The Game Changer for Tackling Unplanned Low‑Voltage Interruptions
Meet the game changer that will transform the way you currently address unplanned interruptions in your low‑voltage grid.
The intelligent fuse – NSG – that will instantly restore power and give you a precise fault location at the same time.
Your operational teams will save hours per unplanned LV service interruption.
The NSG brings you a revolutionary new way to tackle unplanned interruptions in your low voltage grid. Making use of modern electronics and proven TDR measurement techniques, the NSG pinpoints fault locations with unprecedented speed and accuracy. This enables your field technicians to restore service faster than ever before.
Operational benefits
If you’re ready to work differently, the NSG will unlock major operational gains
Lower operational costs
LV cable faults will be located faster and with less use of people and resources such as cable measuring trucks
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Reduction of outage time
DSO’s that start using the NSG see their SAIDI figure improve with minutes
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Improved customer experience
Connected customers will experience less power outages and will get power restored faster in case of an incident
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Features
Discover the key features that make the NSG a true game changer in LV fault detection and restoration.
Restore of power
An operator restores power by placing the NSG in the fuse holder and switching it on through a remote control. You can also set a number of automatic re-closings for intermittent failures
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Precise fault location
Once installed, the NSG gives you the distance to fault using precise TDR measurements
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Support additional localization techniques
In addition to TDR measurements the NSG sends voltage pulses (thumping) that allow acoustic localization and comes with an optional step voltage probe
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The NSG is designed to be installed
by a field technician
The NSG works as an intelligent fuse and fits in any standard NH02/03 fuse holder where it temporarily replaces a regular fuse. The NSG is placed in the fuse holder in the exact same way as a regular fuse, taking the applicable safety manners (glove, mask) into account. It is connected to a power supply box that you connect to the PEN/earth/… through crocodile clips.
Select the required amperage and switch the device on using the wireless remote control
Once the fuse is placed you switch it on using the remote control. On the remote control you set the required amperage for the fuse (e.g. 250 A) and you switch it on by pressing a button. Power is then restored on the line.
The NSG is now in its conducting mode and starts to measure current and voltage on the line. It is also continuously making TDR measurements. These measurements are transparent to the customers who are connected to the power line. Once the NSG detects a high current event it will trip in the same way that a regular fuse would. The NSG goes to its non-conducting mode and power to the line is stopped.
The NSG will let you know
when an incident occurred
The NSG contains a wireless modem that then sends a text message and/or email that it has recorded an event. The measured data that is associated with that event is simultaneously uploaded to the NSG web application. The operator who is notified through SMS or email can log into the web application and start investigating the event. The web application shows the voltage and current over time and shows the recorded events in this same graph.
Determine the distance to fault
using the TDR measurements
When the event is selected the associated TDR measurements are shown in another graph. You can select several TDR measurement to be shown in the graph at the same time. By selecting TDR measurement from before-, and during the fault, the distance to fault can be precisely calculated. You now know the distance from the fuse location to the fault location.
In branched LV cables this can result in several possible fault locations. The NSG can now be used to support a secondary fault finding technique to pinpoint the exact location. It can be set in a bumping mode to support accoustic fault pinpointing. There is also an extensive remote control available that supports step voltage fault finding – all you need is to connect sticks or an A-frame to the remote.
Once the cable fault is restored the NSG can be removed from the fuse holder and replaced with a regular fuse. The NSG is available for its next task.
Lower operational costs
The NSG enables field teams to locate low‑voltage cable faults significantly faster and with far fewer resources. Customers report that in more than 70% of their cases, they are able to pinpoint LV cable faults without relying on traditional primary fault‑location methods. In practice, this means fewer deployments of measurement trucks and a substantial reduction in the number of people required on site.
In addition to requiring less equipment, the NSG also reduces the time spent locating a fault. One DSO reports a decrease from an average of seven hours per incident to four hours — a 43% reduction in time spent per case. Part of this improvement comes from the fact that faults can be located without disconnecting end‑users, which removes a time‑consuming step and avoids additional operational impact.
As a result, the NSG helps utilities reduce operational workload, shorten restoration times and optimise the use of specialised resources, especially in periods of high fault volumes.
Reduction of outage time
Most distribution system operators closely monitor and report outage duration indicators such as the System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI). While high‑ and medium‑voltage incidents typically have the largest individual impact, low‑voltage faults occur far more frequently. Their cumulative effect can therefore contribute substantially to overall outage time.
The NSG helps reduce this impact by restoring power at the start of the fault‑finding process, instead of after the repair. As a result, customers are reconnected much earlier, and the period during which a cable fault contributes to outage statistics is significantly reduced.
During the investigation itself, end‑users remain connected, avoiding additional interruptions. In situations with intermittent or hard‑to‑reproduce faults, the NSG can be configured to automatically reclose after an incident. Thanks to its compact form factor, it can remain safely installed at the fault location, allowing the network to stabilize while the investigation continues.
