Lord Consulting

Cables are in essence very simple. A conductor, some insulation and an outer earth sheath are the main components. The terminations at each end provide for a slight complication, but this aside, the system is very simple in its conception. The rules are very strict for putting this simple concept into practice, and the subject of diagnostics is largely about the mistakes made in implementing these rules. Diagnostics are becoming much more sophisticated, but they are not foolproof, and are also not in general use, even for higher voltage (and hence more valuable) cables.

IPEC HV - Offline Power Supply requirement for high voltage cable testing (135kb PDF)