Hand-held tester for receptacle ground fault circuit interrupters

A hand-held testing device for a receptacle ground fault circuit interrupter, said interrupter having a hot, neutral, and ground leads and having a dormant state, in which current may flow through said hot lead, and a tripped state, in which said interrupter substantially blocks current flow through said hot lead, said testing device, comprising;

• in combination:
• a plug for interconnecting to said leads of said interrupter;
• a current source for introducing a substantially constant fault current between said hot and ground leads, wherein said fault current has a predetermined value which is independent of the voltage across said hot and neutral leads;
• a timer circuit for counting time after said current source introduces said fault current;
• a control circuit for determining whether said interrupter entered said tripped state within a designated trip time and responsively generating a corresponding trip indicator signal;
• and display means for receiving said trip indicator signal and responsively indicating whether said interrupter entered said tripped state within said designated trip time;
• an exterior casing substantially enclosing said current source, timer circuit, and control circuit, said casing defining a plug assembly and a display assembly attached to said plug assembly, said plug assembly defining a plug longitudinal axis, said display assembly also defining a display longitudinal axis positioned at an angle of at least 15.degree. with respect to said plug longitudinal axis.