# Drilling light poles?



## electricguy (Mar 22, 2007)

stainless banding and clamp on bracketing is what i see


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## frenchelectrican (Mar 15, 2007)

five.five-six said:


> I have a customer who wants cameras on his light poles in his parking lot. He wants me to run the fiber underground in existing empty conduit. He also wants me to drill the light poles to install an enclosure for power and network equiptment at the base of the poles and again up the pole for the camera to be mounted and supplied with POE
> 
> 
> I have never drilled a pole before, am I allowed to drill them?


Yes and No depending on type of pole and materal it is on there and what type of lumiaires it allready mounted up there plus the height can affect the strength of the pole.

If you have a hand hole maybe I just say maybe just punch a hole on the handhole cover because it will not affect the strength of the pole but on the top that kinda iffy depending on what type of mounting it is up there.

shoebox lumaires are worst because they can put a bit of stress on the poles.

If you can get to the top cover of the pole then it may be a doable unless you know what manufacter that pole is. the pole manufacter will know the latest info on that part.


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## wcord (Jan 23, 2011)

five.five-six said:


> I have a customer who wants cameras on his light poles in his parking lot. He wants me to run the fiber underground in existing empty conduit. He also wants me to drill the light poles to install an enclosure for power and network equiptment at the base of the poles and again up the pole for the camera to be mounted and supplied with POE
> 
> 
> I have never drilled a pole before, am I allowed to drill them?


We mount weatherproof outlet boxes on poles, quite often. 7/8 for a nipple or connector into the pole.
You could use stainless steel strapping to wrap around the pole, if you are concerned about the structural integrity


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## Southeast Power (Jan 18, 2009)

five.five-six said:


> I have a customer who wants cameras on his light poles in his parking lot. He wants me to run the fiber underground in existing empty conduit. He also wants me to drill the light poles to install an enclosure for power and network equiptment at the base of the poles and again up the pole for the camera to be mounted and supplied with POE
> 
> 
> I have never drilled a pole before, am I allowed to drill them?


Small round holes are not going to do much to the strength of a pole. Vertical and horizontal slots are a problem.
If you are doing a few of these, make it easy on yourself:

https://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment/detail/996/0040026/1-3-8in-magnetic-drill/


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## MikeFL (Apr 16, 2016)

Ask the pole manufacturer how much you can cut into that pole. Follow their lead and you have CYA. Else the straps as others have suggested.


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## Southeast Power (Jan 18, 2009)

MikeFL said:


> Ask the pole manufacturer how much you can cut into that pole. Follow their lead and you have CYA. Else the straps as others have suggested.


I have found that outside of our 150mph coastal requirements, people dont seem to care that much about how strong a pole is.


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## Flyingsod (Jul 11, 2013)

How is banding going to help? It would be silly to run cable up the side of a pole....

If it's a metal pole drilling it isn't really an issue. I've done it and seen it done thousands of Times when I worked for a municipal lighting contractor. Even when I was a signal tech there were no special rules for doing into the traffic light poles. I wouldn't even worry about it.

If it's fiberglass pole.however there's some issues and you have to contact the manufacturer. That's doubly true if it's the wound fiberglass type that's engineered to fall away from a crushing blow. Gl

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## telsa (May 22, 2015)

five.five-six said:


> I have a customer who wants cameras on his light poles in his parking lot. He wants me to run the fiber underground in existing empty conduit. He also wants me to drill the light poles to install an enclosure for power and network equiptment at the base of the poles and again up the pole for the camera to be mounted and supplied with POE
> 
> 
> I have never drilled a pole before, am I allowed to drill them?


Why drill them at all ?

Every pole I've stood had a beauty cap -- typically UV resistant plastic that topped off the assembly.

It would be easy to self-manufacture a PVC transition plate and mount the cameras fully on top of the pole -- and then drop the data-com, and power feed, straight down the shaft to the hand-hole.

PVC suitable for this purpose is widely available -- shaped as if it were lumber. Yes, it's designed for exterior use, and is primed for paint, to boot.

You could assemble your solution in your shop and just plop it on each pole in minutes, as the pole cavity will be enormous compared to your need.

The connection to the pole, by the PVC could be via epoxy, rapid setting, I should think.

