You'll have to escalate this to the owner of the fiber optic line and request that the company send out a crew to install the tracer wire. This will enable you to accurately locate the utility. and Thank you!
Hey Luka, I noticed on most of your locates you get almost 100% milliamps output, I did locates up here in Whistler B.C. Canada yesterday as the snow has finally melted so ground was nice and moist but still the best I could get was 46 milliamps. So many times I have to deal with single digit readings maybe up to 25 even with soaking the ground. I can't figure out how you get up that high on most of your locates?
It all basically depends on your soil conditions and the equipment (Transformers, pedestals, secondary peds, cross Box, etc.), if they're properly grounded. It seems to me that it could be an equipment issue, with improper grounding. Regarding soil conditions, if you have a lot of rocky ground or even sandy soil, you may not be getting the best milliamps. You could try testing it by going to a phone ped, unbonding both ends, and then grounding out one end of the bond strap that goes in the direction of the other phone ped. Then, direct connect to the other bond strap to see if you get 100% milliamps. If not, try pushing your ground rod a little deeper into the soil until you achieve 100% milliamps. If you notice that you have to push your ground rod really deep into the ground, that means your soil conditions aren't great, and if you don't achieve a hundred milliamps, then it's a good possibility that your equipment boxes aren't properly grounded inside.
@@811chicago5 Yeah I would doubt if it's my transmitter as my RD is only a year old but we do have a lot of rocky soil conditions up here in this mountain area. I am also a welder by trade and made a nice stainless ground rod so I can get it in fairly deep. Some areas are much better than others for sure but I am leaning more to there's just a lot of rock and sometimes it's a bitch to penetrate the ground at all. Thanks. Brian.
@@BrianFrid When I mentioned 'equipment,' I was referring to the client's infrastructure such as transformers, switchgear, secondary peds, etc., not your Transformer. In that case, yes, you're going to have issues achieving 100% continuity due to the rocky conditions.
Hi - thanks for what you do! At 6:46 what is the cable situation you're using. There's a specialty alligator clip with piral phone type cable. Thene ther's the large clamp - you're clamping both on the aluminum tracer wire. Additionally you're transmitter is grounded. Can you explain this set up? Thank you
The only thing I'm doing is attaching alligator clips to the trace wire, which is very thin, to get a better grip. Then, I use my regular leads to send the tone through the wire via the alligator clip.
One challenge we encounter here is the practice of companies like Trace-Safe manufacturing wire and marketing it as a genuine locating Tracer wire, when in fact it fails to meet the essential criteria of a true locating wire for underground utilities. This wire should ideally emit a current of 100 milliamps when grounded at one end and connected to a machine at the other, but this requirement is not met by the wire in question. The problem with these larger companies opting for non-compliant tracer wires is the substantial cost savings involved. Genuine tracer wires, which typically have a diameter of 3/16” and are made of hard drawn, high carbon steel with copper cladding, insulated with a 50 mil, high-density, high-molecular-weight polyethylene (HDPE) insulation rated for direct burial use at 600 volts, can be pricey, averaging between $1.50 to $2.00 per foot.
Great content as always. Do you think the white paint marks on the sidewalk were done by a private locate company using GPR? On the East Coast, when we have fiber with no tracer wire, we call in a Field Observation Report to the phone company. Then they come out to pull in a tracer.
Thanks! Those markings on the sidewalk that used to be bright orange have been bleached out by the sun over time, so now they're faded and turned white. Here in Chicago, if we can't locate the fiber optics, we turn it over to the utility owner for them to send a crew out to run tracer wire.
