What methods do you use for corona suppression when testing cable?

[whiskers]

Great tip, I will be trying this next time I test cable.

When wrapping the ball, you may want to adjusts the length of the foil to wrap around the cable center a little bit and secure it with a rubber band. This way you are sure the foil is in contact with the center conductor.

[SecondGen]

When wrapping the ball, you may want to adjusts the length of the foil to wrap around the cable center a little bit and secure it with a rubber band. This way you are sure the foil is in contact with the center conductor.

Thanks, I was wondering about the best way to make uniform contact. The rubber band idea is good, I'm thinking it would also be good to jam the foam on the cable first and then wrap so you can stuff the foil way down in the hole.

Another thought would be to make some up with various size holes or just put extra wraps on the cable until it fits. Next cable job will double as arts and crafts day.

[TrapFlyVenus]

What works for me are corona balls. Not the expensive ones. Just go to a craft store and buy a bunch of those Styrofoam balls of different sizes and bring along a roll of aluminum foil.

Wrap the ball in the foil and just jam it on the end of the cable. Works every time.

Where do you place lead once you add the styrofoam balls

[whiskers]

Where do you place lead once you add the styrofoam balls

Prior to adding the Styrofoam balls, I use a small piece of hipot wire and twist it tight on the inner conductor right at the beginning of the rubber insulation, then place the ball on to the wire.

Hope that helps.

Bill

[Ronwilson1801]

Corona Balls? Sounds like you got that fancy stuff, Alex. My company only provides the bare essentials. Using rubber boots and blankets seems like a good idea except large blankets can be a pain to work with. Maybe I can rob some boots if I come across some on a job. The insulating plastic I have is only good for 8kV I think.

We do the same thing.

[gbriske]

What works for me are corona balls. Not the expensive ones. Just go to a craft store and buy a bunch of those Styrofoam balls of different sizes and bring along a roll of aluminum foil.

Wrap the ball in the foil and just jam it on the end of the cable. Works every time.

Wow I've never thought of this, a couple of our sets don't have the corona balls but I will be adding some of these for future cable tests thanks for the tip!

[B_king53]

Yea, I have made something very similar and it works quite well. If they are unavailable or I have need of more I have used old high voltage gloves and taped those as well.

This may be going overboard but for the test end I like to tape my lead to the conductor with some rubber splicing tape, wrap that with 33, and wrap all of that with plastic wrap. Opposite ends will usually just get plastic wrap and a PVC boot (made from piece of 18" PVC pipe and cap). With this method I get no hissing even with high humidity. Anyone have similar methods to suppress corona when testing cable?