Despite their versatility and ease of handling – at 32 kg in transport case, the TRAX220 is the lightest test set of its type and can even be transported by air as check-in luggage – the test systems in this range make no performance compromises and provide results that are just as accurate and dependable as those obtained from separate instruments.

Optimised for transformer and general substation testing, TRAX test systems are capable of performing more than 20 different test functions including, for example, measurement of winding resistance, turns ratio, excitation current, short-circuit impedance, tan delta and capacitance, and frequency response of stray losses, as well as CT and VT testing and circuit breaker timing and motion analysis.

The test systems allow a wide range of currents and voltages to be generated and measured with high precision. The TRAX220 has a maximum AC current output capability of 200 A, while the TRAX280 extends this to 800 A. For both units this can be extended to 2000 A with an optional current booster. Users have a choice of full manual control or guided testing using the built-in TRAX “apps”.

For many years, stakeless or clamp-on testing has been accepted as an established method of testing earth system resistance, and is now included in the German standard VDE 0100-600:2008 (appendix B3). This method has a number of real user benefits, in particular not having to disconnect the electrode under test, increased user safety and huge savings in time and aggravation. However, many users are failing to enjoy the benefits of stake-less testing, and that’s mainly down to two main issues. Firstly many potential users do not fully understand the testing technique, and avoid it; secondly many people have found some problems when testing, resulting in a number of concerns.