Transmission Line Test Questions?

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hitehm

Member
Location
Las Vegas NV
I have my NV C2 electrical contractor exam coming up very soon. The PSI exam bulletin shows 5 questions on "Transmission Lines". I assume the questions are related to the transmission/distribution grid but I don't know if it will be theory, hardware, code, etc. Or maybe it's something completely different. Anyone have any tips on what to study, examples of questions, or remember specifically what they asked on an exam? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks!
 

tortuga

Code Historian
Location
Oregon
Occupation
Electrical Design
Yeah but your only going to be tested on the NEC not the NESC, they are based on art 490, 225, 250 part X, 450, and 470 Part III, 460 part III.
So say you had to work on a large ranch or campus that had customer owned 4.16 or 7.2 kV feeders and transformers.
 

paulengr

Senior Member
I honestly don't understand why an electrican would need to know this. Unless safety related of course.

In rural areas overhead feeders to outbuildings as well as service drops are typically overhead lines. In controls VFD putouts are transmission lines. Encoders, Ethernet, and most communications are all transmission lines. Granted the knowledge and skills needed to set poles and hang ACSR or at least triplex on a wood pole structure is very different from the knowledge and skill needed to properly run and terminate high speed industrial control circuits.

In NC under the general contractor license they have a “utility contractor”. It’s a catch all that spans the gamut from electrical utilities to sewage plant work. The pump contractor has to know you set a pole 10% of its length plus 2 feet to get a license. Why I don’t know.. I don’t see a lot of guys running drill rigs that also have pole trucks and line reel/tensioner trailers. They give you a laundry list of study material that includes the NEC, NESC, and a bunch of civil engineering stuff. I’m sure nobody is actually tested on 99% of the content since I don’t see utility contractors needing to know how to calculate loads for a residential service with the alternative method or deep knowledge of wind loads on pole lines to set the junction box for a vertical pump. But those are in the study material.

The only way to find out what is really on these tests is to take a class from one of the local instructors that make a living on this stuff when you get these crazy insane testing requirements. They can’t be serious or nobody would pass. In NC on the electrician test for instance they have a print reading section. They use the same print for decades and they give you 3-4 questions from the same list of 10 questions so you can just memorize the answers. They also give you 3 questions submitted by the fire marshall’s that essentially just pull some random obscure thing out of the fire alarm code (NFPA 72) which itself is a disorganized mess. You can’t study for it or have better than a 50/50 shot of getting any of them right. NC test is very “calculation light”. Studying all those Mike Holt calculation resources is great for doing your job but mostly not useful for passing the NC test. Most of ours is knowing how to quickly look up the answer to obscure sections of the Code. You learn this taking a class so then you learn to more or less memorize/skim the alarm code because passing those questions is a crap shoot and passing the 10 question print exercise is a sure thing.

Maybe the NV test asks you what color the green ground screw is.
 

xptpcrewx

Power System Engineer
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Occupation
Licensed Electrical Engineer, Licensed Electrical Contractor, Certified Master Electrician
I have my NV C2 electrical contractor exam coming up very soon. The PSI exam bulletin shows 5 questions on "Transmission Lines". I assume the questions are related to the transmission/distribution grid but I don't know if it will be theory, hardware, code, etc. Or maybe it's something completely different. Anyone have any tips on what to study, examples of questions, or remember specifically what they asked on an exam? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks!
Being someone who has taken both A-17 and C-2 exams, I can tell you NESC related questions will be on the exam. The test is not just on the NEC. The nature of the "Transmission Lines" questions are more so conceptual with the exception of one or two questions on clearances. Not all tests are the same. Feel free to PM me if you would like to learn more or even set up a study session.
 

xptpcrewx

Power System Engineer
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Occupation
Licensed Electrical Engineer, Licensed Electrical Contractor, Certified Master Electrician
An NV electrical contractor, not electrician, a business not a person
http://www.nvcontractorsboard.com/classification_of_contractors.html
That buisness can sub contract from a utility or private party to construct outside HV lines
If you are the trade qualifier on a Nevada license, are you somehow not an electrician? In Nevada there are still journeyman experience certification, education/knowledge and testing requirements. The whole thing about business vs. person is just a matter of legality. In Nevada a person could still start a business under a sole proprietorship and then get a contractors license - which would technically be indistinguishable from a person or a business.

My opinion: It makes more sense to license a company rather than an individual because there are other factors to consider like verifying the legal business entity, financial solvency, minimum knowledge of construction/contract/tax/labor laws, project and risk management, ethics, etc. One ought to know these things before holding themself out as a contractor. If done correctly, there is more protection to the individual and the end customer. Yes its more hoops to jump through, but its no problem if you are actually qualified.
 
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