Why no AC Panels

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  • bmet
    bmet Solar Expert Posts: 630 ✭✭
    #32
    Re: Why no AC Panels

    The two coop lineman that came out and pushed the whatever you call it, identified it as a fuse
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  • waynefromnscanada
    waynefromnscanada Solar Expert Posts: 3,009 ✭✭✭✭
    #33
    Re: Why no AC Panels

    Don't know about the ones now used in Nova Scotia, but both the old and the new look like the photo. I've seen many after storms etc over the years, hanging down and the linemen used to reach up with their pole, unhook it from it's hinge, take it down, and I always assumed replace "the fuse", then put it back up, hook it into the hinge, reposition their pole to the "eye" and slam it closed. Sometimes they would just touch it to the closed position, then let it part way down before finally slamming it home. I assumed (again) that the initial touch was to check for the size of any arc, which I was never in a position to see. When I used to watch those actions, I always assumed it was a fuse which, when it blew, would retract a pin (saw one years ago) on it's upper end, permitting it to let go and hang down. But I'm no lineman, I was just a kid with an intense interest in such things. Still am. Don't see the linemen in action any more since I retired to the back woods, so have no idea, perhaps they are now circuit breakers here too and not fuses any more :D
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #34
    Re: Why no AC Panels

    Never overlook the possibility that they may not all be the same! :D
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  • inetdog
    inetdog Solar Expert Posts: 3,123 ✭✭✭✭
    #35
    Re: Why no AC Panels
    Cariboocoot wrote: »
    Never overlook the possibility that they may not all be the same! :D

    Far too simple an explanation. :-)
    SMA SB 3000, old BP panels.
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  • icarus
    icarus Solar Expert Posts: 5,436 ✭✭✭✭
    #36
    Re: Why no AC Panels

    On a related side note, several years ago, I treated my self with air miles to a first class upgrade on a coast to coast flight. Getting in Boston, was a guy who was not typical first class. carhart. Jacket and jeans, baseball cap erc. I sat sext to him. In the coure of the conversation it turned out he was a high wire line man who made the bulk of his living going from one disaster to the next doing repair work. This was new years eve, and he had just spend 2 weeks working the New England ice storm. (he made enough in that period that he would have to work again until July. 30 years old, house paid off, vacation house almost paid,, but he earned every nickle.)

    What was interesting was, he told me that all across N. America, every utility uses the same protocol so that folks from one company can safely do work for another, even on a system they have never seen before. Sometimes the hardware is a bit different, and the way they hang the wires is a bit different, but all the tools are the same. They ground the hot wires the same, go through the same dance no matter where they are.

    The point is these guys earn thier living over and over in conditions most of us can't imagine, and the fact that they can work any where (and do on a moments notice) is pretty cool.

    So the actual fuse maye different on diffent companies transformers, the way that you install them (in general) is the same, using the same tools. It was one of the more interesting flights. The rest of the year, he works cleaning insulators on major transmission lines. There was a video posted a number of years ago showing these guys rolling down the high lines that many thought was faked. It is not fake! That is what these guys do!

    Tony
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