I exclusively do MCI only in Southern California and 95% of the time they have that orange tracer wire either I use 33khz majority of the time or 8khz sometimes. Rarely have issues of bleeding or not able to locate. The new builds have a solid orange conduit with a second conduit that contains innerducts that provide a blue tracer wire and also use 33khz. The old MCI builds have that green tracer wire. If they dont contain any tracer wire I just use a duct router either a 250ft or ask for an extension to use our 1,200 ft duct router. Very rare that we escalate to utility company. And should demonstrate grounding on the metal of manholes when there is no dirt thats what I do. Enjoy the videos 👍
The old green tracer wires are superior because they're pure copper, unlike this new orange wire which is useless. And using 33 kilohertz? Not wise, especially here in Chicago where we've got countless buried utilities. Dealing with 320 Hz already causes issues with interference onto other lines. When it comes to their dialectical fiber, if they don't provide the wire, we often end up pushing the responsibility back onto the client to install it. Many times, when running a fish tape, we risk interference with streetlights, leading to fiber hits. That's why we insist on transferring liability back to the client.
Yeah, it's just a pain in the ass. They should install a real tracer wire, not this bullshit wire. And they're crying about damages because your stuff is unlocatable. LMFAO!
All I say is when there's a trace wire no matter what kind it is I'm at least sort of happy because on the private side you run into so many places with cameras or private fibers that the companies put into their property with no trace wire they just wanted to save money and then get pissed at the locator When it can't be found.
When they install on a private side, many times they don't even consider how to locate that fiber. When it comes to locating the fiber, not all companies really focus on that aspect. The installers simply install what the engineers specify. Many of these companies don't even think about locating that utility until an issue arises if you know what I mean.
@@811chicago5 yeah I know I work on the private side. But it's every single time when the fiber cannot be found and we discuss with the building or site engineer and a lot of the time they will come back with they just didn't want to spend the money for the tracer wire and didn't think it be a problem.
Ran into that problem on an army base dielectric and no tracer wire. What do you do man? Your videos are great hands on!
You'll have to escalate this to the owner of the fiber optic line and request that the company send out a crew to install the tracer wire. This will enable you to accurately locate the utility. and Thank you!
Thank you, I will
Hey Luka, I noticed on most of your locates you get almost 100% milliamps output, I did locates up here in Whistler B.C. Canada yesterday as the snow has finally melted so ground was nice and moist but still the best I could get was 46 milliamps. So many times I have to deal with single digit readings maybe up to 25 even with soaking the ground. I can't figure out how you get up that high on most of your locates?
It all basically depends on your soil conditions and the equipment (Transformers, pedestals, secondary peds, cross Box, etc.), if they're properly grounded. It seems to me that it could be an equipment issue, with improper grounding. Regarding soil conditions, if you have a lot of rocky ground or even sandy soil, you may not be getting the best milliamps. You could try testing it by going to a phone ped, unbonding both ends, and then grounding out one end of the bond strap that goes in the direction of the other phone ped. Then, direct connect to the other bond strap to see if you get 100% milliamps. If not, try pushing your ground rod a little deeper into the soil until you achieve 100% milliamps. If you notice that you have to push your ground rod really deep into the ground, that means your soil conditions aren't great, and if you don't achieve a hundred milliamps, then it's a good possibility that your equipment boxes aren't properly grounded inside.
@@811chicago5 Yeah I would doubt if it's my transmitter as my RD is only a year old but we do have a lot of rocky soil conditions up here in this mountain area. I am also a welder by trade and made a nice stainless ground rod so I can get it in fairly deep. Some areas are much better than others for sure but I am leaning more to there's just a lot of rock and sometimes it's a bitch to penetrate the ground at all. Thanks. Brian.
@@BrianFrid When I mentioned 'equipment,' I was referring to the client's infrastructure such as transformers, switchgear, secondary peds, etc., not your Transformer. In that case, yes, you're going to have issues achieving 100% continuity due to the rocky conditions.
Hi - thanks for what you do! At 6:46 what is the cable situation you're using. There's a specialty alligator clip with piral phone type cable. Thene ther's the large clamp - you're clamping both on the aluminum tracer wire. Additionally you're transmitter is grounded. Can you explain this set up?
Thank you
The only thing I'm doing is attaching alligator clips to the trace wire, which is very thin, to get a better grip. Then, I use my regular leads to send the tone through the wire via the alligator clip.
