# What is this?



## Black Dog

Borgi said:


> I seen this a while back, in my area, took a picture and just never got back to it.
> 
> I'm guessing it's some kind of line conditioner, or booster of some kind. I could just search the Internet, but I'm a little lazy this morning.
> 
> I'm sure someone at this site knows what it is, and what it's used for. :thumbsup:
> 
> Borgi


Looks like a transformer. Whats that bottom line going to?


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## 51360

Black Dog said:


> Looks like a transformer. Whats that bottom line going to?


I think that is the ground.

Not my best picture. The top is the high voltage line.

Now I'll have to go for a walk. 

Borgi


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## guest

Sorry Black Dog, it's not a transformer. The bottom wire is the bond to system ground. The device on the top left is a lightning arrester.

I believe it is a HV circuit breaker/recloser. 

Note the Amperage (35A) stenciled on it. 

I will look for a link to one of the manufacturers.


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## MXer774

Sorry wise one it's not a recloser or sectionalizer. Note the knife switches above. Reclosers or sectionalizers utilize different mechanisms. That there is a conditioner.


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## guest

MXer774 said:


> Sorry wise one it's not a recloser or sectionalizer. Note the knife switches above. Reclosers or sectionalizers utilize different mechanisms. That there is a conditioner.


Got a link to the maker?


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## MXer774

Sure, because the manufacturer nameplate stamp is in site on photo right? There's more than one manufacturer of this equipment.


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## 51360

Thanks guys. 

I just came back from taking more pictures of that pole. They have added more equipment, I'll try to post the pictures later.

The utility in our area is doing many improvements here lately. They upgraded the pole transformers from 25 kva, to 50 kva, and actually added one on our street. One 25 kva supplied ten lots, albeit some were only small cottages.

I am not a lineman, but I'm curious. 

Borgi


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## guest

MXer774 said:


> Sure, because the manufacturer nameplate stamp is in site on photo right? There's more than one manufacturer of this equipment.


Umm, no need to be a smart ass about it....any manufacturer would do.

ETA: Most brands have distinctive "looks"....things like bushings, can shapes, etc. so sometimes it is easy to tell the maker even if the data plate isn't visible. Experienced lineman can often tell what make by using that method.


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## 51360

Ok, this is a new picture taken today, from the same side of the pole as the original. A picture from the other side of the pole can be posted later, if need be. 

No idea what this is either. Looks like the same equipment, just more gizmos.

Doesn't look like they're finished either, I'll have to walk down there next week and keep an eye on them.  :laughing:

Borgi


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## 99cents

Open it up and see if there's tomato soup inside  .


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## MXer774

By all means I was not making an attempt to be ugly. My bad


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## EB Electric

Borgi said:


>


Personally never heard of a conditioner for an overhead distribution line. Looks to me like a single phase recloser with a lightning arrester on one side. On the top right of the tank looks to be a lockout mech. There is a handle under the sleet hood which can be pulled down with a hot stick to lockout the re-closer so that it will only operate once, opening, and not re close. Usually lineman will lockout the recloser's upstream from their work location. The operating mechanism of the recloser is inside the tank, the current interruption usually takes place in oil or a vacuum. Looks similiar to Cooper Type L.


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## 51360

Borgi said:


> Ok, this is a new picture taken today, from the same side of the pole as the original. A picture from the other side of the pole can be posted later, if need be.
> 
> No idea what this is either. Looks like the same equipment, just more gizmos.
> 
> Doesn't look like they're finished either, I'll have to walk down there next week and keep an eye on them.  :laughing:
> 
> Borgi












This enclosure is directly below the above equipment. Am I correct to assume that the " recloser " will be controlled by the control cable temporarily coiled up top?

Borgi


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## BuzzKill

I'd say so...the operating mechanism is low voltage switched.


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## guest

Ok, so let's recap:

Item in question is marked 35A which is usually an indication of an amperage rating;

EB Electric noticed what appears to be a hot-stick operable mechanism (and gave a tentative identification as a Cooper Type L);

Borgi's newer pics show a cable coiled up near the top, and some kind of control enclosure mounted near ground level;

New pics also show that the switch is a bypass and there are additional insulators on the rack where future connections could be routed to the device in question (and that they previously had a "rubber chicken" strain insulator {top left line on the top} that was jumpered and is now cut). 

My money is still on it being a recloser/circuit breaker. :thumbup:

The finished pics will tell the full story.


