Arc video

Recently a short video clip has circulated on the internet of a spectacular electrical arc in some switchgear at an electrical substation. That video clip has been made public by several people, including me. Here is some information on that video clip and a link to it.

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This is a clip of a 500KV motor operated disconnect at Southern California Edison's Lugo substation near Hesperia, Calif. This disconnect it NOT designed to open under load. There is a switcher that is intended to open the circuit and then the disconnect opens up right afterward. The switcher has had a history of one phase failing to open. When this happens, the disconnect opens with one phase still energized. Since it is not designed to open load, there is no arc suppression, and the result is quite spectacular. Because of the history of failures, every time this switcher has been opened, a video camera has been set up to record the event. This time, they got it. The arc ends when an upstream circuit breaker is opened. There is about 25 amps flowing in this arc. I would suggest that you download the video clip to your hard drive and view it from there rather than watching it on-line as you will likely want to watch it over and over again, and I would prefer that you do not watch it repeatedly on-line as I do have monthly total bandwidth limits on this site. You are welcome to link to this page, but please do so to this page, and not directly to the video clip links below as they may change. You may also copy the video file and post it on your web site. To watch the video, click any one of the mirror sites below. It is HIGHLY recommended that you turn the volume up on your speakers. Primary     Mirror 1     Mirror 2