I had to test a bank of eight PFC capacitors, six tests on each. A fault had developed in one and blown the end cap off 200A BS88, the trouble was I didn’t know which capacitor. I had to test each one, 36 (1½ boxes) of AA batteries later I finally found the faulty unit.
Some Meggers do have a discharge circuit, it saves getting what could be a very nasty belt.
Ask our engineering manager about that. I was sat quietly in the substation watch the IR reading steadily rise when it when it suddenly droped and there was a scream from out side. He’d climbed over the safety bar and touched the other end of the cable. I wish I’d got it on 5kV instead of 2.5.
Many moons ago I was on a big job installing a load of pyro, most of the runs were around the 100 mtr mark, anyway they'd just brought out that "new" pyro, it had something mixed in with the powder to reduce the amount of moisture it absorbed.
The only thing was,whatever this stuff was it made it hold even more of a charge than the old stuff, Well I had this labourer,Graham, his job was to help me "phase out" the cable as it was installed.
First test was to IR between cores, then both cores to sheath, finally if all was ok, he'd short one end to the sheath and when I found it at the other end we'd put a tape or coloured sleeve on it to denote which of the cores was the live one.
Now I always tested at 1000v, better safe than sorry as once they were done some of these cables could not be easily removed if they'd been damaged. Time after time you'd hear a scream from the far end,once again I'd show Graham how to short the cores with a screwdriver to deplete the charge, and each time he'd watch and say, "right I'll remember to do that", then within 10 minutes you'd hear the scream meaning he'd got a belt off the next cable!
It's funny but after all these years I can still remember that lad, years later I was reading about weird fetishes, I began to wonder, was Graham just thick, was he forgetful, or was he one of those people with a fetish for electric shocks?