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## guest

MXer774 said:


> By all means I was not making an attempt to be ugly. My bad


No problem. :thumbup:


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## bkmichael65

EB Electric said:


> Personally never heard of a conditioner for an overhead distribution line. Looks to me like a single phase recloser with a lightning arrester on one side. On the top right of the tank looks to be a lockout mech. There is a handle under the sleet hood which can be pulled down with a hot stick to lockout the re-closer so that it will only operate once, opening, and not re close. Usually lineman will lockout the recloser's upstream from their work location. The operating mechanism of the recloser is inside the tank, the current interruption usually takes place in oil or a vacuum. Looks similiar to Cooper Type L.


Cooper type L recloser


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## 51360

Morning:

I was talking to the line crew yesterday, they installed a new pole and added a 50 kva transformer. Nice guys, they slung the old pole into our front yard. Good firewood! :thumbsup:

Anyway, I asked about the recloser work taking place on the line across the village. That line, where the recloser is installed, feeds the entire village, with high voltage " line breakers ", ( not sure if I'm saying that correctly ), for each of the three main streets in our small village.

When completed, the Utility will be able to control that recloser from Calgary, as well as from the control equipment shown on the pole. 

Apparently, when issues arise with the line, they can clear and reclose the line, to try and solve the problem remotely.

Sounds good to me, I am sure this is done often in rural areas, but I am not knowing. 

Any thoughts? 

Borgi


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## beanmachine314

That's definitely a recloser. Operates just like a circuit breaker except out on the line. Tree bumps a line and the recloser operates once and closes back in. Most often utilities set them for 3 operations before lockout. Keeps the lights on for intermittent faults instead of blowing fuses and customers waiting on a bucket truck to come and refuse. Also keeps things safer for the public. A line with only 35 amps that's down probably won't trip a substation feeder breaker and it'll lay on the ground hot and burning. Reclosers on the line can be set to much lower settings and drop out a downed line instead of leaving it hot. In that situation only the people on the load side of the recloser are out of power instead of the entire circuit. Also easier for line crews to isolate sections of line they're working on instead of dropping the entire circuit they can drop just a few customers with the load break capability then open the knife switches which are not load break capable (we must have visually identifiable open points) before grounding the line and performing work.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## José_Fuentes

What are those things over the cylindrical bushings in the recloser (based on what other members say, I couldn't tell what it is)?.


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## beanmachine314

José_Fuentes said:


> What are those things over the cylindrical bushings in the recloser (based on what other members say, I couldn't tell what it is)?.


Around the porcelain itself? Wildlife protectors. Helps keep animals from getting on the bushings and shorting phase to ground on the piece of equipment.


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## 51360

Borgi said:


> Anyway, I asked about the recloser work taking place on the line across the village. That line, where the recloser is installed, feeds the entire village, with high voltage *" line breakers ", ( not sure if I'm saying that correctly ), *for each of the three main streets in our small village.
> 
> Borgi


I finally found a picture on line of the proper name for these:










They are called " cut out fuses ", or fused " cut-outs ". Not high voltage line breakers. :laughing:

Then I seen someone use the term here at this site, in another thread I'm following. Thanks meadow. :thumbsup:

Borgi


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## beanmachine314

Yea those are just HV fuses or expulsion fuses. They don't just burn out they actually blow up and drop that tube you see down (the door is what we call it). When one blows you reach up there with a hook stick and pull it down. Put a new element in it and then careful lay the jack door back in the cradle. Then you grab the ring with the stick and slam it in the cradle. That particular fuse from what I can tell doesn't look to be load break capable. Many of ours are. They also operate as local disconnects. I can tell you attempting to open one of those in the middle of the night in the pouring down rain with no bucket truck and a 50ft stick isn't very much fun...


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## Meadow

Wow, missed this thread by a long shot.

First, that is not a "conditioner" (I have yet to see one). Those 3 likes are misleading because there is no such thing in this regard. 

The one in the OPs pick is either a recloser a sectionaliser which works in conjunction with a recloser sensing the over current pulses and opens during recloser dead time.


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## Meadow

Borgi said:


> Ok, this is a new picture taken today, from the same side of the pole as the original. A picture from the other side of the pole can be posted later, if need be.
> 
> No idea what this is either. Looks like the same equipment, just more gizmos.
> 
> Doesn't look like they're finished either, I'll have to walk down there next week and keep an eye on them.  :laughing:
> 
> Borgi




Ok that's better. A microprocessor recloser. 

The long can is the recloser, the small short can is a transformer to power the pole mounted controller toward the ground. 

The controller has SCADA and the trip curves can be adjusted anyway seen fit without having to dismantle the recloser like the old oil units.


