anyone recommend an earth leakage clamp meter ?

[petehall347]

This is probably a good way of seeing if's a bad connection somewhere but you could still use a megger but here is how I would do where ever you have a spliced connection repair I would soak them one at a time and see if your resistance goes down or not if it does not go to the next spliced connection repair and do the whole cable that way if you do not find anything else at this point you are going to have very hard time figuring out what is still causing the breaker to trip but if it is been in service for a long time I might consider replacing it with a new one if you still have issues then I would recommend inspecting every inch of the cable for nicks and signs of corrosion or pitting of any kind check those areas as well

hoping the tripping has stopped now . will have an idea as heavy rain forecast tomorrow . we tried soaking the old splice and if anything the readings went better but that might have been the cable drying out with the megger . at least its narrowed down to the last 1/4 length of the cable . well the other 3/4 still has insulation breakdown between the earth core and the armour . other cores are fine . not too concerned about that as they should connect together anyway . the 3 cores are packed tightly together in this cable and not much space between them .

[stj]

how long ago was it damaged?
could be water ingress up the cable

[petehall347]

how long ago was it damaged?
could be water ingress up the cable

at least a year ago if not more like 2 years . it was soaking wet . i left it to dry out in the sun for a while and it felt dry before splicing it . its on a slope and the bad half of the cable is the higher side . but i suppose it could have soaked in more regardless . 9 hours of heavy rain forecast today so if its going to trip its very likely to do so today .

[petehall347]

had plenty of rain and its not tripped . i won't be convinced until after lots more rain .