Electric power line transformers

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Where is it fed from? Can you trace it back or is it a utility piece? Phone your local electricity supplier? Meter the lines going into the building.

It is fed from the lines that power the main house. There is a nice lake back there but there has been no power connected to that area of the property for years. I'd like to put a security light back there but our local provider no longer installs or services security lights on private property. The lines basically go past the house to a pole with a transformer then to a pole by the old building and stop. There are no longer lines running anywhere to any building they just stop at the pole with a couple dangling down about 4 feet. There is a wire attached to the top of the transformer and the dangling wires come out of the transformer. I can install the light, I just need to know how I can tell if the wires are still hot.

Hi,

just call the power company about potential live wires dangeling, and someone will come running and tell you if there is power.

MG

Find 2 wires and stick your tongue on them. If you live, it was dead, if it wasn't, you are.

Could you demonstrate your method for me? You've obviously used it before.

The simplest is to use one of those little voltage detectors. They're cheap and readily available. I've got a couple by Cabac called "voltfinger" that have a little torch in the end as a bonus. I've usually got one in my top pocket. They beep and flash red if put near a hot wire. If you're betting your life on them you should always check their function before and after you test the critical wire. Even then I wouldn't rush in and start sticking your tongue on wires but the basic check , combined with your visual tracing, should give you an idea. Once you get more intimate with it, check with a meter.

Generally before I touch a suspicious wire that I've confirmed dead, I bridge it to earth with a screwdriver, just to be sure....

Thanks for your help. I've got a regular volt-meter but the idea of the little torch on the end is real appealing in this situation. I'm going to check those out before attempting this project. Good forum for info. Aprreciate it.

Before you attempt to connect any security lights, I would suggest you find out what the voltage and amperage of the supply. It sounds like the pole mounted transformer is a step down type. If that is the case you need to take the supply to a distribution board and provide the necccesary circuit protective devices before connecting your security lights. Finally you should not attempt to do this nature of work;get a skilled electrician to do this work as it sounds to me you havent got sufficeint knowledge to carry out this work.

Best Regards,

Wambolo

BANG!

Large transformers produce a humming noise when they're operating. If you can hear it, then it's live, but if you don't, that does not necessarily means it's dead. Try using a multimeter.

There are lots of suggestions but I think the simple and prudent thing to do is to call your electric company. They will send a lineman out to check for you and you will get a correct answer not a guess that could cost you your life.

Mike

the little device with the torch in the end only detects current that is flowing ... they are dangerous unless properly understood as they can give you false confidence that what you are testing is de-energised when in reality it is just not flowing. Hire an electrician for this job .. transformers aren't to be toyed with.

I'm not sure you're correct about that. I just took mine out of my pocket and checked the lead into my desk lamp. It indicated power whether or not the lamp was turned on. I agree that you shouldn't pin your life on such devices but they are very handy as you can check for the presence of power without opening anything up or going near uninsulated conductors. Basically if they indicate power you can be fairly sure something's hot but if they don't indicate power you still proceed with caution.

Mine is rated to 600v ac but will certainly detect voltages higher than this. I've used the little torch for illumination purposes and had the voltage detection side going beserk because of a nearby HV transformer. Actually I might try a little experiment and see if it detects power when I stand under our local pylons for the grid. I think they're about 110kv and fair soak the air with electricity. I'll post the results.

security lights eh?

lets recap; -unmetered power supply.

-readily available water source.

-isolated out building.

-unwillingness, almost to the point of suicide, to hire an electrician.

hmmm ... is Mark Emery on your speed dial?

Be very careful using a torch / screw driver with a LED to see if it is live, this device finds earth through you - you complete the circuit to light the LED / bulb

i) This is only for LV (~250V max.) not MV or HV, if you use it to touch the 11kV side of a distribution transformer you will not do it again!

ii) If you are not properly earthed i.e. isolated by your boots or wooden ladder you may think it is dead when it is live, if isolated enough one may get away with it then touch something earthed and again you will not do it again!

Just report it to the appropriate people and they will do it for you.

OK, OK, there are obviously way too many variables here and too much risk involved. I thought this would be fairly simple as I have installed all the security lights in place now but I knew what I was dealing with. I am also very aware that electricity especially high voltage is nothing to play with so I'm making the call to the electric co. to come check it out.

This is the correct, and safest, answer. Good.

I would get the power company to check it. I don't hear anything about an electric meter or such so it is all their territory... (at least in the U.S.). A wire at the top of the transformer is HOT!! like Kvolts. If you want to diddle with it, go out and murder someone. It will at least get you something for getting electrocuted (depending on your location). There is probably a path to ground through a conduit or a wire along the pole. Let the professionals do it.

Bill