This scheme will be cheaper, and go faster, than ANY drilling or strapping scheme.

I do believe pole-top security cameras are a commodity item. They might even come with the necessary adapter plates. Ask around.


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## Southeast Power (Jan 18, 2009)

https://smarttalksecurity.com/parking-lot-security/










I met these people a while back at a security product seminar. Its like a Swiss Army Knife on top of a pole.

Security can flash each individual light pole to direct responders.
Lighting turn off or down if no activity is detected.
Each pole is a wifi repeater to extend service.

Its an interesting time gentlemen.


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## TRurak (Apr 10, 2016)

The real question is, can you run LV cabling in the pole with high voltage conductors??


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

TRurak said:


> The real question is, can you run LV cabling in the pole with high voltage conductors??


No, that's a good point. People do it all the time but it's probably not kosher. But if the fiber is all dielectric, and you use one of those industrial ethernet patch cords with 600v insulation, that ought to pass.


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## MikeFL (Apr 16, 2016)

TRurak said:


> The real question is, can you run LV cabling in the pole with high voltage conductors??


Southwire just came out with a FMC that has both in it. The only requirement AFAIK is that all conductors have an insulation equal to or greater than the highest voltage used in any of the conductors.


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## TRurak (Apr 10, 2016)

I thought you were required to have. 2" separation between tel/ data and line voltage. We should patent a pole with 2 chases in it ......


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## MikeFL (Apr 16, 2016)

that's the Southwire video


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## Flyingsod (Jul 11, 2013)

TRurak said:


> I thought you were required to have. 2" separation between tel/ data and line voltage. We should patent a pole with 2 chases in it ......


What made you think that?

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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

trurak said:


> i thought you were required to have. 2" separation between tel/ data and line voltage. We should patent a pole with 2 chases in it ......





flyingsod said:


> what made you think that?


800.133(a)(2)


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## Flyingsod (Jul 11, 2013)

splatz said:


> 800.133(a)(2)


800!!!!! The code goes that high?  thanks.

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## MXer774 (Sep 1, 2014)

I've drilled many poles:blink:

The most common situation that comes up is when I drill them for motorized gate openers. 
We'll tap off the lighting circuit in the handhole, come out with a 1/2", feed a XFMR mounted on the pole base, which provides 120 to the gate controls.

We've also ran security circuits in separated raceways underground, but provide no separation up the pole. Never been called out on it. Hell, it's on the stamped drawings.


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## telsa (May 22, 2015)

MXer774 said:


> I've drilled many poles:blink:
> 
> The most common situation that comes up is when I drill them for motorized gate openers.
> *We'll tap off the lighting circuit in the handhole,* come out with a 1/2", feed a XFMR mounted on the pole base, which provides 120 to the gate controls.
> ...


Wouldn't that consist of a switched leg ?

Does the mechanism have its own DC battery so as to function when power is off ?

I'm curious.


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## MXer774 (Sep 1, 2014)

Got my verbiage mixed up in that one didn't I? Nice catch.
That particular setup was feeding a 120V sign my customer added near the city street. 
When the lighting control panel energized the pole lights, it also lit the street sign via the pole base mounted 1.5KvA.

Back to my original post, I've feed numerous gate motors by that method. Those installs had a constant 480 supply that we pulled in with the switched lighting circuit.


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## five.five-six (Apr 9, 2013)

TRurak said:


> The real question is, can you run LV cabling in the pole with high voltage conductors??


Yes, so long as the insulation of the LV cable is of sufficient rating. Honeywell twisted 4 pair wire has insulation rated for 300V


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## JasonCo (Mar 23, 2015)

I've drilled many holes in poles. A small hole like 1/2 - 1" isn't going to affect the pole at all. I do it all the time. The poles I deal with are usually anywhere from 10' on up to around 30' or so. You'll not have any problem, plus it shouldn't violate code.

Also, people are talking about code violations for running tel/data and line voltage together. Not sure about any of that, but again I have seen people do exactly what your talking about a million different times. Running camera wires up a pole with regular ac voltage wires. Seen it a million times, its very common. What I rarely ever see if any at all is conduit being ran up a thick pole where you could have just ran it inside. I never see it, every time they just run it inside the pole. Anyways good luck


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