On Distribution, Transmission or Substation equipment, testing for presence or absence of nominal voltage is mandated specifically by OSHA rule 1910.269(n)(5) which states “Testing. The employer shall ensure that, unless a previously installed ground is present, employees test lines and equipment and verify the absence of nominal voltage before employees install any ground on those lines or that equipment.”

The Bevins Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma has developed two new voltage indicators incorporating the latest technology which connects the voltage indicator to a remote smart device through Bluetooth® communication. This allows real-time remote monitoring of the voltage reading in both analog and digital format as well as data logging (recording) the results. When linked to a smart device, the choice of downloading or emailing a “screen shot” of the actual worksite voltage indication with timestamp and GPS location is available.

• Touch the 3dot / MENU button in the top right corner of the MRVI Remote app to show the pop out menu.
• The 3dot menu provides access to seven features
• Press MRVI Manual to download the MRVI operation manual from MW Bevins website and display it on the phone or tablet (iPhone or iPad). WiFi needs to be enabled and connected.
• Press Capture Screen to save it to internal memory in the MRVI Folder. The 3dot menu is hidden before the picture is taken.
• Press Logging Period to change how often the voltages are logged. The current period is shown.
• Press Logging ON/OFF to start or stop logging. The current state is shown.
• Press log GPS Location to Log the current GPS location.
• Press log Text Marker to Log a text Message.
• Press Email Log File. Then select the recipient(s) and attach files. Navigate to the internal memory and the MRVI folder to attach Captured Screens (mrvisc...png files) and Log file (mrviLog...csv files). WiFi needs to be enabled and connected.
• Logging will be paused while the email is being prepared and sent.
• At the bottom of the MRVI Remote app screen is an eleven line area of text which presents the most recent ten lines of the log file.

The screen capture file “mrviSC_37AA40_20191202205057.png” name starts with “mrviSC” then has six hexadecimal numbers that are the last 6 hex digits of the MRVI’s Bluetooth® radios MAC address which is what is displayed on the MRVI remote screen when it is connected to the MRVI. The last portion of the file name is the date and time the screen capture was done. (YYYYMMDDhhmmss) The file format is a .png file.

Read full article in the SPECIAL Linemen Safety ISSUE.