# A fun and dangerous idea...



## PhantomPholly (Aug 20, 2008)

In real life I recently worked with a wireless product that is "strand mounted", meaning that they simply clamp it around power lines and steal their power inductively.

Has anyone thought about an inductive charger for EV opportunity charging? Perhaps carry a small crossbow to loft the initial hoist cord over the line?

I imagine that it would be inefficient and dangerous, but it's a fun idea to simply "borrow" power wherever you go...


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## JRitt (Sep 29, 2009)

Dangerous and illegal (you are stealing not borrowing the power) are the first thoughts that come to my mind


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## PhantomPholly (Aug 20, 2008)

JRitt said:


> Dangerous and illegal (you are stealing not borrowing the power) are the first thoughts that come to my mind


Yes, I used the word stealing in the first sentence. This thread isn't about anything practical, just what's possible..


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## electromet (Oct 20, 2009)

Personally, I'm more intrigued by the crossbow concept.

Mike


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

There was a story about college students that did a cross country electric race, they would hook to overhead power lines to charge. I'll second the danger warning -- this was and is extremely dangerous!


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## Astronomer (Aug 7, 2008)

Aw, you guys are no fun. (Well, some of you. ) 

As cool as the crossbow is, I'd like to suggest a small cannon that fires a non-conductive-tether-connected tennis ball (or similar thing) up and over the power line. You then hook up the charging device to the tether and pull on the tether to "install" it on the power line.

I like the cannon idea because fire and explosions are involved. But crossbows are cool, too, and don't require fuel.


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## azdeltawye (Dec 30, 2008)

PhantomPholly said:


> In real life I recently worked with a wireless product that is "strand mounted", meaning that they simply clamp it around power lines and steal their power inductively.
> .................


Yes these devices use the secondary winding from a current transformer (CT) to drive the power supply. 

Problem is to get any useful power from such a circuit would require a very large CT and a heavily loaded line. Also most CTs are only rated for a burden (load) less than 100VA or so.

Not very practical...


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## electromet (Oct 20, 2009)

azdeltawye,

Where are you located in Tucson? What kind of project are you doing/planning? There's an EAA meeting Saturday AM, are you going?


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## Woodsmith (Jun 5, 2008)

I'm just imaging the fun in trying to tap a 400kv line and then transforming it down to pack voltage.

Imagine this but bigger!


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## PhantomPholly (Aug 20, 2008)

Nice...!!!

Ok, dumb idea. Nothing to see here, folks - move along...


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## azdeltawye (Dec 30, 2008)

electromet said:


> azdeltawye,
> 
> Where are you located in Tucson? What kind of project are you doing/planning? There's an EAA meeting Saturday AM, are you going?


Hey. I'm located mid town & building a 2001 Jetta.

I'll try to make it to the mtg Sat. It does however conflict with Cartalk though...


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## PhantomPholly (Aug 20, 2008)

Astronomer said:


> Aw, you guys are no fun. (Well, some of you. )
> 
> As cool as the crossbow is, I'd like to suggest a small cannon that fires a non-conductive-tether-connected tennis ball (or similar thing) up and over the power line. You then hook up the charging device to the tether and pull on the tether to "install" it on the power line.
> 
> I like the cannon idea because fire and explosions are involved. But crossbows are cool, too, and don't require fuel.


Crossbows are often used in office buildings to run cabling through the ceiling. Although less dangerous (and therefore less fun), they usually fix a rubber ball on the tip of the arrow. The arrow then pulls a feeder line, which is used to pull the cabling.

A cannon would be more fun, of course, but it's hard to get one into your trunk...


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## electromet (Oct 20, 2009)

azdeltawye said:


> Hey. I'm located mid town & building a 2001 Jetta.
> 
> I'll try to make it to the mtg Sat. It does however conflict with Cartalk though...


Cool! I'm in Sam Hughes, so we might be fairly close to each other. Hope to see you Saturday.


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