Before a piece of electrical equipment ever reaches a customer, it has to prove it won't electrocute anyone. That's the single job of a hipot tester — and it's one of the few tests that's a legal requirement, not an optional quality check.
What Is a Hipot Tester?
A hipot (high potential, or dielectric withstand) tester applies a high AC or DC voltage between a product's conductive parts and its chassis or enclosure, then measures the leakage current that flows through the insulation. If the leakage stays below a defined threshold, the insulation is considered safe; if it spikes or breaks down, the unit fails. Many hipot testers also measure insulation resistance (IR) as a complementary check.
Key Specifications to Consider
- Test voltage range — AC and DC withstand voltage levels required by the relevant safety standard
- Leakage current resolution — how precisely small leakage currents can be measured and trip thresholds set
- Multi-channel scanning — testing multiple points or units sequentially in production without re-wiring
- Arc detection — catching intermittent breakdowns that a simple threshold trip could miss
Typical Applications
Hipot testing is required for safety certification (IEC/EN/UL) of power supplies, appliances, medical devices, industrial equipment, and any product with mains-connected or high-voltage circuitry, both in R&D qualification and 100% production line testing.
Hipot Testers from ALLdata
Chroma's 19000 series covers single and multi-channel dielectric testing: the Chroma 19054 (4-channel scan), Chroma 19053 (8-channel scan), Chroma 19052, and Chroma 19073. Our team can help you match test voltage and channel count to your compliance requirements.