What Can a Cable Fault Locator Do for You? A Guide
There’s a reason why the demand on the cable market is expected to grow by 5.1% over the next year. To support the increasingly demanding internet needs of the planet, companies rely on fiber optic cables that run underground.
If you work in this industry, then you must make yourself familiar with a cable fault locator. But, what exactly does this piece of equipment do? And how does it operate?
If you want to learn the answer to these questions, and more, then you’re in the right place. In this brief article, we’ll teach you everything you need to know about cable fault locators. Let’s get started!
How a Cable Fault Locator Can Help You
There are two main ways that a cable fault locator can help you. The first way is for surveying purposes. When installing cable, building teams often rely on the calculations from the design team to determine how much cable they’ll need.
Sadly, the design team isn’t able to take into account all of the opens and shorts that occur when you’re onsite. That means that more often than not they’ll be not enough cable. A cable fault locator can measure the actual amount of cable that you’ll need.
The second way that this tool is used is to assess for cable damage. Finding a damaged cable can be incredibly tedious without this tool. It would involve digging up the entire cable system just to find the one problem.
What’s Involved in Cable Fault Locating?
When a fault can’t be seen, then you will need to bring in a cable fault locator. Different locators use different methods to find these faults. However, generally speaking, they all follow a similar pattern of operation. That includes:
- Cable isolation
- Cable identification
- Cable tracing
- Fault identification
- Fault prelocation
- Pinpointing
- Re-energization
What Should You Do If You Can’t Afford Cable Fault Locating?
Cable fault locators can get expensive. And, even if you dish out the money for them there’s no guarantee that you’ll know how to use it properly. As such, you shouldn’t feel bad calling in a professional if you have no experience.
There is a variety of cable fault locating businesses out there that can help you. This is ideal because you don’t need to invest in a piece of technology that you likely won’t use much.
Want More Content? Keep Reading
We hope this article helped you figure out what a cable fault locator does. As you can see, the piece of equipment has a pretty specific practical application. However, it’s still nevertheless vital for the expanding cable industry.
As such, we can expect to use them a lot more in the future. Did you enjoy this article? If the answer is yes, then you’re in the right place. Keep exploring to find more topics that you’re sure to love.
