god damn it not more surveillance
oh well still a neat concept

Ha! I suggested this to a professor where I went to school who was working with UAV’s seriously like 5 years ago. He said it wouldn’t work. Obviously, it would and does. PhD doesn’t mean jack squat.

not new concept. an collapsible plane with 1 meter wing span was rumored on slashdot.org several years ago. I usually discard rumors but photo of this one was looking exactly as piece of junk I saw two months before hanging on 110kV power line. it had wings and propeller and it looked kinda broken.

the next day it was gone. I guess it does not need long time to recharge.

I see induction powered eight-rotor quadcopter remote cameras as another assault on our collective anus privatus =P

Saweet, target practice without killing small animals and it pisses off the government at the same time! :D

1. Not all power lines are AC.

2. They never show a good way to get the devices on the line. They show that flying vehicle but not in action. It would be near impossible to install without hitting a power lines.

3. You could just as easily use a small solar panel on a roof top next to your device.

4. This would would be illegal to install anywhere.

“As long as it’s outside our borders, we’re basically in the clear.”

But it won’t be, and we’re not in the clear. This shit scares me and I hope the technology flops (or our gov does a 180… yeah right).

@Bob “Not all power lines are AC.” Really? This isn’t the 1880′s anymore. Westinghouse won.

@John smith The majority are but not all. HVDC lines are becoming more common especially in Europe for grid improvements to help with transferring energy from renewable sources across long distances.

The flaw to this though is how many overhead power lines do you see in areas you would want surveillance. Surely most are underground in urban areas.

Huh, it’s been a while since I’ve seen an overhead line in a built-up area. Everything’s been underground for years.

In the age of renewable energy the AirForce thought it would be a better idea to develop a mechanical bird that steals it from them.

Great concept! Lets all make em and steal from each other! Protect your property! Duckuduuu!

In AC lines?

Slightly misleading, this isn’t stealing electricity. It’s more like using electricity to make electricity? =P Kinda funny if you think about it.

Yes they are actually taking power from the lines. These would show up as line losses for the power company. There are farmers in Europe that apparently used induction to steal power from high tension lines. Power companies would do fly overs with helicopters to find them.

If you want to experiment with induction power it is really easy to do. Get some 28AWG wire and wrap it as a coil around something like a lamp cord. You need quite a few loops around the cord .Connect a meter to the coil wires and turn on the lamp. Be careful doing this as it can generate quite a bit of power depending on design.

My uncle (a retired phone Co. lineman) told me about an old farmer that powered his entire house from a giant coil in his shed. Under the high tension lines. The power company tried to fine him in court, but the law stated that he had to be physically tied to the line, and his shed was obviously 50 ft away. He got over on them. But they made sure afterwards that their easement extended far enough that others couldn’t pull that trick.

I wonder if a BB gun is enough to regain privacy.
If so I’m sure you’ll find enthusiastic volunteers of all ages :)

@mostlymac I am indeed at all times doing several illegal things, and so are you buddy trust me, open a law book, close your eyes pick a page and on that random page there probably will be something you are infringing against, especially since many laws are in fact in direct conflict with eachother.

Yea, It would be more convincing if they could mount a camera in a pair of sneakers and hang them from a power line.

@mostlymac

Please immediately post your bank details, credit card details, your home address, telephone number, kids names and school, etc.

You’ve “Nothing to hide, so Nothing to fear”, right?

Cool, this sounds neat, and I want to make one.

Hah, the sneakers one sounds good, also it is much easier to install ;)

@John Smith
Many new lines are constructed at DC. It saves on line losses, less conductors. Most of these are between 500 – 1000 KV.

If voting could change things, it would be illegal.

The fact that the URL to the ndep.us website uses the word “Magic” as a descriptor in the link just makes me think typical idiotic Americans.

http://www.ndep.us/Power-Harvesting-Induction-Magic

I’m not trolling, as I’m half American myself and am not proud of that heritage.

Good thing is that a redneck with a high powered rifle can disable these things, hopefully they won’t part the power line while doing so. I’m guessing for domestic use the power companies will be charging the government at least a 1M times the going rate for power used for the right to park the stuff on the power lines. These devices aren’t using any power generated by a powerplant just making use of a moving magnetic field that’s incidental to power transmission. The use of which doesn’t cost the power company at all. Regardless what they say in try to discourage others from using that magnetic field. Besides it’s doubtful a usable magnetic field extends beyond the power company right of way.

thats pretty cool, but a little creepy. i wiould love to get my hands on one of them and use it to see who keeps taking my cigs off my front porch :) but when you think about it, it could be used as a total invasion of privacy. but fyi, in america we use mainly A.C. for our lines

After reading some posts Im glad someone else knows about cameras on the powerlines/telephone lines.I had bought a wireless camera at Fry’s for $80 dollars nothing fancy to catch some thieves stealing radios. I installed the camera in the back parking lot and the receiver inside. well the camera didn’t work and while testing it by changing the channel’s on the receiver I picked up a crystal clear picture of the apartments across the street. Two people walked up to the front of an apartment door knocked and were asking about an individual. I asked a friend of mine to walk Imy office and to look up wards as he was walking..sure enough there are cameras disguised as transformers facing horizontally that were hollow with a camera inside of it!! Turns out the people were cops that explained the police activity across the street. take a look at power lines near your home and around your city you will be blown away as to what you find where you find them and where they are pointing. since i discovered this I have found them in many cities i have been to. One I will never forget was point almost straight down in to the back yard easily capable of looking in to peoples windows, having the audio video features with these cameras is even more disturbing.