Phase tracker?

[reppy007]

Ok here we go...While having my oil changed today I noticed a 1 man truck across the street.He had his yellow stick/pogo/extendo out and was hanging a device on the primary.First thought was amp meter,but this one was shaped like a square.Keep in mind that the pole where he was at also had a lateral on it.After the oil change,I drove across and asked him what it was.He told me it was a phase tracker and that it had something to do with smart meters.....meaning that you could find out what phase was out due to the info that the smart meters that were out of service. He said it was faster finding a fault on the circuit.What got me was he even put the device on the pea-vine lateral....you know if you had the device on B phase,why would you also hang it on the B phase lateral....after-all B phase is still B phase on a lateral.....the question is,can anyone else explain more about this so called (PHASE TRACKER).Today was the first time Ive ever seen such a tool.

[reppy007]

More on the phase tracker:Im not going to say thats the real name of the machine,but its what he called it.While hanging it on the primary...there was a yellow box about 2 feet by 1 foot which he had laying on the ground.So the device he hung on the primary was transmitting info to the yellow box on the ground.Reminded me of the old yellow biddle machine that we used to locate bad secondaries with.

[Electriceel]

Basically what you do is start at your substation and get a reference to A-B-C phases then you can go anywhere on your system and be able to tell what phase you are attaching it to.
Yes it will help with smart meters once you know all of your phasing on 3 phase and your taps, when a certain batch of meters show up as an outage you will know where to head for when their is an outage.
With smart metering maps you basically allready know the location.
The tracker works great for new installation when you don't know your phasing.
Here is some information on it.

http://www.iamu.org/documents/filelibrary/PhaseTrakker_Rental_Program_BF6AFCC6A375D.pdf

[reppy007]

Basically what you do is start at your substation and get a reference to A-B-C phases then you can go anywhere on your system and be able to tell what phase you are attaching it to.
Yes it will help with smart meters once you know all of your phasing on 3 phase and your taps, when a certain batch of meters show up as an outage you will know where to head for when their is an outage.
With smart metering maps you basically allready know the location.
The tracker works great for new installation when you don't know your phasing.
Here is some information on it.

http://www.iamu.org/documents/filelibrary/PhaseTrakker_Rental_Program_BF6AFCC6A375D.pdf

You nailed it,thats what I saw .Thanks alot for the info that you provided.