What are these on the power lines

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Jase2985

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#251087 7-Jun-2019 20:38

Evening all, i only noticed these on the power lines over the road from my house the other night, i dont think they have been there that long as im sure i would have noticed. They are on all 3 of the higher voltage lines on the top of the poles, and the left hand one in the photo flashes red every now and then. there is no real pattern to the flashing though.

We are in a vector lines area in Auckland.

thoughts?

ps sorry the picture is black and white, my camera only works in monochrome

sparkz25

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#2254107 7-Jun-2019 20:40

Insulators form where there was a powerpole

Jase2985

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#2254108 7-Jun-2019 20:42

sparkz25:

Insulators form where there was a powerpole

nope its over a driveway, and the power pole is still there with the lines attached. its about a meter out of the shot

sparkz25

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#2254110 7-Jun-2019 20:45

Jase2985:

sparkz25:

Insulators form where there was a powerpole

nope its over a driveway, and the power pole is still there with the lines attached. its about a meter out of the shot

They are Definitely insulators from a pole and to me, it looks as if there was a pole there at some stage in those insulators lives.

The old pole may have been hit by a car or replaced with a new pole, and they would have done it side by side and swapped it all out to make life easier.

Stu

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#2254111 7-Jun-2019 20:48

Quite possible the pole was moved to make way for the driveway.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

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Jase2985

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#2254112 7-Jun-2019 20:52

Stu: Quite possible the pole was moved to make way for the driveway.

like i said its not that

ive been here 10 years, never been a pole there

its got a light in one of them, how many insulators have a light in them?

Jase2985

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#2254113 7-Jun-2019 20:53

sparkz25:

Jase2985:

sparkz25:

Insulators form where there was a powerpole

nope its over a driveway, and the power pole is still there with the lines attached. its about a meter out of the shot

They are Definitely insulators from a pole and to me, it looks as if there was a pole there at some stage in those insulators lives.

The old pole may have been hit by a car or replaced with a new pole, and they would have done it side by side and swapped it all out to make life easier.

again i doubt it, its in the middle of a drive way, which has been there for almost 60 years

how many insulators have red light in them that flash at random intervals?

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Kraven

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#2254114 7-Jun-2019 20:59

They are fault indicators placed at regular intervals down a line and can be used to track a fault. Not sure how they work but I believe this is what they are.

Stu

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#2254116 7-Jun-2019 21:03

Fault passage indicator, or faulted circuit indicator. Could be. The image isn't overly clear. Have a look on this page.

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Jase2985

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#2254117 7-Jun-2019 21:04

Kraven: They are fault indicators placed at regular intervals down a line and can be used to track a fault. Not sure how they work but I believe this is what they are.

thanks

weird as its been flashing for a week or so, and there is no issue with the power down where they go.

im pretty sure they are new

MuzaNZ

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#2254118 7-Jun-2019 21:13

Rodalco's made a few videos on the devices.

Heres a link to a video he made explaining how they work

larknz

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#2254122 7-Jun-2019 21:44

They are definitely line fault indicators. They are there to help track down faults in the overhead lines.

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#2254167 8-Jun-2019 09:44

Safe landing spots for the Motherships?

Fred99

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#2254198 8-Jun-2019 10:30

On the topic of things on power lines, does anyone know the purpose of the pairs of globes on HV lines on pylons, usually about a metre or so from the insulators?
They're on one side of the insulator, not always the same side of the pylon. I asked a sparky friend who'd worked on HV / substations etc - but not on lines, he didn't know. My son's a sparky, (not HV) - he doesn't know either. Google hasn't helped .
I wondered if there was an electrical purpose - or perhaps fixed to the line as an easily visible measurement point for line installation and maintenance, maybe a fixing point for the trolleys they use for line maintenance.

Edit: after wondering about this for years, I post the question above, type pylon into Google, a picture appears of them - from the wiki page for a stockbridge damper. So answering my own question, they're tuned-mass dampers to reduce wind vibration.

Rickles

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#2254207 8-Jun-2019 10:38

>pairs of globes on HV lines on pylons<

Aircraft warnings?

larknz

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#2254253 8-Jun-2019 12:40

Fred99:
On the topic of things on power lines, does anyone know the purpose of the pairs of globes on HV lines on pylons, usually about a metre or so from the insulators?
They're on one side of the insulator, not always the same side of the pylon. I asked a sparky friend who'd worked on HV / substations etc - but not on lines, he didn't know. My son's a sparky, (not HV) - he doesn't know either. Google hasn't helped .
I wondered if there was an electrical purpose - or perhaps fixed to the line as an easily visible measurement point for line installation and maintenance, maybe a fixing point for the trolleys they use for line maintenance.

Edit: after wondering about this for years, I post the question above, type pylon into Google, a picture appears of them - from the wiki page for a stockbridge damper. So answering my own question, they're tuned-mass dampers to reduce wind vibration.

Also known as dog bone dampers because of their shape