Testing Services

Before a cable, joint, rope, hawser, repeater or other item of subsea equipment can be deployed, there must be an assurance that it can be laid, operate and be recovered safely and satisfactorily under extreme maritime conditions. Appropriate development and meticulous specific testing must be undertaken to ensure safety and reliability.

SubConnect offers a complete range of precise mechanical, electrical, environmental and optical tests complying to all relevent industry standards which among other objectives simulate marine deployment and oceanographic conditions.

Testing Facilities

Our UKAS accredited testing laboratory No 9277 can perform various rigorous tests, simulating cable tanking, deployment, installation and recovery, as well as whole of life service tests related to submarine cable and submarine plant.

Each test is designed to provide the customer with useful and practical results pertaining to a marine environment capability. The facility is unique in being able to provide a complete range of cable, joint and repeater qualification tests, all under one roof. The facility’s highly skilled team combines vast experience of years of submarine cable and joint testing, with state-of-the-art resources and expertise.

SubConnect’s approach offers customers an industry recognised standard of service, utilising ISO9001 and 17025 document and project management principles, as well as efficient and cost-effective testing for a multitude of submersible products. In addition, there is the ability to monitor operational parameters of products during testing and to accurately simulate various operational conditions, providing a very realistic testing environment.

These include but are not limited to:

Tensile testing (up to 1MN), torsion, sheave, fatigue, high voltage and pressure testing; to internationally agreed standards and with full monitoring and data logging, both electrical and optical. Pressure testing can simulate the conditions at the deepest point of the ocean; high voltage testing can simulate electrical surges, and the round the sheave tests simulate all types of cable movement including deployment and recovery from vessels. Following testing, concise reports are issued confirming compliance, or otherwise, with the requested standard.

View and download our comprehensive guide to cable testing at SubConnect to find out more about our service offering.

View Cable Testing Guide

Housed at the company’s head office in Chelmsford, UK, SubConnects’s industry leading Test Facility has become the ‘go-to’ place for cable manufacturers as well as other industry organisations seeking reassurance that their product is suitable for the harsh marine environment that it is ultimately designed to operate in. Our Test Facility has aided in continually raising the jointing standards for the entire industry.

Learn more about our Subsea Fibre Optic Jointing Services