regulators?

[44kv]

what are there purpose? how are they wired(do they have a source and load side like reclosers?) also what is zeroing one out mean. i dont think i have seen a thread about them other than the pic of the ones topgroove hung. thank you.(also capacitors)

[Patriot]

Your not a lineman right? One screw up on a regulator might be all you will get.

[Koga]

Are exactly what the name implies. They regulate the line voltage to guard against voltage drop or spikes on a circut.They usually have tap changers on em that go up or down 10% depending on the load variations.To zero it out is to manually raise or lower the tcul's to 0.
Capacitors are probably one of the most dangerous things you can work on IMHO.They are used to correct the power factor. Now I know the next question is "what is the power factor ?" Well my man lets see if I can explain this simply.On AC the current and volts alternate.60 times a second.Thus 60 cycles! Think of it as 2 waves up and down ,up and down.As long as they rise and fall and turn around at the same time they are "in phase" and operating at 100% effeciency.But in the real world it dont happen that way because of inductance caused by load .So we install capacitors to correct it ,to bring it as close to that "in phase" as we can get it.Don't even think about workin on em untill you have some qualified lineman to show you how to take them off line, shunt them out properly and test em. Same thing goes for regulators."Oh ****" aint what you want to hear or say in this line of work. Class dismissed

Koga

[dbrown20]

Best place to start is to purchase the Kurtz Lineman and Cablemans Handbook. You can usually find them on EBay or somewhere real reasonable. It gives you real good info. for most questions you might have. dbrown20

[topgroove]

Are exactly what the name implies. They regulate the line voltage to guard against voltage drop or spikes on a circut.They usually have tap changers on em that go up or down 10% depending on the load variations.To zero it out is to manually raise or lower the tcul's to 0.
Capacitors are probably one of the most dangerous things you can work on IMHO.They are used to correct the power factor. Now I know the next question is "what is the power factor ?" Well my man lets see if I can explain this simply.On AC the current and volts alternate.60 times a second.Thus 60 cycles! Think of it as 2 waves up and down ,up and down.As long as they rise and fall and turn around at the same time they are "in phase" and operating at 100% effeciency.But in the real world it dont happen that way because of inductance caused by load .So we install capacitors to correct it ,to bring it as close to that "in phase" as we can get it.Don't even think about workin on em untill you have some qualified lineman to show you how to take them off line, shunt them out properly and test em. Same thing goes for regulators."Oh ****" aint what you want to hear or say in this line of work. Class dismissed

Koga

excellent explanation! Now as far as wiring it depends on what type of system you on , Wye or Delta. You have three bushings on a regulator, source , load and source load. On a Wye system the source load is the common neutral connection on a delta system the source load is another primary phase.
the most dangerous time is when your taking one off line or putting it on line. To take a regulator off line you must satisfy at least two of the following three indicators. A neutral light in the control box, a zero reading on the clock dial or a zero reading with a neutral indicator between source and load, ( be **** sure you don't get the meter between source and source load or load and source load ) there not made for primary voltage.
Once your **** sure the banks in neutral you can close the by-pass switch and then I turn the control box off and pull the fuses in it.
I won't get in to installing it cause I'm sure you'll have plenty of help with that. I will say make sure you have some fiberglass standoffs. Six for a Wye and nine for a delta. Once you make one lead hot you have to consider them all hot.

[44kv]

no im not working on regs or cap its just like swamp said" learn all you can". the lineman im with dont know that much about them so i thought i would ask you guys. hell i got a **** load of questions about alot of stuff! so i was just wondering and learning thanks for teaching!!!!

[Orgnizdlbr]

what are there purpose? how are they wired(do they have a source and load side like reclosers?) also what is zeroing one out mean. i dont think i have seen a thread about them other than the pic of the ones topgroove hung. thank you.(also capacitors)

Koga gave a great explanation, no need to expand ....on our loop feed system if there is a need to sectionalize a circuit with poletop regulation the regs are taken of the line until the circuit is back to normal....it aint a good thing to backfeed a regulator.....

