4 ms·

I love this so much because there's no contact, but because the voltage on the power line is so high, the inductive power is not only measurable, but significan

by Kab1r 3y ago

I love this so much because there's no contact, but because the voltage on the power line is so high, the inductive power is not only measurable, but significant. I have no idea what the legality of stealing power wirelessly (potentially obliviously), but it is undoubtedly cool.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
littlestymaar 3y ago
I couldn't find it, but I think French courts have a jurisprudence on this already (unless it's an internal urban legend from EDF, who knows): one day a EDF (French electricity producer) who was living close to a power line built an “antenna” like this to harvest electricity, and he bragged about it. EDF sued, and the defendant claimed that he was just collecting electromagnetic waves that were leaving anyway, but EDF and the experts summoned by the court argued that it wasn't the case and that he was in fact draining power. He was found guilty because he was doing that on purpose, and even if he believed it was doing no harm, he should have checked beforehand especially since he was working in the field he should have been able to know or at least get the information about what was going on if he checked.
mytailorisrich 3y ago
Very likely an offence in some jurisdictions as "abstracting electricity" [1], which is a form of theft. There may be no physical contact but induction still causes energy to be extracted from the line. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstracting_electricity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstracting_electricity
- 127361 3y ago
  I doubt anyone would prosecute over it, it would get thrown out of court because it's so petty? No worse than littering, etc.
  - ysofunny 3y ago
    depends on how much the energy stolen is worth?
    - masklinn 3y ago
      Also probably depends whether you brag about it or not. If you wilfully undermine plausible deniability the network’s custodian may not be able to ignore you even if they don’t care because of the precedent it creates. If you start hewing close to civil disobedience you also bring more attention to yourself you would not otherwise warrant.
tonyedgecombe 3y ago
There is a housing estate near me that has these lines going right through it. I often wonder what the impact of that is on the people that live there.
- hulitu 3y ago
  The main advantage is that you don't need to pay for electricity for lighting. Now the disadvantages: most electrical equipment and the human body are not build to function in a continous (as in always present) electromagnetic field.
  - ta1243 3y ago
    > Now the disadvantages: most electrical equipment and the human body are not build to function in a continous (as in always present) electromagnetic field. They literally are. The Earth has a continuous magnetic field, and has done for the entire history of the human race
    - fragmede 3y ago
      yes and we'd better be grateful for it - it acts as a shield against cosmic radiation and charged particles from the Sun and the Van Allen belt.
    - saiya-jin 3y ago
      You can't live without salt. Too much of it will kill you quickly. Why is it so hard to understand that both such statements can be true?
      - ta1243 3y ago
        The statement was "most electrical equipment and the human body are not build to function in a continous (as in always present) electromagnetic field" That's a false statement. The implication behind your statement is that the magnetic field from a power line is significantly more than the field from the earth. Earths field strength is 25 to 65 μT [0] A 400kV line according to this [1] says the maximum field is 4uT, maybe upto 6 for some tower designs. That's an order of magnitude less than the Earth's strength, although it is well above the typical daily variations. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_magnetic_field https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_magnetic_field [1] https://www.emfs.info/sources/overhead/ohl-calculating/calculator/ https://www.emfs.info/sources/overhead/ohl-calculating/calcu...

by Kab1r 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

littlestymaar 3y ago

I couldn't find it, but I think French courts have a jurisprudence on this already (unless it's an internal urban legend from EDF, who knows): one day a EDF (French electricity producer) who was living close to a power line built an “antenna” like this to harvest electricity, and he bragged about it. EDF sued, and the defendant claimed that he was just collecting electromagnetic waves that were leaving anyway, but EDF and the experts summoned by the court argued that it wasn't the case and that he was in fact draining power. He was found guilty because he was doing that on purpose, and even if he believed it was doing no harm, he should have checked beforehand especially since he was working in the field he should have been able to know or at least get the information about what was going on if he checked.

mytailorisrich 3y ago

Very likely an offence in some jurisdictions as "abstracting electricity" [1], which is a form of theft. There may be no physical contact but induction still causes energy to be extracted from the line. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstracting_electricity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstracting_electricity

127361 3y ago
I doubt anyone would prosecute over it, it would get thrown out of court because it's so petty? No worse than littering, etc.
- ysofunny 3y ago
  depends on how much the energy stolen is worth?
  - masklinn 3y ago
    Also probably depends whether you brag about it or not. If you wilfully undermine plausible deniability the network’s custodian may not be able to ignore you even if they don’t care because of the precedent it creates. If you start hewing close to civil disobedience you also bring more attention to yourself you would not otherwise warrant.

tonyedgecombe 3y ago

There is a housing estate near me that has these lines going right through it. I often wonder what the impact of that is on the people that live there.

hulitu 3y ago
The main advantage is that you don't need to pay for electricity for lighting. Now the disadvantages: most electrical equipment and the human body are not build to function in a continous (as in always present) electromagnetic field.
- ta1243 3y ago
  > Now the disadvantages: most electrical equipment and the human body are not build to function in a continous (as in always present) electromagnetic field. They literally are. The Earth has a continuous magnetic field, and has done for the entire history of the human race
  - fragmede 3y ago
    yes and we'd better be grateful for it - it acts as a shield against cosmic radiation and charged particles from the Sun and the Van Allen belt.
  - saiya-jin 3y ago
    You can't live without salt. Too much of it will kill you quickly. Why is it so hard to understand that both such statements can be true?
    - ta1243 3y ago
      The statement was "most electrical equipment and the human body are not build to function in a continous (as in always present) electromagnetic field" That's a false statement. The implication behind your statement is that the magnetic field from a power line is significantly more than the field from the earth. Earths field strength is 25 to 65 μT [0] A 400kV line according to this [1] says the maximum field is 4uT, maybe upto 6 for some tower designs. That's an order of magnitude less than the Earth's strength, although it is well above the typical daily variations. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_magnetic_field https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_magnetic_field [1] https://www.emfs.info/sources/overhead/ohl-calculating/calculator/ https://www.emfs.info/sources/overhead/ohl-calculating/calcu...