POLEpig

BillB3857

Joined Feb 28, 2009
2,570
Looks like the return line for the high voltage primary. Only need one high voltage wire overhead to power the thing up. No need to run a ground wire overhead when there is plenty of the real stuff just down the pole. (Yes, I see three high voltage wires overhead, but only one is being used to power this transformer. The other two are used, with the first one, to provide 3 phase power when needed.)
 

Thread Starter

na5m

Joined Jul 19, 2012
14
I don't think SWER is used in urban areas, from what I can gather. And if you look at my photos, there is no evidence what-so-ever of a 4th wire neutral returning to a Y transformer. The primary conductor entering the polepig obviously connects to 1 of the 3 available high voltage phases from the power company. The primary conductor leaving the polepig doesn't appear to connect to any neutral wire at all. It runs down the pole, disappears into the ground, and functions merely as a safety "ground" wire.

 

DerStrom8

Joined Feb 20, 2011
2,390
I don't think SWER is used in urban areas, from what I can gather. And if you look at my photos, there is no evidence what-so-ever of a 4th wire neutral returning to a Y transformer. The primary conductor entering the polepig obviously connects to 1 of the 3 available high voltage phases from the power company. The primary conductor leaving the polepig doesn't appear to connect to any neutral wire at all. It runs down the pole, disappears into the ground, and functions merely as a safety "ground" wire.

Look at the center tap of the transformer, though! That ALSO connects to ground, AND it's neutral. 0v at the center tap. There is no "fourth neutral wire". Neutral is simply connected to ground.
 

DerStrom8

Joined Feb 20, 2011
2,390
I don't mean to be rude, but I'm SURE we've been through this! I don't see what's so hard to understand about it. It seems the OP is asking the same questions over and over again, after we keep answering them.
 

Thread Starter

na5m

Joined Jul 19, 2012
14
Christ almighty! That's where I got so screwed up! I've never heard the term "multi-grounded neutral" before.
Thanks for the link to this image, t_n_k. A good picture really is worth a thousand words.
I didn't notice the MGN on the pole that I photographed, but tomorrow I'm going
to go back outside and re-survey my neighborhood's poles again and locate the MGN.
I'm also going to look for the static wire cuz I don't remember seeing it, either.

 

DerStrom8

Joined Feb 20, 2011
2,390
Christ almighty! That's where I got so screwed up! I've never heard the term "multi-grounded neutral" before.
Thanks for the link to this image, t_n_k. A good picture really is worth a thousand words.
I didn't notice the MGN on the pole that I photographed, but tomorrow I'm going
to go back outside and re-survey my neighborhood's poles again and locate the MGN.
I'm also going to look for the static wire cuz I don't remember seeing it, either.

Depending on where you are, you might not see a special wire for the "MGN". If the transformer and load are grounded, and the power company has their neutral grounded, the earth will act as the MGN line. Anything that is connected to neutral or to ground are all connected together in one way or another, whether it be through a separate wire or through the ground itself.
 

shortbus

Joined Sep 30, 2009
10,045
@TNK a few years ago we had some Darwin Award winners that went into a substation to remove copper. Didn't end too well for them.
 

Thread Starter

na5m

Joined Jul 19, 2012
14
DerStrom8, your diagram in post #8 is spot on correct. I simply had a long
(and stinky) mental fart that wasn't letting me map in my mind what your diagram was illustrating
with what my photograph was telling me. Anyhow, I thank all of you for your help & patience.



 

PRFGADGET

Joined Aug 8, 2011
53
Neutral (A.K.A. GROUND) is also carried on the pole to pole as well as a "Ground line" at the pole, this is (in this area at least) the very "TOP" wire on the Ariel runs from pole to pole , this is also run all the way back to the sub station and from there back to the generating station hence a "return" line as it is sometimes referred to.
Yes, the "PRIMARY neutral" connection is made to the case of the "POLE PIG" or transformer housing and all external neutral/ground connections are common to that point.
 
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