designed in a “key” concept they requested. It was built into the jumper, allowing the user to close the circuit after the connection was verified as good. Additionally we designed jumpers with a similar fused “key” for further security which was required in some test environments. In the end, E-Z-Hook created four variations of leads, some containing a 3 AMP, 250 Volt fuse.