The holidays are upon us here at Home Fixated! We’ve been busy getting ready – trying to figure out ways to mix cookie batter with a cordless drill, buying extra drywall repair supplies in anticipation of the kids putting gouges into the walls with their new toys, and upgrading the breaker to the outdoor electrical outlet. We’re going to need extra capacity for all of the new strings of lights we bought. This year, the holiday illumination strategy is to completely dominate every other house on the block. Anyway, enough about us…let’s talk about tools. In this installment of Tool News Nirvana, we’ll have a look at a new line of cordless tools at Wal-Mart, Makita’s new lawnmower, Metabo’s ninja tools, a power bank from Klein, and a nifty new garage door opener from Chamberlain. Nirvananauts, let’s go! Read More
Klein
Klein NCVT-6 Non Contact Voltage Tester With LDM: Keep Your Distance – And Measure It
As someone who has rehabbed a lot of old houses over the years, I’ve seen lots of scary electrical “fixes” performed by clueless handymen and homeowners. Some of the perpetrators may even have survived! Even on homes that haven’t been butchered too badly, there’s frequently a need to add outlets or circuits. Sometimes this is for convenience, so you can run the five-gallon frothing Frappuccino maker simultaneously with the pasta maker and the color-changing mood lighting. Other times it’s for more mundane reasons, like meeting code requirements. Whatever the reason, being able to quickly verify that the power is OFF for the circuit you want to work on can be a huge time saver. Using a non-contact voltage tester (NCVT) is an easy way to make sure you really DID power down the right circuit. Klein makes a variety of NCVTs, including some multi-purpose models. They sent one of their latest models our way, so we could see how it measures up. Join us for a full-contact look at the Klein NCVT-6 with built-in laser distance measure. Read More
