What are the devices attached to the bottom of the power lines (in pairs) for?
Thanks.
I thought it might be something like that but they are kind of small, and in this case, the line is very short, so I didn’t think it would need damping. I guess they do it as a matter of course.
Around here, there are power line braces that are (I would guess) fiberglass or ABS and hold four lines about 18 inches away from each other. They’re placed about every 20 feet on roadside runs and I assume their purpose is to keep wind and small branches from pushing the lines together.
They look just like birds being electrocuted. Some industrial designer had a sense of sick humor.
No, those are bundled conductors. All four conductors are in phase. Think of it as one multi-strand wire.
ETA: Oh, and scroll up a little to see what one “wire” looks like. Fascinatingly complex.
The Wikipedia article says that the vibrations damped by the device are only on the order of the cable diameter. A line doesn’t have to be very long to allow such a small amount of flex, but even small movements repeated enough times can eventually cause enough damage to break the connection.
I’m not sure that’s the case - I’ve seen multi-strand conductors on big towers and understand the practice. These are on roadside poles and are the only power conductors - the rest are low-voltage runs several feet lower and obviously cable, fiber, phone etc.
I can’t find a photo online; I’ll stop and snap a few pix next time I pass one of the photogenic locations.
Power technology is so damned cool in the details.
you also might see three phase power cables over a long span have spacers. a long span where a tower can’t be place like a divided highway or river. the cables have enough because of the sag to touch if moved nonuniformly.
Since the vibration damping gizmos have been identified, can anyone identify the triangle thingy on the left side of these telephone poles. I observed these on a drive from El Paso to Carlsbad last May.
www.bizer.com/000nm.jpg