A staged fault test sequence can be completed on an active feeder without tripping the
feeder and its customers. Pre-test planning meetings and written test procedure
prevented surprises and accidents. Buy-in by all parties, especially the construction
crews, was an essential part of the preparation. Safety needs to be part of the planning
from the beginning. Be prepared to modify testing as opportunities become apparent,
but follow the procedure as much as possible and make sure that any deviations are
discussed with all parties. The environmental conditions are critical to the successful
detection so be aware of pending weather and have a second test date if possible. Pretesting of data acquisition system would have indicated noise in some of the data
channels due to inadequate shielding which was subsequently rectified after the January
2004 testing. Also, some blown fuse cases where the fault cleared very fast only
provided a few cycles of HIF data as seen mostly during the January testing.