What are these things?

[caryc]

SCE is finally updating our electrical system here to try to avoid shut offs whenever we get wind here. Besides installing shut off switches at every pole that goes to a residence they finally restrung all the wire with insulated wire. But, what are those squiggly wraps they put on the new wire? The ends of them are not connected to anything, so what do they do? They are at every pole now. By the way, in the picture, the current is traveling from the right to the left in the picture.

They also put in a lot of new hardware up on the poles and also actually new poles. The new poles are hollow. They have some holes in them so you can see inside of them. They are made of something that looks like plywood that is maybe 3/8" in thickness.

 

[Bennj1]

I'm guessing something to mitigate the wind? Wonder how long those poles will last before delaminating.

 

[Montelores]

Wow, good guess!

It seems that it's an Aeolian vibration dampener (Aeolian = wind).

I was curious, and here's what I found...

https://electricalnotes.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/vibration-damper-in-transmission-line/

Monty

 

[JFB]

gosh, I thought they were "crow spacers"
https://youtu.be/4Ql8vbEEH6g

 

[caryc]

Wow, good guess!

It seems that it's an Aeolian vibration dampener (Aeolian = wind).

I was curious, and here's what I found...

https://electricalnotes.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/vibration-damper-in-transmission-line/

Monty

Thanks so much Monty. I really didn't know any terminology to use to do a search on it myself.

About those poles, They are coated with something that is shiny and smooth, so I guess they are waterproof. You can't really tell that they are wood just looking at the outside. But, as I said, they have holes spaced like two or three feet apart. Those holes are about 1 1/4" in diameter and only in one line down the pole. . That's where I could see the layers of the wood. I found out about the poles just by searching on "new telephone poles". Those holes are for drain holes or running wire inside the poles.

 

[blume357]

Just to be a prick... the power is not running from right to left... it is actually going both ways.

 

[caryc]

Just to be a prick... the power is not running from right to left... it is actually going both ways.

So, isn't it coming from a source somewhere? So why aren't the dampeners on both sides of the pole?

 

[Kevin]

I bet they can't find telephone poles right now. Down along the coast last year there was a tremendous shortage of pilings, round, or square. This caused a huge backup of house building along the coast of Texas down to Florida. It was because of the freezing temps last February, and then the rise in lumber prices. Pilings take the better part of a tree, and have the lowest return, vs say cut the tree up into 2x4's for more profit.

 

[NikA]

Just to be a prick... the power is not running from right to left... it is actually going both ways.

So, isn't it coming from a source somewhere? So why aren't the dampeners on both sides of the pole?

The vibrations are dampened by wire section. One set of dampeners between each pair of poles is sufficient.

And blume is technically correct, AC current is "going both ways".

 

[Fox Mike]

So, isn't it coming from a source somewhere? So why aren't the dampeners on both sides of the pole?

Are they on the same side after each pole? If so perhaps that is all needed per wire section. It isn't the electric current that vibrates the wire, it is wind.

 

[blume357]

I am at the beach with my dog and wife and took the dog out this morning and looked up at the power line out on the road and darn if it did not have the same critters on the lines..... I have not checked the link above but I think is is dampening the vibration of the line before it goes into the insulators on the pole... probably stops or slows down deterioration of the line there.... where it would be rubbing?

 

[pie]

It is coming from a power source but as mentioned it is AC (alternating current).

DC (direct current) is not used for public power transmission.

 

[NikA]

I am at the beach with my dog and wife and took the dog out this morning and looked up at the power line out on the road and darn if it did not have the same critters on the lines..... I have not checked the link above but I think is is dampening the vibration of the line before it goes into the insulators on the pole... probably stops or slows down deterioration of the line there.... where it would be rubbing?

The lines are aluminum and prone to fatigue failures at the connection points. Adding the damper reduces the vibrations in each section (the damper vibrates instead of the whole line), which reduces the stress at the connection points, which extends the fatigue life of the aluminum conductors.

I hadn't seen them before this post but they make perfect sense. Apparently they are mostly for "gentle breeze" type situations because higher winds tend not to set up standing waves that cause fatigue.

 

[caryc]

I read that they could make five of those laminated poles out of one tree whereas they only get one real wood pole from one tree.

 

[caryc]

So, isn't it coming from a source somewhere? So why aren't the dampeners on both sides of the pole?

Are they on the same side after each pole? If so perhaps that is all needed per wire section. It isn't the electric current that vibrates the wire, it is wind.

I'm very much aware that it is the wind that vibrates the wire, not the electric current. I read the article that Monty gave a link to. I guess you didn't.

 

[Johnnu2]

Well maybe just for "aesthetics"; after all it is California no...?

J

 

[caryc]

Well maybe just for "aesthetics"; after all it is California no...?

J

If you want to talk about aesthetics, how about running the power lines underground?

 

[TestEngineer]

Just to be a prick... the power is not running from right to left... it is actually going both ways.

Not really. Current flows both directions, but power flows from source to point of use (typically a transformer input). Voltage drops between the two places due to resistance in the distribution lines. So the power loss in the AC line is the square of the rms value of the line current times the line resistance.

 

[Johnnu2]

Well maybe just for "aesthetics"; after all it is California no...?

J

If you want to talk about aesthetics, how about running the power lines underground?

THAT would certainly be beautiful to see.............

J.