Seen recently in Boulder, Colorado.
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1\$\begingroup\$ I don't see an upside down U-shaped device. I see a U shaped device that is not upside down but, for clarity you should edit your picture and put a circle around where you mean. \$\endgroup\$– Andy akaSep 23 at 18:26
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2\$\begingroup\$ Is there a wire out the bottom of the "U"? \$\endgroup\$– Peter BennettSep 23 at 18:28
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\$\begingroup\$ @Andyaka Title corrected, thanks. \$\endgroup\$– bigjoshSep 24 at 3:58
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\$\begingroup\$ @PeterBennett Maybe, but it is hard to tell with the trees. \$\endgroup\$– bigjoshSep 24 at 3:59
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1\$\begingroup\$ @bigjosh Could we get another pic, maybe a close up? \$\endgroup\$– Voltage Spike ♦Sep 27 at 15:58
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3 Answers
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If you look closely at the photo, there is a wire coming out of the bottom of the device. My guess is it is used to take some power off of the line and send it somewhere else, possibly for lightning safety or measuring, as in @Voltage Spike's answer.
Similar looking cable seen on the left:
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It's probably one of these things:
- Lightning arrester - Used to turn on when the voltage get's too high and send the excess voltage to ground
- Fuse - probably not a fuse because it
- Current/Voltage measurment device
- Switch or circuit breaker.
I think it is most likely a current measuring device, because it has what looks like a resistor and the two orange arms are most likely to measure a differential voltage. The comm line goes out the bottom.
answered Sep 27 at 15:57
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3\$\begingroup\$ Isn't current usually measured inductively? I've never seen a shunt measurement on HV installations (here in Germany). It seems a little weird, because the "output" of the device on the right seems to go up again back to the same wire it came from?! \$\endgroup\$– GNASep 28 at 18:34
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\$\begingroup\$ I can't really tell from the pic, either that or another line, hopefully there is a better pic \$\endgroup\$– Voltage Spike ♦Sep 28 at 19:42
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whilst theoretically an option the shape is very odd for it to be a lightning arrester...as it's connected in parallel to the line i would argue that it can't really be a fuse or HV contactor either. whilst measuring current via a shunt is theoretically possible given that the impedance of the u-shaped thingamajig is lower than the one of the main lines impedance it is very unusual to do so. inductive is preferred for a lot of reasons. It could of course be that it is a DC Line, if so it's probably a current sensor, if not then my best guess would be a small instrument transformer for voltage measurement. Can't say anything for sure but that would be my highly uneducated guess. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about anything
