service drop cable attachment wire


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Old 10-21-19, 10:15 AM
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service drop cable attachment wire

The service drop cable that attaches to the insulated hangar on my service mast has like two strands of metal that wraps around about a foot of the grounded wire and touches the insulated hangar. I think this is called a messenger wire.

I was thinking that this messenger wire would wrap along the whole length of the grounded wire but it appears to only wrap around about a foot. Its the same at the attachment point on my equipment and at the pole on the street.

Is that length of extra wire welded to the conductors or am I just not looking at it correctly and its twisted with the rest of the strands of the wire?

Here's what I am trying to describe:

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Last edited by PJmax; 10-21-19 at 12:47 PM. Reason: reoriented/resized pictures
  #2  
Old 10-21-19, 12:48 PM
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That's what that is..... a one foot long hanger. It's galvanized steel.
It just wraps around the neutral. Friction holds it in place.

It's called a dead end guy grip.
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Old 10-21-19, 12:53 PM
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I was thinking it had to be welded to hold up to high winds. I dont understand how it doesnt just pull out.

Is that a secure method?
 
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Old 10-21-19, 12:55 PM
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They just spin it on the cable. They rarely fail.
 
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Old 10-22-19, 06:56 PM
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Thx for putting a name to the thing. So it grips it kind of like a chinese finger trap i guess.

if you notice in the photos, where the neutral wire branches out from the guy grip the wire is kind of sprawled out... is that something to be concerned about?
 
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Old 10-23-19, 05:49 AM
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More exposed wire than ideal, not sure it is a real issue though. I will say that I had rather this arrangement at the pole end of things a few houses ago. After one hurricane, a week later, power was restored to the entire neighborhood, but my house was still dead. Due to fatigue of my drop conductors at the pole. It took another week for POCO to arrive to fix just that. If you are in a hurricane zone, that might be something to think about.
 
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Old 10-23-19, 10:16 AM
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It's called a dead end guy grip.

I have only seen those things used one time and am not fond of them. I'd much rather use a wedge clamp.
 
 

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