Free power from hi-V power lines?

Think of it more as static electricity, the field is high, but current very low. You have enough to light up a flourecent lite, not much more. worth about

1/4 an AAA cell. 5,000 V at 0.000001 amp or so. (called cold flourecient lighting, not hot) >

| We've all seen the demonstration where you take a flourescent light-tube | | under high-voltage power lines at night and see it glow --- such is the | strength of the field around those hi voltage lines. | OK, if the R/F field is so strong, what if one were to rig up some kind | of 'induction - collecter' setup designed to pick up as much current | from the field as reasonably possible. Could you get a significant | amount of power from a setup like this? Any power? | What makes me wonder about this are stories from people living under | those lines who report painful shocks from even small metallic objects | like doorknobs, and the power companies telling them to ground basically | every piece of metal in their homes. | If power companies are blasting this R/F | field at us whether we want it or not, is it not prudent that we attempt | | to derive some benefit from it? Maybe it's not harmful radiation, maybe | it's free power!

You're on the wrong track. Google for "stray power", and "stray voltage", and "stray current". Do look at all the pages related to farm animals. You stand a greater change of sucking free power out of the ground.

Although power lines carry quite a bit of power, their voltage is high so the current is not. The magnetic fields are not that high to begin with, and are mostly canceled out by there being a return current path on the same towers. Very near, you might get some inductive power. At many feet don't count on anything useful. Poor insulators might be radiating a lot of RF interference messing up radio reception, but even this can involve little more than just a couple watts.

the EM field is not wasted energy it is a needed component of the transmission system. the waste is in the form of heat losses.

Could you get a significant

if you could they would find a way to bill you for it.

I doubt that I could devise a means to cause an inert object the size and shape of a doorknob to generate an electric shock without physically connecting something to it. im not talking about a static charge which is built up in the person doing the touching. Metal doors and frames can act as antennas in high RF envirnments.

and the power companies telling them to ground basically

i mostly use plastic forks anyway... saves on dishwasher energy

its not RF... RF starts at about 30 kHz.

60 Hz is audio or AF

you can't "blast" RF... you can emit it, radiate it, transmit it, and do quite a number of other things with it, but it just has no blasting power :)

you can look at it as ALL energy is free... it just has to be stolen from somewhere like the ground, the sun, the gravity well, the wind, the tides and so on. (i wouldn't bother with the ionosphere, we need it for other uses )

now here is you homework assignment: research the inverse square law and explain how it applies to electromagnetic radiation.

I have a 250kv line close enough to experiment with. The question is really how much can you get without encroaching on the right of way. ;-) Would a reasonable test be to wrap a flourecent tube with x turns of wire and set it up near the ROW? Connect each end of your coil to one of the contacts on each end?

I've had that blasted RF from Rubber Ducks CB mess up my TV, note :)

Northstar

You will never get anything usable until you get close enough for induction. That would be closer that 250 inches. ROT, 1 inch per thousand for insulation. The ROW will be more than that. Besides if the power company spies your contraption, expect a visit from their attorneys.

Can I take an insurance policy out on you?

safe clearance from a 250Kv line???

33Kv is .8m

These poles are about 80' high so I doubt I am in any serious electrocution danger. I was just wondering if there was enough field to make an F-40 glow a little with a coil of wire. I know I am not running my toaster. BTW I will take all the "suing" these folks want to throw at me if I am not on the ROW and I am just collecting stray fields (that they try to say doesn't exist). They sure don't want me to hire a "powerlines are killing us" attorney. In real life I doubt I could make a F40 glow from the 70' or so away I can get to from the ground

electrocution

your coil would have to be tuned to 60 hz, which is rather big.

Even if you're not on their ROW, if you setup/establish an inductive 'link' to their system for the purpose of drawing off power, the courts have repeatedly found this to be an illegal tap onto their line. When you setup such a system, you actually *increase* the amount of energy being drawn/radiated from the line. And that is an illegal, induction tap. The courts consider it very similar to if you had a direct wire leading away from their line (except you survived the connection).

But hey, don't take my word for it, google for the court cases.

daestrom

If you try to draw a significant amount of power from the line, it will show up in the distribution system as an increase in loss. So it would be a matter of how much energy you could capture before the power company sends some one out to investigate (the increase in loss). The power company and the courts would consider this as theft of electrical energy.

Dwayne

Note: Electrical power is generated at 50 or 60Hz, this is nowhere near RF (Radio Frequency).

Check out the net for a gentleman named Dr Nicola Tesla.

A good Biography on him is called Nicola Tesla- Man out of Time by Margaret Cheney.

The line I am talking about is one of 2 that supply a fairly large city (Naples Fla). I doubt they would notice if I was drawing enough power to run my whole house. In real life I doubt I can get a faint glow in a F40 tube with a 100' "antenna" at the distance I have to work with. I think the inductive link would have to be very close to these wires before you could get any level of measurable power. I am not sure how you would regulate the voltage. If anyone asked me I would say I was simply measuring the field in preparation for a lawsuit alleging the power line has caused me to get greay hair or something. Their lawyer would be telling everyone there was no appreciable power bleeding over onto my property.

They really can't have it both ways. Either there is no appreciable power escaping or they are trying to kill my grandchildren.

OK back from the crime of the century and I am starting to think this is an urban myth. I tried several combinations of wire antennas and coils trying to get a F40 tube to glow a little and I didn't get anything going. I am going to get my Fluke meter and see if I can figure out what the best way is to collect the field ... some day. Personally I think these guys are pretty good at keeping their field up on the pole.

snipped-for-privacy@noaspamadelphia.net

the duck must be runnin one of them there lynnears and then peaked up to

150% modulation... and maybe even one o them 3 phase power mikes.

They have too. They just run electricity into your house, then it comes out again, and they run that through the neighbors house and so on down the block. But they charge everyone for using the same electricity!!

Yup you must be right,. The whole street is wired in series. I notice if one guy's lights go out everyone's do, just like those old Christmas tree lights.

That's "leen-yer".

And with all that modulation, you probably have little SWR's running along the an-teeena like boogers.