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Customer Review
- Reviewed in Canada on October 10, 2024I wanted the JDIAG power circuit probe tester to eliminate the need to carry multiple testers in my vehicle for trouble shooting. When it comes to working on cars/trailers based on 12V DC, this will replace a multimeter/continuity tester and a probe type circuit tester. In addition, you can use this to check 12V components to see if they are working by supplying power at a current of up to 8 amps to the components. This is an easy way to test bulbs, especially LEDs or relays. You can also use this as a long jumper to bypass suspected faulty components such as switches (the black clamp and auxiliary ground are tied together in the tester (the manual does warn you that there is no overload protection when used this way).
Recently I had a bad taillight on a small utility trailer. With this I was able to quickly eliminate the bulb as being the issue, see that the voltage on the positive side was good, and identify that there was a bad ground at that light (ground at trailer connection was good).
The only issue with this is the clamps are a bit weak. There is not a lot for the clamp to grab on to in the vehicle I had the trailer hooked up to, especially on the positive terminal and a couple of times the weight of wiring caused the clamp to slip off. I may end up putting clamps on with a stronger spring. That will be easy with the long wires to the clamps and won't affect the reach much. This tester is also convenient to test components on a test bench by pairing it with a small 12V rechargeable battery (I am using a 5ah LiFePO4 battery to do this).
The manual that comes with this is not written very well. If you understand 12V circuitry, the illustrations are more useful than the text. If you are new to troubleshooting 12V DC issues, you might need a little extra information that can be found online, especially in relation to tracking down a short circuit (main symptom of this will be blown fuses).
This is a decent dedicated 12V DC testing tool with a couple of advantages over a circuit tester and multimeter. At time of writing this review, there is a 20% discount coupon available adding a little more value for money spent. While you could purchase a probe circuit tester and multimeter at a lower cost, it would not have the additional functionality of component testing (that can be done with both pos and neg voltage) or acting as a jumper. That is also 2 tools you have to keep track of, and in the case of the multimeter, make sure the battery in it was good. This tool does not need any internal battery to function which is nice. I do wish it came with some sort of case. Even a soft nylon bag would be useful.
