A Wiggy is a solenoid voltage tester: two leads feed a coil that pulls a spring-loaded plunger along a scale, so the indicator jumps to the voltage and the body vibrates on AC. Because it draws real current, it ignores the phantom voltage that high-impedance digital meters read on induced or capacitively coupled wiring. It survives drops and abuse, and many electricians reach for it first to check whether a circuit is live.
Heard on the job
Your meter says 40 volts on that dead circuit, put the Wiggy on it, it's just ghost voltage from the parallel run.
Insider tip
A Wiggy draws enough current hot to ground to trip a GFCI, a handy trick and a surprise to the unwary.
Also heard as
- solenoid tester
- wiggie