PCCS - Don't pull it with your anchor

[Alex F]

I stumbled on to something interesting in latest LNM. If anyone is interested in full notice: http://navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/lnms/lnm07032015.pdf

 

[Tonka Boater]

Interesting....do these cables lay on the sea bed? I have to imagine many are suspended? I had to search this and found this website: http://www.submarinecablemap.com

 

[RollerCoastr]

It sounded like a hoax to me. Fiber optic cable carrying electrical current?

 

[highslice]

Interesting....do these cables lay on the sea bed? I have to imagine many are suspended? I had to search this and found this website: http://www.submarinecablemap.com

Smithsonian channel had a "Mighty Ships" episode that featured a cable laying ship on the west coast of South America. They actually bury the cable about 3' under the sea bed.

 

[JimG]

It sounded like a hoax to me. Fiber optic cable carrying electrical current?

I question the 12,000 volts also... only because it doesn't seem practical to distribute AC over that length. Maybe it's just a deterrent to keep people from messing with it.

That said, many copper conductor cables now incorporate fiber cores... the magnetic/voltage field will not disturb the fiber.

 

[Westie]

and what exactly is 12,000 volts of electrical current? Current is measure in AMPS and not volts.
Under water electrical supplies are normally DC as it has less loss than AC.

 

[Someday Lady II]

Actually, the majority of underwater electrical supply cables (in my part of the world anyway) is AC and none are part of a fibre optic network. Not saying it can't be done but it doesn't sound right with me. I spent 36 years with an electrical utility and although I am not an engineer...just saying.

 

[Alex F]

It sounded like a hoax to me. Fiber optic cable carrying electrical current?

Hahaha, that's a good one...

Are you saying that official Local Notice to Mariners issued by US Coast Guard is a hoax? :lol:

I don't deny that they may use some terms to exaggerate potential impact, but I won't believe that it could be a hoax.

 

[2000SR380]

Here at the Fiber Optic Cable Shop, where I work to pay for my 380DA, we got a good laugh out of the Fiber Optic Cable stories. One was about how sharks are attracted to the "electric field" generated around a submarine fiber optic cable which is "far greater than the old submarine copper cables". As we do not deal in submarine cable I will allow that there could be a copper (or metal) component to the cables jacketing, or protection, that could carry a voltage and have a magnetic field. However, I can guarantee that the fiber optic strands themselves do not carry any sort of current, and do not generate any measureable amount of magnetic field into the surrounding area. A fiber optic cable travels light. For these types of cables it is usually "singlemode" and driven by 1310nm-1550nm lasers. It can no more carry electrical energy than your flashlight beam. A lightening strike will melt the cable but it will not travel the electrical energy into your equipment. You can wrap a fiber cable around a three phase motor with no effect, or lash it to a high voltage overhead power line. It is very cool stuff, and it is the future of high speed internet communication, but it will not, can not, carry electrical current or energize your ground tackle.

 

[Westie]

Seems as if there really is a cable there, but its no the only one in that area.

http://www.telecompaper.com/news/alcatel-lucent-to-deploy-pacific-caribbean-cable-system--911449

http://www.submarinecablemap.com/#/submarine-cable/pacific-caribbean-cable-system-pccs

 

[RollerCoastr]

Alex, when people unleash a hoax, they make it appear to be "official", but they often miss the details and makes claims such as "this virus will delete all your data and burn your hard drive."

So I was saying that implying that tiny strands of glass carried "12,000 volts of electrical current" struck me as a red flag.

In the meantime, do you really believe they would intentionally exaggerate? That seems massively irresponsible. It seems more likely that they omitted some details, such as an electrical cabling being laid down WITH the fiber optics...?

 

[JimG]

I assumed something like this:

 

[HUMPH]

So, 12,470 volts is very common but could not survive that long of a run without experiencing tremendous voltage drop. I could do the calculations but let's just say that the voltage at the first stop would be greatly reduced. There would need to be periodic transmission substations along the way to "boost" the voltage back up before sending it along to the next island. I would bet that their warning statement is a boilerplate statement used for all underwater transmission lines. The lines shown in the map are probably all fiber optic lines.