Sauroke's Street lighting question.......

[Mke]

so, I have seen more than one company have the "draw it in" theory of locating. And they are playing the percentages again with this theory. Most of the time it will work and nothing gets damaged. But you are right, we should be locating this stuff and not "guessing" where it goes. As for your issues, you have to officially obey all company rules dealing with access to J-boxes or vaults or even handholes.

Un-officially you really do have to do everything in your power in order to mark it correctly. Start outside of the J-box and only resort to that at the very end of it. There are no standards with streetlights, and the hook-ups will very. You can hook up to the Large bolts anchoring the pole to the base. And the way this works, is that "usually" the electrical lines are grouned to the pole, and when connecting to the bolts, its just like connecting to the ground wire, it should light up the run. Sometimes these bolts are covered, and you can just remove the covering, sometimes they are burried and you are screwed. If the pole has an access hole, back out the screw just enough to clip onto it, that may give you a signal as well, unless it is a fiberglass pole. If that doesn't work, open that access cover and look for the ground screw it should be obvious.

Theres some other things you can do, but that is probably the most basic stuff, which usually works.

mke

[sauroke]

I just have a problem with the fiberglass poles, usually there are no ground rods, except in the J boxes. I've gone as far as to try clamping around the pole(if it's small enough) to see if I get a signal. Truthfully I think I'm unofficially going to do the right thing.

[yahoo]

it becomes a time issue because at this point , we all know there is one safe way to locate! call the power contractor to come and break everything down for the light to be located properly and safely! ring clamping on particular wire will not work on most! this is for fiberglass poles I'm talking about!

[Mke]

I hate fiberglass poles.... Where is the photo cell? is it at the top of the light? or is it on a controlbox near by? I ask cause, I've located one lighting run once to a Fiberglass pole and couldn't pick up crap unless the light was on. I had to tape the photocell at the control box 100' away in order to locate the line. When It was cold, I couldn't pick it up at all. Either way, not being able to get into the structures handcuffs you and you are not going to be able to locate the lines all the time.

Mke

[Goldenboy]

We have alot of fiberglass poles in our area. Alot of times the photo cell is actuall attatched to the J box and that controls all the lights on that run. This is done so all the lights go on and off at the exact same time, otherwise the lights in the shade my go on earlier in the evening and go out later in the morning. This works well for locating from the J box because you can just tape up the photo cell and the lights will go on. Without the lights on locating from the J box rarely works because these are ungrounded lights.

Some of the fiberglass street lights have electric outlets on them and we all know these are easy to tone but our companies wouldn't approve how we locate them. If there are no outlets on a fiberglass pole there is only one way to get a good signal on them. This is to get in the last pole on the run and open up the bottom and direct connect to the neutral. Most electric companies will not allow entry into their poles so you have to meet someone from the electric company to open up the light and connect you to it. This is time consuming and all depends on how good the folks at your local electric company are to work with.

[UULC]

Another way of toning out lights is to a copper wire and wrap it around the last pole in the run and connect to both ends of the wire. I used a unsheathed solid copper wire #8 and wrapped it around the pole 6-10 times depending on the size of the pole. I could usually get a tone out of it. This was something to where I would try to locate the lights. If that failed I would do the unthinkable and direct connect. This has always been a no no. If caught by the power company you stand a chance to get in trouble.

[mls62976]

After setting two street lights on fire trying to locate them. I no longer get in streetlights. Both times the hot wire was not covered by the power company and shorted out on the netural. I sometimes have luck with hooking to the transformer that the lights come from.

[sauroke]

most of the photo cells are at the top of the poles. I've covered a few in my days to get the lights, but being vertically challenged compared to the street lights, about the only thing I could do is throw a blanket over the top! Well, like I said unofficially I'm going to do the right thing. If I have to open the jbox, I may...or may not. If it means breaking company policy, I'm not saying I'm going to do it, but I'm not saying that I'm not going to do it.

[Mke]

you know, I have came across a few "pre-opened" j-boxes. "I have no Idea how it came open. It was open when I got on site...."

We have to officially wear a Arc flash suit (coveralls, gloves, and face shield) when ever we open Electrical vaults. I Truely understand the risks of accessing electrical vaults, I however don't see the electricians in the field wearing these suits when accessing these vaults, I do see them wear the suits when in the Utility Plant entering the Substation or HV cabinets. I guess what i'm saying is.... Pick and choose, just be safe doing it. If your not comfortable or have a basic knowledge on how these systems work..... don't do it.

mke

[sprayandpray]

Here's the 1 question we all should ask ourselves when contemplating opening a street light or any other electrical enclosure: Will anyone miss us if we don't make it home ?

[yahoo]

them things hurt when you touch the wrong wire....................hhaaahhah......good advice..don't even think about it!!!!!

[sauroke]

I only use the induction clamp on the wires, I don't really touch the wires myself, a plastic clamp, and a pair of rubber gloves is what I usually use when clamping a power cable. I try not to take too many chances.

[Turk182]

I paint a circle around the pole with an arrow pointing at every axis point and write hand dig, I don't have time to play around with streetlights, though in my area I can usually direct connect to most of them.

[RD_Wrangler]

Lol, I guess I'm nuts. I access st. lights every day.

If it is an older line I DC to the concentric ground and for newer ones, that around here are usually 12 gauge romex, I use a voltage detector to verify the neutral isn't hot (caused by degeneration of the line or dumb contractors cutting then splicing the wrong lines together) and then DC to the neutral...no probs. The few lights I have of larger gauge usually have splicing buckles which make it even easier to DC. Just make sure to have some hot gloves have a good voltage detector and be able to tell which one is the neutral.

[spencer newson]

last month i was locating street light cables when i directly conected to the outer case of the street light pole and earthed the transmitter i got a 240v shock which put me on my ass, felt the metal in my teeth arching briefly, it shit me up for a bit i tell you, when i called the power company that the pole was live, they came out straight away and confirmed that a whole run of street light poles were indeed live, they then said 'were glad it was you that got a shock and not a member of the public'. WTF i'm still waiting for the report. ever since that day i allways test the pole with a voltage meter don't wanna experience that again.
i strongly advice that no one should open the street light plates and attempt to direct connect to wires inside them YOUR LIFE IS WORTH MORE THAN THIS. prehapes there is a course out ther for doing this procedure, i think there is one in the UK, maybe there is one in the states for you guyz?
ps i hope to god we don't start using Fiberglass poles over here