Cable Fault Locator Equipment | Combination Systems

Electricity supply or distribution companies often find that buried power cables become faulty due
to ageing or damage. Because energy cables are normally not supplied in lengths much longer
than 300m, inevitably many joints are installed and buried.

They are often the cause for cable faults which render the cable useless until repaired and put
back into service. Surge generators are used in conjunction with pre-location and pinpoint location
equipment to precisely locate the position of cable faults.

Surge generatorsare mainly used for the location of faults in power cable networks. They come in a
variety of models from low voltage to very high voltages.

The instrument described on this page generates voltages selectable between 2.5 or 16 kV and is
typically used in the location of faults in low voltage networks such as street lighting or smaller
consumers.

The maximum storage energy of the capacitor is 500J at 16kV.

All Surge generators generate high voltages from the mains supply voltage, which is rectified and
used to charge capacitors, which is in turn discharged into a faulty cable at adjustable intervals.

The unit has an internal automatic dump contractor which, upon power failure or turn off, discharges
both the unit and the cable under test. This is activated when the unit is turned off or when power
failure occurs. It can be operated in the single shot or continuous pulsing method if correct
selection is made.

The unit can also be used to perform insulation resistance tests up to the selected output
levels. Our very successful Arc-Echo method is added to this unit and forms part of the framework.