Note: I am an electrical engineer. I work on Foundry equipment. Specifically furnaces that melt iron and steel. This story comes from a electrician I work with.

Middle of the night the shaker that feeds aluminum to the furnace stops working. So they call the electrician. The new guy comes in and checks the motor. 100V. Weird. It’s a 480V motor. So he checks the breaker. 100V. Load side. Hmm maybe the problem is upstream. Line voltage to the breaker is also 100V.

So he checks the feed to equipment that’s working and hooked up to the same line as the malfunctioning motor. It’s also 100v. Weird. Now your probably thinking what I’m thinking. But he doesn’t. He calls in the senior electrician.

Sure enough, he checks the power on everything. It’s 480V. The motor just has seized and needed to be replaced. He tells the new guy and he gets pissed. He throws away his meter in frustration that day.

The next day they’re both in and the senior electrician tells him to check some things.

“Sure thing. Let me borrow your meter.”

“What? What about yours?”

“It’s bad remember? I couldn’t read things accurately.”

“Did you change the battery?”

“There’s a battery in it?!?!”

He runs and digs through the trash but can’t find his meter. They had to order him another one. Taken out of his pay.

If you do not know, inside every portable meter there’s a 9V battery. After all. How do you think it powers up?