Here’s a picture of a power line with multiple tethers going to the ground.
[Photo](https://imgur.com/a/xF5VleA)
In: Engineering
They are guy wires: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy-wire#Utility_pole_guy-wires
They are used to balance unequal loads. Usually on dead end poles at the end of a line. Or poles on a corner where the wires are pulling on the pole in unequal directions.
Not exactly sure what’s going on with the pole you posted, it has wires going in 3 directions, so the guy wires are to balance that, but they don’t look balance to me.
The cables add needed tension on the pole to support it and keep it in position. They are not powered, only there for support. The yellow covers are to make them more visible so people don’t walk into them.
Due to the tension placed on the various utility lines on the poles, some poles require more support cables.
These support cables are called “guy wires”.
I always assumed it was there to hold the pole up. The more lines strung the more anchors they have?
The cables you are seeing are called guy lines, and are put there to help support the pole and keep it vertical.
You will normally see these at the end pole of a line, or at corners where the weight of the supported lines will try to drag the pole over in that direction – the guy lines are used to counter this.
It is less common to see them on a pole in the middle of a run like this, but I will admit I am not entirely clear from the photo exactly which direction all of the lines are pulling. They could be stopping the pole from falling sideways, counterbalancing a longer span on one side of the pole than the other, or be bracing other forces.
The yellow covers are there to protect the cables at ground level (where they are more likely to have people interact with them, plants grow around them and similar, and also just to make the position of the cables more obvious so that people don’t crash into them.
Latest Answers