SteadyPin now Public Domain

PRESS RELEASE - (DURHAM, NC) brighterIDEAS owner and TESlite Voltmeter Lead inventor Dan Sullivan announced today that the “SteadyPin” invention pioneered by his company is being made available to all companies that manufacture voltmeters, voltmeter leads, and other non-piercing electrical probes – without cost. A PDF of this press release with drawings can be downloaded here.

Rather than a typical pointed meter probe that damages wire insulation, SteadyPin tips have a small recess in the tip that allows the lead to sit firmly on a male ECM or connector pin. The design also is small enough to fit in most female receptacles in use today. Traditional pointed probes fail to give an effective connection to male connector and ECM pins and create difficulties in completing manufacturer specified voltmeter tests.

The SteadyPin system was the product of many years of frustration caused by meter probes that failed to provide the type of connection needed by equipment and truck technicians.  SteadyPin was the 2005 brainchild of brighterIDEAS team member Jimmy Boone, full-time equipment technician in Raleigh, North Carolina. All TESlite Voltmeter Leads currently in production contain the feature.

Sullivan’s reason for dropping the patent process hinges upon a fundamental problem all small inventors face — cash. A patent application was prepared and was in the process of being filed, but the current  difficulty TESlite Voltmeter Leads are having breaking into the market makes pursuing the patent impossible.

TESlite Voltmeter Leads were patented in the US and Europe in 2005 and 2007 respectively, and have been adopted by Caterpillar, Volvo and UPS as required tools. They are also in use at over 3000 locations worldwide, and are in the hands of technicians who are at the dealer locations and garages  of all major manufacturers of trucks and equipment.

TESlite Voltmeter Leads are the only OEM / manufacturer-approved tool that can locate corrosion in wiring with a digital voltmeter.