Composite Insulator Tester

Quick Guide
The Composite Insulator Tester has two modes of operation:

A) GO/NO-GO mode

B) INVESTIGATION mode

A) GO/NO-GO mode
The tester uses a built-in threshold to detect an abnormally high Electrical field along a
Composite Insulator. The proper threshold must be selected by the user on power-up
depending on the power line voltage. The color of the light (LED) on the push-button
will confirm the selected threshold.

 POWER-UP SEQUENCE
 Remove the cover of the RS232 connector.
 Slide the ON/OFF switch toward the RS232 connector to turn ON the probe.
 A short beep is followed by a 5 seconds memory testing.
 At the beep, interrupt the infrared beams IR1, IR2 using your hand.
 The beep will stop immediately and the unit self-check is completed.
 The color of the LED will cycle GREEN-AMBER-... at one second interval.
 Press on the push-button when the LED has a color according to the table 1.
 Press the push-button again to confirm the color selection.
 If the color is wrong, turn OFF the power switch then repeat the above steps.
 Press the push-button to turn OFF the LED.
 Table 1: GO/NO-GO color selection at power-up
LED COLOR Electric Field To be used on High Voltage Line
Threshold
GREEN 40 kV/m 115 kVolts to 138 kVolts
AMBER 60 kV/m 138 kVolts to 735 kVolts

 OPERATION SEQUENCE

At step #2, the buzzer will sound if the detected Electric field becomes higher than the
selected threshold and it will turn OFF if the detected Electric field becomes lower than
the selected threshold. The LED will latch to RED flashing mode when the detected
Electric field reaches the selected threshold and it will continue flashing till the push-
button is pressed to turn OFF the LED.

When a fault is detected, the INVESTIGATION mode can be used to display on a

Laptop the Electric field distribution along the insulator.
B) INVESTIGATION mode
The INVESTIGATION mode of operation is used to display on a Laptop the Electric field
distribution along the insulator.

The power-up sequence is identical to the GO/NO-GO sequence and the choice of the
color has no impact on the operation of the probe since the alarm threshold is not used
in the INVESTIGATION mode.

However, we recommend to always using the same color for both modes of operation to
avoid mistakes.

It is not necessary to turn OFF the power of the probe to change the mode of operation.

Refer to the Operation Guide for a detailed description of the INVESTIGATION mode.

Before starting a test, the line-person should always make sure the
NOTE color of the LED corresponds to the table 1.