hoptis
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NEWS: News.com.au - 1/11/2006 'Drug dealer dies stealing power'
- Thread starter hoptis
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my innerself
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poor bastard
Teddles
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That's nothing. In the foothills in Adelaide about three months ago some poor fella (idiot)got the shock of his life trying to fix the balast on his hydro setup while the power was on and he was standing barefoot in water.
The home owner found him the next day, dead. There's a couple off leasons that could be learn't from this one.
The home owner found him the next day, dead. There's a couple off leasons that could be learn't from this one.
Fry-d-
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Mr TIMO said:
You take power from the grid before it goes into your meter box. Or you modify your meter box in a way that will slow down the actual power usage recorded, the number doesn't go up quite as fast as the power your really using. Probably simple things to do if your an electrician but extremely dangerous if you don't know which wire is which.
Apparently it's not just people growing weed that steal power though, I've heard of people who run an electric hot water heater for their spa or any other device that would cost a lot to run constantly do the same.
rogan
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I reckon stealing electricity for growing weed would only be a very very small part of the total stolen electricity. The article says 2% is stolen, does anyone honestly think weed growers by themselves consume anywhere near 2% of the total amount of electricity consumed?
hoptis
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time traveler
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People dont get caught growing weed
People get caught stealing electricity !
I know of one canadian growing video which specifically mentioned to "just pay your bills man"
i mean seriously the power man is making a profit from your grow room, so just respect him and you wont have a problem
People get caught stealing electricity !
I know of one canadian growing video which specifically mentioned to "just pay your bills man"
i mean seriously the power man is making a profit from your grow room, so just respect him and you wont have a problem
person
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^
"just pay your bills man"
Thats how theyve found alot of meth labs here (and some being in penthouse suites, hotel rooms) because the tenants didnt pay there bills on time, so landlord pops over, then etc etc..
Back in the day you could get power just by putting a bank card in the meter part, until they caught on, my mate that does hydro, also has a huge home computer network, therefore not so suspicious with the monthly bills, anyway what a shame about the guy.
"just pay your bills man"
Thats how theyve found alot of meth labs here (and some being in penthouse suites, hotel rooms) because the tenants didnt pay there bills on time, so landlord pops over, then etc etc..
Back in the day you could get power just by putting a bank card in the meter part, until they caught on, my mate that does hydro, also has a huge home computer network, therefore not so suspicious with the monthly bills, anyway what a shame about the guy.
phase_dancer
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that's gotta be the worst piece of advice I've seen in a while.
Besides the danger attached to tapping live cables, there's the unexplainable power losses that accompany any stealing of power.
Many years ago we lived on a farm, which was company owned (like a tenants in common arrangement) but at that time there was only one family there (apart from us). One very rainy afternoon the owner asked if I could assist him while he fixed a fuse.
It was seriously pissing down, so I was more than alarmed when we got to the rickety old rusty fuse box, dangling off a pole at an angle. The owner lifted the lid and sat it on his head, with the rain still soaking him as he stood underneath it. I said I wasn't touching anything but would stand ready to jump kick him out should he start to shake!!
When he opened the fuse panel I nearly died. There was a big short across the meter. He claimed it had been installed by a former lodger, but he didn't mind it because in the 10 + years it had been there, his power bill was never more than the min supply charge. He ran ~800m of cables to his house and workshop.
I remarked that sooner or later the power authorities would come looking. He shrugged it off until when, a year or so later, exactly that happened. The power dept had apparently been looking for this power loss for some time, thinking it must have been a "leaky" or downed line. It was eventually traced to the fuse box. My friend received a bill for over 20K, but luckily he was able to negotiate a lower figure. However, he was also required to replace all the wiring to the w/shop and house which naturally set him back a bit.
The point is that power losses over certain distances are factored in to various monitoring systems. Any unexplained loss is checked out fairly quickly, particularly if this is a substantial amount.
There are many ways to steal power, but none is immune to the above monitoring system. A local up this way once tapped off the residual emission from a high voltage line by running a cables of the appropriate length (to the wavelength of 50Hz) parallel to the power lines. Because of the resonance induction he could draw quite a large amount from the system. He was caught fairly quickly by helicopter inspection of the line.
Another method which has potential to trick the house meter is to increase the capacitance of the load. This can in theory be achieved by wiring a large bank of big capacitors to a plug, which simply plugged in to the mains. In practice, the major problem associated with this method is usually related to the power the capacitors consume, which can offset any advantage. It works because the capacitance causes the current to lead the voltage (relative to time). Usually voltage and current are in phase - required for the meter to accurately monitor power consumption.
The opposite affect results from a non corrected inductive load and is why tube fluorescent light fittings have such a capacitor (other than the starter). The capacitor corrects the effect from the series starting ballast. These capacitors often dry out, resulting in the consumer paying more for his/her power.
Just to finish I'll mention something that has stayed with me all my adult life. During an apprenticeship in electronics in the late 70's, I was working at a local hospital installing TV antennas and new TV's. The hospital employed full time electricians and they were a bunch of jokers, always fooling around and playing practical jokes in their spare time - which they normally had lots of. This particular day they were busy finishing the final wiring hookups of a newly installed Kitchen, which had to be fed with enormous cables that junctioned at a control board fitted in their workshop. My mate and I were strolling towards the workshop for morning smoko when a bunch of the guys came running out followed by billowing clouds of black smoke. One vomited and the others were practically speechless and very shook up. That smell was something else. Before anyone could say anything I'd noticed one old guy was missing. I went inside to find a back charred mess attached to a junction box. It was later revealed that he had mistakenly touched a live high voltage point.
So, while I've had my share of lucky escapes from electricity I have never become complacent. I always double check everything before touching.
I certainly don't advise anyone to play with or attempt to steal power from the mains. The power available from a single phase power pole feed is normally around 19,000 watts; pole fuse being rated at ~80 amps. No earth leakage detectors (balanced core relays) are fitted the pole side of the fuse/meter box which means a person could well and truly fry before any fuse would blow.
phase_dancer
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His top half was partly unrecognisable. His legs etc were still there only black, as were the wall frames and the area around the transformer. The incident was blamed on human error but I don't recall anyone ever being punished for it. It should have at least sharpened up their safety procedures and to a degree I guess it did, although 2 of the younger guys never stopped their silly antics; like wiring an electric fence to the door knob of the workshop or hooking up a pump and squirting hose to the door bell.
While that was the worst thing like that I've experienced, I've seen some pretty bad burns from the mains. One of my own nasty shocks was from touching a charged up bank of capacitors with my left hand and earthing myself with the thumb of my right hand. It caused my chest to contract in and all the air in my lungs to be expelled as a loud HAA! sound. My thumb became welded to the chassis, and was a bit sore afterwards, but it was my elbow that was most affected. It took weeks to stop aching. Oh well, at least I got the rest of the day off..
damn, i can almost imagine it the way you describe.phase_dancer said:
LOL at the electic fence on the doorbell. That's classic.
We've got a 10,000 volt one at our place in the mountains. (and gives that reading with the tester too)
Dad used to always make us touch it, like a dare.
Shocking yourself is the weirdest sensation... the lead up, like just before the next pulse comes as you're touching the wire seems like forever.
and then BANG. jolts your whole arm like a bus just hit it.
It's strangely addictive.
The pain is bearable, but you need a good few minutes to calm down afterwoods if you wanna work up the courage to do it again.
wouldn't want to get shocked near your heart, head, or junk though