In practice, this means outage time is reduced in three ways:
– power is restored immediately when the investigation begins;
– customers remain connected throughout the diagnostic process;
– intermittent faults are cleared faster through automatic reclosing.
Together, these effects help operators lower their reported outage times, reduce customer impact and improve overall continuity of supply.
Improved customer experience
For end‑users, power interruptions are often the most visible aspect of a network fault. Even short outages can be inconvenient, and repeated visits from field crews to disconnect household fuses can add to that frustration. By using the NSG during fault investigation, many of these effects are minimized.
The NSG restores supply at the start of the diagnostic process, meaning customers are reconnected much earlier than with traditional methods. While the investigation continues, end‑users remain connected, avoiding multiple interruptions and reducing the perceived impact of the fault. This creates a noticeably smoother experience, especially in residential areas where even brief outages can disrupt daily routines.
In addition, the NSG removes the need for field crews to enter homes to access and remove fuses as part of the fault‑finding workflow. This eliminates an intrusive step for customers, reduces waiting time, and avoids the need to coordinate with occupants who may not be at home.
Together, these elements lead to a significantly improved customer experience: shorter interruptions, fewer visits, and a more discreet handling of faults. For utilities, this translates into fewer customer complaints and a more positive perception of the service provided.
Restore of power
Power outages in low voltage network are a nuisance at best and a safety hazard at worst. Connected customers don’t want to loose power at all, but when they do they want it to come back up as quickly as possible. The NSG allows you to automatically and instabtly restore power in your LV grid in case the power goes down. It replaces a regular fuse and it will trip when there is a high current event. But you can set the NSG to go back to a current-conducting state automatically restoring power to your customers.
The NSG has such a small form factor that it will fill in virtually all street cabinets – and you can even close them.
You can set the amount of times that the NSG will reclose.
This function is especially powerfull in cases where there is an intermittent fault in the cable. Connected customer will not have to experience lengthly power outages every time the fault occurs. It also means that you will not have to manualy replace the fuse every time it trips. We get very positive feedback about this feature from operational teams that manage public lighting networks.
Precise fault location
The NSG has a very precise TDR on board. Once installed it will immediately start making TDR measurements. The results of these measurements are stored in a ring‑buffer memory inside the NSG. Once the fuse trips, or when there is another notable event such as a voltage peak, the NSG will send a text message or email to a configurable group of recipients. It will also upload the latest data in the ring‑buffer memory via its on‑board 4G modem to a web application.
An engineer such as a measurement specialist can log into the NSG web application remotely and determine the distance to fault. This enables faults to be assessed within seconds, without waiting for a field team to arrive on‑site. Because the NSG continuously records TDR traces, voltage patterns, and load behavior, the engineer also gets valuable pre‑fault insights that often reveal whether the issue is a clean break, an intermittent fault, or a developing weakness in the cable.
In practice, this dramatically speeds up the decision‑making process. The moment the fuse trips, the distance‑to‑fault is already known and the operational team can dispatch field technicians directly to the correct area, reducing patrolling time and shortening the interruption. For DSOs dealing with rising numbers of LV faults and increasing network complexity, this approach delivers a major efficiency boost.
Support additional localization techniques
Very often it is required by procedure to use a secondary localization method to determine the exact fault location before any repair can be initiated. In some complex cases the exact fault location cannot be found using only the NSG. For these situations the NSG is fully prepared to support additional localization techniques. Two popular methods are accoustic fault finding and the step coltage method.
The NSG can be set to thumping mode to support accoustic fault finding. In this mode, the NSG will close for very short periods of time to allow current to flow into the LS cable causing a short-circuit current. Any standard ground microphone can be used to pinpoint the fault.
In practice, this dramatically speeds up the decision‑making process. The moment the fuse trips, the distance‑to‑fault is already known and the operational team can dispatch field technicians directly to the correct area, reducing patrolling time and shortening the interruption. For DSOs dealing with rising numbers of LV faults and increasing network complexity, this approach delivers a major efficiency boost.
One fault‑location method that is rapidly growing in popularity is gas sniffing. When a short‑circuit occurs in an underground cable, the insulation and sheath materials heat up and release characteristic gases. A gas sniffer can detect these gases and guide technicians towards the exact fault location.
We are pleased to introduce the GS30, a lightweight yet powerful gas sniffer designed specifically for this purpose. It detects the unique gases released by burned electrical cables and also provides an alert when traces of natural gas are present, adding an extra layer of safety. Compact, precise, and easy to use, the GS30 is an ideal tool for modern LV fault‑location workflows.
Web‑Based Control with TDR Views
Full Web-based control with TDR views is available
Advanced user management
Advanced device management
Event analysis
TDR measurement analysis
Secure operation