It means pushing the physical needle all the way to the pin or peg just past the end of the scale, not holding it right at the end of the scale. In engineering, a pin is a slender cylinder. Hinges have pins, for example. As another example, you might pin a gear onto a shaft, meaning putting the gear on the shaft, drilling a hole through the hub and shaft together, and driving a pin into the hole. There are also special forms of pins, like the cotter pin or the roll pin. The pin in a meter movement is a safer stopping mechanism than whatever needle would hit next, which might jam it or break it or let its fine wires be pulled to breaking.
Pegging a meter is something that pilots and race car drivers do. Bullshit meters are like Geiger counters. They ping for individual bullshit events.
That sounds plausible.
Exactly. Similar to gaydar, etc. (which may itself ping some people’s bullshit meters).
No.
“Pinning” a meter has been an expression in electronics almost since meters were invented. See my earlier post, with a photo of the pins on a meter face.
This.
'“pins” the meter - to me may mean its not a constant - it pins the meter ‘at times’ - like others have said, it indicates that the ‘max’ position on the dial has been hit, and there is usually a ‘pin’ that stops the needle from going furhter.
“pegs” the meter - is the more forceful of the two - it essentially means the same thing, but it seems it would have more of a “it got there and stayed” - and go there ‘FAST’.
Especially when you consider that pin == peg when talking about the thing at the end of the dial that stops the needle.
To “ping a meter” - I would think of something like watching for an occasional twitch to the needle - a single ping could pin it, but it would be so short that it would not remain pegged.
Ah, I see you have the machine that goes ‘ping!’. This is my favorite. You see, we lease this back from the company we sold it to - that way it comes under the monthly current budget and not the capital account.
Pin and Peg from the fact that the needle would hit the peg or pin that was placed as a stop to the meter.
Some meters do ping when they max out.
And for the record, electric utilities using smart grid technology will “ping” meters to determine if power is restored after an outage. But that’s using a differnt definition of ping.
Does Sky Mall sell these bullshitometers?
Yes. It’s in the shape of a bull’s ass, can be made into a coffee table, and costs $299.95.
Its certainly “pins the meter” for anyone who was into electronics or audio decades ago. It meant circuit overload as in the OP.
I have never heard ‘pins the meter’, only ‘pings the meter’.
If you had the scale on your Volt Ohm Meter set too low and you measured too high of a voltage or current, you can make the needle bend when it hits the peg.
I’ve heard only “pegs” the meter, but “pins” makes perfect sense and a quick googling shows that it’s common.
“Pings” would make sense only as mentioned above: “registers on” rather than as a synonym for “pegs”.
Perhaps “pins” vs “pegs” is regional?
^^^^ this.
… but Geiger counters notoriously don’t ping - they crackle !
I’d say “ping” in that sense would warrant a different construction : instead of “it pinged my BSmeter”, wouldn’t it be better to say “my BS meter just pinged” ?
As for the pin/peg one, I always heard/said it “pegs” myself, but “pins” probably has the exact same origin. Anyway, when in doubt, just say your whatever-meter just exploded :D.