cable fault finding - homemade tdr?

[MrFluffy]

Well, cable arrived courtesy of a brilliant ebayer (4siteonline), and it was a bit bigger than the original because of the swa and extra insulation but the cable pixies were with me on this occasion, soldered the two ends together after twisting and lots of tape to taper the joint in and we (me and my good lady) just got done pulling in the section running under the house, her feeding and pouring cable pull lubricant in, and me on donkey outside dragging. It snagged at one point and we had to work it back and forth a few times, but it came good in the end and the SWA outer isnt damaged.
Now just got to drag it in all the way under the yard now, but I can dig that bit up. Just having a brew, its hard work manually pulling a cable that big. Then I'll be er... busy in the shed for a bit catching up on lost time

 

[awemawson]

Excellent !

Well you actually DO have good luck, as 3 phase leaking and shorting under the dog kennel could have been a canine disaster with damp earth.

How is your own recovery coming on following the 101 excitement ?

 

[Robotstar5]

That's good news, hope you asked if it was good for her too, once you'd got it in... ooer missus

If possible, test the new cable with a megger (IR tester) before energising it.

 

[MrFluffy]

Not so good luck on the yard run, had to segment the run between shed and across yard with 5 access holes so far, and only just managed to drag the two loose wires out the conduit with a winch on the landrover. So this pm is solder the new wire to the ones left and blow lots of air/lube through the points and cross fingers lots or I'll be trenching the whole lot out again, only this time by hand because the data and water pipes are too close to use a machine.
On the recovery, still in physio twice a week for lost movement in hand and have to wear glove on right hand as the skin is really thin with odd scars running length of three fingers, and after yesterday digging through hard stony ground by hand breakfast involved painkillers before running through am hand exercises. Leg & torso looks rough with the skin grafts and donor sites still clearly visible but its all cosmetic and I'm not big on shorts and beachwear in general anyway. At least its not actually completely stopping me from doing stuff now, just getting in the way a bit.

Robotstar, I've got a local tame electrician on standby for that once I actually get the thing in as I want him to check the impedance of the workshop earth while he's here with it. I dont think it was leaking out to gnd because otherwise the house end gfci would have operated but while we're at it...

 

[awemawson]

Bad luck on the cable run issue. Is it that the conduit has crushed? What did you use as conduit? The stuff EDF use here (yes we have French Volts ) is what looks like tough pvc but in fact tears along it's length very easily - it is thickish walled (perhaps 2.5 mm) and about 30 mm id smooth and black - I have the end of a roll left from running cable to the front gate.

Should you be doing all this bearing in mind the trauma you've had with the 101? Can you not get a local young lad to help with the donkey work for a little bit of folding money? I know the pressure of wanting to get stuff done but your health is actually more important

All the best

 

[MrFluffy]

Yes, think its crushed underground by something pressing on it, there's light rub marks on the outer on the pulled sections & it didn't get any easier at any point but we're halfway there now with the swa after suitable applications of landrover. Its the red crinkle stuff with the smooth black inner liner coating, so probably the same stuff you have, its not fantastically robust.
As for if I should be doing it, It feels good to be getting stuck back in to something, nothing's fell off or started leaking so its all good.

 

[dobbslc]

Mrfluffy what did you do to yourself? ​

 

[MrFluffy]

My truck misheard me when I said I liked BBQ

 

[anjum]

I built a home made cable detector once.
It worked great... it would always detect a wall sometimes......

 

[MrFluffy]

Just to update, its in, wired and tested and just been using the bandsaw and the blade round went the right way so looks like I got the phase order correct again too. I moved & replaced the panel in the workshop too while I was at it because the old location was a bit too close to the edm worktank for comfort. Its a ill wind...

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

On the older DC ships cables with faults that could not be traced with a meggar or cable fault meter was turned for max smoke.

The cable run was unclipped, if possible broken down into sensible lengths and left hanging on clips.
The biggest fuse the Chief had in his tool box (3/8 bolt was always good) Then the run was powered up.
Smoke, or if we could "borrow" the Thermal fire fighting camera, they came in after 1982. I wonder why?

The smoke or hot spots. or Oh dear we have sparks was a good way to find the fault.

 

[Robotstar5]

On the older DC ships cables with faults that could not be traced with a meggar or cable fault meter was turned for max smoke.

The cable run was unclipped, if possible broken down into sensible lengths and left hanging on clips.
The biggest fuse the Chief had in his tool box (3/8 bolt was always good) Then the run was powered up.
Smoke, or if we could "borrow" the Thermal fire fighting camera, they came in after 1982. I wonder why?

The smoke or hot spots. or Oh dear we have sparks was a good way to find the fault.

Standard industrial fault finding technique, just keep fitting bigger fuses until the fault reveals itself

 

[dobbslc]

Mrfluffy what did you do to yourself? ​

My truck misheard me when I said I liked BBQ

Gulp! I've just read that part of the 101 thread! Hope things are getting better.