DC Voltage Detector

[wbdvt]

Hello,

I am looking for a detector that can be used by workers to reliably detect DC voltage in the range of 5kV to 15kV.

The situation concerns a telecomm fiber type cable operating at 5kV to 15kV where the workers are making a cable repair and the power is shutoff at a location that can be up to or more than 1,000 km away.

Anyone have any recommendations?

 

[GoldDigger]

First, the DC is there to power amplifiers/signal regenerators at intervals along the line?
Underwater phone cables do that using high DC voltages because of the otherwise intolerable voltage drop to the middle of the line.
If the DC is inside an electrostatic shield in the cable, I cannot think of a reliable way to detect DC without opening the cable.
If the HV wire is broken out from the return wire you could put a DC clamp meter on it to look for current feeding the amps. But that would give a false negative at the center of the cable if it was fed from both ends.
An electrostatic field detector could work with an unshielded wire, but I would not trust its indication for life safety any more than I would trust any non contact detector for AC. And probably less reliable because of the static electricity and zero shift problems.
Polarization of the cable insulation could also give a false positive indication for some time after the power was cut off.

 

[iceworm]

I've used the 15KV model of these. I liked it. Works fine on DC. It has a metal probe to contact the terminal.

http://ltlutilitysupply.com/product/potential-indicator

ice

 

[wbdvt]

Golddigger - you are correct on the purpose of the DC.

Thank you for the response.

 

[kwired]

Lick your finger before touching it?:angel: