ETL-15 is a cable test van used for testing cable insulation and locating faults in power cables.
ETL-15 is compact enough to be mounted even in a minivan, yet contains all the equipment typically found in a fully-featured cable test and fault location system, including burn module, surge wave generator, time-domain reflectometer and high-voltage DC test module.

FITS IN THE SMALLEST VEHICLES
Due to its compact composition, ETL-15 can be mounted in most minivans and is therefore an ideal solution for operating in narrow streets of densely built-up areas.

DC WITHSTAND TESTING
ETL-15 allows to carry out withstand cable acceptance tests with DC (rectified) voltage up to 15 kV.

FAULT PRE-LOCATION
Detachable time-domain reflectometer RIF-9 included with the system is used for determining the distance to faults in electrical power cables with all the main pre‑location methods:

Low-voltage method

- TDR (time-domain reflectometry): low-resistance faults, open cable breaks, various impedance changes characterization (cable sleeves, branches, etc.), total cable length measurement (incl. on a drum or bundle) and cable shortening ratio measurement.

High-voltage methods

- ARC/ARC multi-shot (arc reflection method): high-resistance and unstable faults, minimal harmful effects on a cable.
- ICE (impulse current envelope method): high-resistance faults that cannot be converted to low-resistance by burning faulty insulation.
- DECAY (voltage wave oscillation method): faults with high breakdown voltage.

HIGH-POWER BURN UNIT
As standard, ETL-15 includes a burn unit providing capable of outputting up to 1500 mA of current at up to 15 kV voltage.
Fault conditioning through burning faulty cable insulation is used for converting high-resistance faults to low-resistance so that pre-location and/or pinpointing methods could subsequently be used.

SURGE WAVE GENERATOR WITH A SURGE LEVELS SWITCH
A surge wave generator with up to 2000 J surge energy is used for pinpointing cable faults with an acoustic method.
The generator is supplemented with a surge level switch allowing to select output voltage in the ranges of 0…3 / 0…6 / 0…12 kV, which delivers maximum possible energy of the surge pulses.

SAFETY
All-round operator safety systems built into ETL-15 includes the following modules and devices:

✓ Overvoltage and overcurrent protection.
✓ Overheating protection.
✓ Equipment and vehicle chassis protective earthing.
✓ Continuous grounding monitoring system.
✓ Emergency stop button.
✓ Automatic discharge device.
✓ Light and sound indication of high voltage.
✓ Vehicle high-voltage compartment door closure sensors.
✓ Safety ON/OFF keylock switch.
✓ Self-health and safety monitoring of high-voltage switches.