Counterweights can be added to or removed from insulators in a project.

Counterweights are necessary in situations where there is a risk of uplift. Uplift is an issue for inline/suspension structures at lower elevations than their adjacent structures (such as the bottom of a valley). In this situation the conductor can exert an upwards force on the insulator, lifting it up.

An example of this can be seen in the profile view below, where one structure (43) is at a lower elevation than adjacent structures.

As seen in the perspective view, this is a multipole structure with suspension insulators.

In everyday conditions this will likely have a large enough weight span to prevent insulators from going into uplift. However during cold conditions the conductors will contract, reducing the weight span. If the weight span becomes negative then the insulators will go into uplift and can invert and contact the structure, causing a flash over. The addition of counterweights can prevent uplift from occurring and avoid the risk of flashing over.

Adding a counterweight will cause a generic counterweight to be rendered on the end of the insulator and appear in the Perspective and Plan views, regardless of its mass. The appearance is generic and does not change as the mass changes.

Counterweights added to a model will be considered during analysis.

There are two options for adding a counterweight:

Select the Move and Select tool from the left hand side menu and ensure that within the Properties panel, under Selectable Types, the option for Structures is checked and the dropdown is set to Component.

In the Perspective view left-click the insulator that requires a counterweight. The Properties panel will update to display the insulator's details. In the Counterweight section update the mass as required.

Create a custom report for datasource of CableAttachments. This can be reported on based on the related Pole, Strain Sections or Assemblies.

Find the column called Counterweight Mass and update as required.

To remove a counterweight, reduce its mass to zero. This can be done via the single insulator method above or via the CableAttachments report.

Updating the mass of multiple counterweights in the report to the same value can be done using the edit icon (). Note that the edit will apply to all visible rows so results may need to be filtered before using this option.