[BigClive]

Are exactly what the name implies. They regulate the line voltage to guard against voltage drop or spikes on a circut.They usually have tap changers on em that go up or down 10% depending on the load variations.To zero it out is to manually raise or lower the tcul's to 0.
Capacitors are probably one of the most dangerous things you can work on IMHO.They are used to correct the power factor. Now I know the next question is "what is the power factor ?" Well my man lets see if I can explain this simply.On AC the current and volts alternate.60 times a second.Thus 60 cycles! Think of it as 2 waves up and down ,up and down.As long as they rise and fall and turn around at the same time they are "in phase" and operating at 100% effeciency.But in the real world it dont happen that way because of inductance caused by load .So we install capacitors to correct it ,to bring it as close to that "in phase" as we can get it.Don't even think about workin on em untill you have some qualified lineman to show you how to take them off line, shunt them out properly and test em. Same thing goes for regulators."Oh ****" aint what you want to hear or say in this line of work. Class dismissed

Koga

Nicely put Koga. It's hard to explain power factor correction in simple terms. In short a **** power factor means that transformers are used rather inefficiently and balancing the PF has significant cost savings for the power company.

Two nasty things about capacitors. They hold a charge and while some have bleed resistors that will slowly drain the charge on them away, some don't, or have dead resistors that don't bleed the charge away. The upshot of this is that if you diconnect a capacitor then it's best to assume it's holding a high DC charge on it's terminals that could easilly kill you. Even a capacitor that has been subsequently discharged and then left for a while can develop a modest charge from electrolytic absorbtion. So always discharge again before handling a disconnected capacitor.

Second unique feature of capacitors is due to their construction of lots of layers of live metal sandwiched with thin layers of insulation. When something goes wrong they explode with force. A whole lot of energy gets vented in a sealed metal container and BOOM!

One of my first experiences of working on distribution gear as an apprentice electrician was connecting lugs onto a capacitor bank in a steelworks. I think I was given the job because everyone else was scared to do it. Likewise being tenchnically savvy to the characteristics of capacitors, I wasn;t too thrilled to be doing it myself. Especially since this was in the days when you just had to take your gaffers word for it that the thing was suitably isolated and discharged.

[linemanfrog]

A voltage regulator is little more than a primary transformer. They usually have a "correction factor" of +/-10%. Internally they have windings similary to a standard tx. The difference is the output voltage (still primary voltage). They have voltage sensing devices in them that tell the control panel what the primary voltage is. Depending on the line voltage the regulator will do one of three things. 1. Nothing....voltage is good. 2. Step the voltage up due to the primary voltage being lower than wanted. 3. Step down voltage due to higher voltage than needed.
As has already been said....never attempt to bypass a regulator until you are sure it is in the neutral (zeroed) out postion. Very bad to attempt that. Alot of the newer ones can be fed from either direction (useful on circuits that are switched alot). Just remember source and load are hot on a wye system. Sourceload is neutral connection. We install a 4kv arrestor between the source and load bushings (we have a 7.2/12.4 system) to protect the internal windings from lightening damage. Beware of the older bypass switches that are hooked up in such a way that the bypass one closes as you open the source one.....never seen it happen but Ive heard that they dont always work as they were designed. We took all of them out of our system.

Regulators can give you a few problems you will see down line while you are trouble shooting. For instance if you have more than one transformer giving you high or low voltage then ask dispatcher where the nearest regulator is. Sometimes they will get stuck in position and as load changes you may get excessively high or low primary voltage. Look at the clock indicator to see what position the regulator is in. If it seems higher or lower than what it should be then check primary voltage on both sides of regulator to see if it is stepped up or down more than needed.
When switching circuits it is best to put them in the manual position until swithcing is completed or you will have one regulator "fighting" the other trying to stabilize voltage.

Hope this answers some of your questions. As far a cap banks.....hopefully someone smarter than I can explain that to ya.

[loodvig]

The main thing on regs is make dam sure it's in neutral position if your going to by-pass or take it off line. Some of the older controls don't have a neutral light or the bulb is out. The dials or pointer is not always correct either!