Could you show a video some time using a fish tape or duct router for missing trace wire locates ???
Sure in coming up in weeks I have a couple of innerducts that I got to run a fish tape through.
That looks like Trace-Safe insulated tracer wire. 19ga tin-coated copper wire. PITA to work with.
One challenge we encounter here is the practice of companies like Trace-Safe manufacturing wire and marketing it as a genuine locating Tracer wire, when in fact it fails to meet the essential criteria of a true locating wire for underground utilities. This wire should ideally emit a current of 100 milliamps when grounded at one end and connected to a machine at the other, but this requirement is not met by the wire in question. The problem with these larger companies opting for non-compliant tracer wires is the substantial cost savings involved. Genuine tracer wires, which typically have a diameter of 3/16” and are made of hard drawn, high carbon steel with copper cladding, insulated with a 50 mil, high-density, high-molecular-weight polyethylene (HDPE) insulation rated for direct burial use at 600 volts, can be pricey, averaging between $1.50 to $2.00 per foot.
Great content as always. Do you think the white paint marks on the sidewalk were done by a private locate company using GPR?
On the East Coast, when we have fiber with no tracer wire, we call in a Field Observation Report to the phone company. Then they come out to pull in a tracer.
Thanks! Those markings on the sidewalk that used to be bright orange have been bleached out by the sun over time, so now they're faded and turned white. Here in Chicago, if we can't locate the fiber optics, we turn it over to the utility owner for them to send a crew out to run tracer wire.
Your orange tracer is Rg 6 cable.
It's underground coax cable. the center conductor is copper cladded steel with steel braiding.
The issue is people think this (RG6) orange wire is a trace wire, not a tracer wire for locating.
It's not RG6 coax, it's Trace-Safe which works great if installed correctly and you know what you are doing.
I exclusively do MCI only in Southern California and 95% of the time they have that orange tracer wire either I use 33khz majority of the time or 8khz sometimes. Rarely have issues of bleeding or not able to locate. The new builds have a solid orange conduit with a second conduit that contains innerducts that provide a blue tracer wire and also use 33khz. The old MCI builds have that green tracer wire. If they dont contain any tracer wire I just use a duct router either a 250ft or ask for an extension to use our 1,200 ft duct router. Very rare that we escalate to utility company. And should demonstrate grounding on the metal of manholes when there is no dirt thats what I do. Enjoy the videos 👍
The old green tracer wires are superior because they're pure copper, unlike this new orange wire which is useless. And using 33 kilohertz? Not wise, especially here in Chicago where we've got countless buried utilities. Dealing with 320 Hz already causes issues with interference onto other lines.
When it comes to their dialectical fiber, if they don't provide the wire, we often end up pushing the responsibility back onto the client to install it. Many times, when running a fish tape, we risk interference with streetlights, leading to fiber hits. That's why we insist on transferring liability back to the client.
I have been running into this problem lately as well. Just have to go to the other side.
Yeah, it's just a pain in the ass. They should install a real tracer wire, not this bullshit wire. And they're crying about damages because your stuff is unlocatable. LMFAO!
Looked at my ticket count. I'm sitting at 120,and mostly projects..
Oh man, I wish you luck. I hope you get some help.
All I say is when there's a trace wire no matter what kind it is I'm at least sort of happy because on the private side you run into so many places with cameras or private fibers that the companies put into their property with no trace wire they just wanted to save money and then get pissed at the locator When it can't be found.
When they install on a private side, many times they don't even consider how to locate that fiber. When it comes to locating the fiber, not all companies really focus on that aspect. The installers simply install what the engineers specify. Many of these companies don't even think about locating that utility until an issue arises if you know what I mean.
@@811chicago5 yeah I know I work on the private side. But it's every single time when the fiber cannot be found and we discuss with the building or site engineer and a lot of the time they will come back with they just didn't want to spend the money for the tracer wire and didn't think it be a problem.