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## Meadow

Borgi said:


> Morning:
> 
> I was talking to the line crew yesterday, they installed a new pole and added a 50 kva transformer. Nice guys, they slung the old pole into our front yard. Good firewood! :thumbsup:
> 
> Anyway, I asked about the recloser work taking place on the line across the village. That line, where the recloser is installed, feeds the entire village, with high voltage " line breakers ", ( not sure if I'm saying that correctly ), for each of the three main streets in our small village.
> 
> When completed, the Utility will be able to control that recloser from Calgary, as well as from the control equipment shown on the pole.
> 
> Apparently, when issues arise with the line, they can clear and reclose the line, to try and solve the problem remotely.
> 
> Sounds good to me, I am sure this is done often in rural areas, but I am not knowing.
> 
> Any thoughts?
> 
> Borgi


 
Its now being done almost everywhere, especially dense areas. Distribution automation is taking off for a lot of utilities. 

Some POCOs will even go as far as installing 3 phase reclosers between every 500 to 2000 customers with normally open tie points running the system as a giant loops or a mesh. If any segment faults the damaged area is isolated and healthy (unfaulted) feeder segments are transferred to other energized segments. A lot of this is done either through central control or automatically now through peer-to-peer communications which is basically artificial intelligence for a lack of better words. Programing it is mind numbing.:no: Everything is monitored remotely via SCADA; recloser position (on/off), current, voltages, phase angle, status, lockouts even event history. Opening and closing (even control programs) can be done remotely. 

I will see if I can dig up some old drawings on that.

The advantages are fewer customers from a downed pole, automatic disconnection during downed wires/fires emergencies, awareness of system performance like SIADI and voltage regulation and increasing the permissible loading on substations (load can be shed and transferred to other substations during a transformer failure so no substation has to be a true N+1 like in the old days) on top of others benefits. 

This video describes it perfectly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VGs7FdrSIE


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## dtmartin408

That is most defianly a single phase line recloser, with bypass dissconnects, and it looks like it posibly has scada control


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## 51360

The lineman are finished on the other side of the village, so I took more pictures today.

I will post other pictures later.

Looks like some sort of antenna there on the left above the loop, but I am not knowing for sure. I thought communication could be done using the line, and high frequency filters.

Borgi


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## 51360

This is a picture of the control enclosure. Not sure if you can see the manufacturer, but I checked it out and I believe it was American.

Borgi


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## MTW

mxslick=:nerd::nerd::nerd:


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## Chris1971

Borgi said:


> I seen this a while back, in my area, took a picture and just never got back to it.
> 
> I'm guessing it's some kind of line conditioner, or booster of some kind. I could just search the Internet, but I'm a little lazy this morning.
> 
> I'm sure someone at this site knows what it is, and what it's used for. :thumbsup:
> 
> Borgi


Looks like a recloser. Not 100% sure.


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## 51360

Borgi said:


> This is a picture of the control enclosure. Not sure if you can see the manufacturer, but I checked it out and *I believe it was American.*
> 
> Borgi


The logo on the panel is " SEL ". Here is a link https://www.selinc.com/SEL-651R/

Borgi


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## beanmachine314

Borgi said:


> The logo on the panel is " SEL ". Here is a link https://www.selinc.com/SEL-651R/
> 
> Borgi


SEL makes great stuff. We're currently working on upgrading all of the relaying at all our stations with SEL equipment. Super intuitive to work with and there endless possibilities of things you can do with them.


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## Meadow

Switzer Engineering laboratories, good stuff. Better than Cooper to.


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## LARMGUY

> Good firewood! :thumbsup:


 Around here that post would be infused with Creosote. Not a good thing for burning in a fireplace.

Our utility company would give them away to all the farmers that request them. Gum up a chainsaw real bad.

We cut them up and used them for corner posts on fences. I hated to dig the corners because they were freakin deep! We set them at least 6 ft. deep then had 6 ft. above ground. We have some over 80 years old and look just like they were put in last week.


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## 51360

LARMGUY said:


> *Around here that post would be infused with Creosote. Not a good thing for burning in a fireplace.*
> 
> Our utility company would give them away to all the farmers that request them. Gum up a chainsaw real bad.
> 
> We cut them up and used them for corner posts on fences. I hated to dig the corners because they were freakin deep! We set them at least 6 ft. deep then had 6 ft. above ground. We have some over 80 years old and look just like they were put in last week.


Agreed. Will not burn the ~ 4 ' of creosote in the fireplace. Either pit fire, or flower garden borders.

Borgi


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## KDC

Locally, we tend to use fused cut outs in towns & cities, and reclosers in stations (usually 3 phase with electronic controls) or on long lengths of distribution line in the country, where trees and lightning can be more of a problem. While the station stuff has remote operation capabilities, it doesn't get used. 

I'm sure that'll change as time goes on. Work centre consolidation means the boots on the ground are getting further and further away from the edges of the areas they cover.


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