I’m 45, and while life is pretty good I am short of a few objects that will probably gain me full enlightenment, namely; a decent battery tester and wire strippers (for decent, read Bahco not Wera, or Makita but only when there’s a battery redemption offer on).

Thus far instead of a battery tester I have relied on going into my box o’ batteries and grabbing the next AA (or CR2032 or whatever) and hoping for the best instead of knowing to the millywatt thingy what condition the battery is in. And instead of using one of the myriad of high precision high quality wire strippers that Amazon and Screwfix sell, I just use whatever pliers are closest, to semi competently but wholly unsatisfactorily strip/yank insulation off wires originally exquisitely installed by whoever the godlike craftsperson is responsible for my house wiring, thus turning my house into a shoddy hacked about fire hazard rather than the bombproof palace it currently is (in my head).

Tl;dr recommend me a good battery tester and some wire strippers that will last until I’m dead. It goes without saying: I am a middle aged and middle class man.

My voltmeter has s battery tester built in. It’s just whatever Maplin were selling at the time, some thirty years ago.

Could get a Fluke if you really want to go to town.

I don’t know about wire strippers. I have one from Screwfix but it’s rubbish.

Get a multimeter then you can test other things.

Wire stripper kinda depends what you intend to strip.

Plier type, teeth, automatic ones, the little notchy ones you get on crimpers etc, even the Swiss army knife wire stripper works.

Wire strippers vary in cable capacity so you need to know what you’re going to concentrate on. I’ve got some Jokari that I’ve had for 20 years but the Stanley Fatmax look okay and you can return stuff to Screwfix easily https://www.screwfix.com/p/stanley-fatmax-automatic-wire-stripper-8-203mm-/5934K

Battery tester? Never bothered. Multi-meter??

A multimeter isn’t a great battery tester.  You’re not testing cells under load.

I fixed this problem by replacing whatever I could with rechargeables and a good charger.

I fixed this problem by replacing whatever I could with rechargeables and a good charger.

Yep, no real excuse  for non rechargeables.

Eneloop rechargeable batteries – nothing else. Many years of buying cheap self flattening, short lifetime batteries tells me this. A multimeter will tell you if your cells are charged whenever someone has not followed the process and put flat batteries in the charged recycled curry container or you bought some non-eneloops and they went flat in a week. There’s also a lot of fun to be had in a technoline bl700n charger for a middle aged middle class bike person, what with variable current, charge, discharge and reconditioning modes.

Wire strippers – no idea but my dentist says not to use my teeth for it.

Yep, no real excuse  for non rechargeables.

I was about to make a clever comment about there not being CR2032 rechargeables. Turns out there sort of are, but with quite small capacity and different voltage.

It’s not that simple. Rechargable batteries are better for the environment once they’ve been charge cycled a few times, but single use can be better for things which have very low power needs

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sierraclub.org/sierra/ask-mr-green/which-are-best-for-environment-rechargeable-or-long-life-batteries%3famp

Stanley Fatmax look okay and you can return stuff to Screwfix easily https://www.screwfix.com/p/stanley-fatmax-automatic-wire-stripper-8-203mm-/5934K

I’ve got those, perfectly good for DIY use and a couple of quid cheaper from the jungle…

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CD24EAK

oldnpastit Full Member
I don’t know about wire strippers. I have one from Screwfix but it’s rubbish.

I might be middle aged, but at least I won’t be oldandpastit with these recommendations 😉 Fatmax looks good for AC electrical work, thank you. Wondering if they might be a bit unwieldy for working at a light fixture or switch?

Battery tester – I do of course have a lot of Ikea Eneloop AAs (the official battery of STW) for my Tado TRVs (the official smart TRV of STW) and some other stuff. But I also have a box of random alkaline batteries and I can’t ever see that not being the case.

Wondering if they might be a bit unwieldy for working at a light fixture or switch?

It depends how much cable is accessible. Wiring a plugtop is the real test and one of the wire-stripping variations of pliers might be better for you