2 ms·
One of the comments says, it does effect the electric company (why shouldn't it, energy does not come out of nowhere) and they can meassure it. "Velemu says: T
by lukan 3y ago
One of the comments says, it does effect the electric company (why shouldn't it, energy does not come out of nowhere) and they can meassure it.
"Velemu says:
There was one case in Finland in The 90s, where someone did this to power their summer cottage. When Power company found, where the extra parasitic load came from, they sued the guy to hell and back again. This kind of load is actually actively measured by Power companies, since it is also used to find other failure modes on powerlines, and is easy to detect. Just don’t do it…."
- card_zero 3y agoTim Hunkin's cartoon encyclopedia (from the 80s) mentions a conviction in Canada. https://www.rudimentsofwisdom.com/pages/power%20lines.htm https://www.rudimentsofwisdom.com/pages/power%20lines.htm
- nickcotter 3y agoSome other cases mentioned here: https://www.industrytap.com/electromagnetic-harvesters-free-lunch-or-theft/1805 https://www.industrytap.com/electromagnetic-harvesters-free-...
- 15457345234 3y agoI think the main reason the electricity companies discourage this is the hazard it presents. The 'collector' is basically a current transformer, which means: 1. If the outputs of the 'collector' go open circuit (because the rectifier/capacitor/whatever dies) the voltage at those terminals is going to rise theoretically towards infinity - insulation breakdown and discharge will occur which is likely to result in a fire. 2. The current generated by the 'collector' is going to be proportional to the transmission line current; if a ground fault occurs on the line the current in the collector winding is going to spike up to some silly level; that will probably result destruction of whatever is connected to the collector outputs and subsequently a fire.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- shagie 3y agoImagine the alternate history political and legal mess if PG&E had found such a setup in proximity to the start of the fires back in '21 and '22.