Exacter finds cutout insulator

Failing electrical equipment does not always show symptoms until it is too late. Often the arc source is hidden inside of the insulating components and slowly erodes the mechanical elements. The bonding material between metallic components and insulators seems to be particularly susceptible to damage.
This cutout insulator looked fine from the ground and even from a bucket-truck inspection. However, a sharp tap caused the entire assembly to crumble. EXACTER® Outage-Avoidance System located the arc-source emission as the survey vehicle drove by. Luckily no one was hurt when the cutout, which was supported by the conductors, collapsed during the inspection.