Read all of 101.3.3. It say the protection circuit could be damaged, b
During and after the test, ... or damage to impedance limitation devices or any component intended to provide protection against electric shock,...
I have no idea where you would see this as allowing the protection circuit to be damaged. It is interesting how many ways a poorly written standard can be interpreted.
What about the line that stated "Any damage to a device used for current limitation shall be ignored"??
You only captured part of that sentence. It states:
Any damage to a device used for current limitation shall be ignored if other parts of the equipment were not affected during the test.
If a device used for current limitation is damaged, it is replaced before the test is repeated.
In these two cases I believe they are referring to a user serviceable device. UL, TUV and the like are not going to pull our their solder stations and start swapping parts. I can see them changing a fuse. So, if the fuse blew and no other damaged occurred, to the equipment, you can ignore that failure.
Again, that's just the way I would read it. If they made the standards clear, like I have to in my job, then companies could produce product which met these standards. That would put a lot of government inspectors out of jobs and would allow a more fair global trade. WTC is not tied with TUV for the fun of it. If they made the standards that the people paid for, free for the people to read, the people may actually think,
This is the safety standards we paid $$$$$ for you to come up with??
If you have a TUV safety inspector you work with, ask them next time if some product you are working on is safe. See what sort of response you get.
All I can say is that the Fluke 101 can sit on the plate supply of the Drake TR-4 for at least 30 seconds in resistance, continuity, diode check and capacitance modes for at least 30 seconds and you can rotate the switch while the voltage is applied as much as you want. If I had 10 more meters, I would have repeated that test on all of them. I may have had 10 more dead meters too!