Copper wire thieves

dgpcolorado said:

Nekota said:

Maybe the L1 cable should have plugs on both ends but something tells me the interlocks could be a problem if the car end was attached before the EVSE end.

If a fine stranded aluminum cable could be made that would be less attractive than copper but not sure how well fine stranded aluminum wiring would handle fatigue from flexing.

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An aluminum cable wouldn't work because the thieves wouldn't likely know it wasn't copper until after they cut it, and maybe not even then.

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Maybe not, but hopefully they figure out that EVSE cables aren't valuable after they steal the first one and find out it's aluminum instead of copper.

I hate thieves. :evil:

http://gma.yahoo.com/video/news-26797925/copper-prices-soar-thefts-on-the-rise-27718424.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; has some videos of copper thieves in action.

Heard about this on the radio today:
Copper Thieves Dressed As Utility Workers Target Sunnyvale Street Lights - http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/01/12/copper-thieves-dressed-as-utility-workers-target-sunnyvale-street-lights/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

SUNNYVALE (KCBS) – Thieves who may be dressed as utility workers have broken into a number of underground vaults beneath street light poles in Sunnyvale in order to make off with large amounts of valuable copper wire, according to police.

Since Nov. 1, more than 16,000 feet of wire valued at $21,000 has been stolen from street light poles in different parts of town, said Capt. Dave Verbrugge, spokesman for the Sunnyvale Dept. of Public Safety....

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Well, at least the street light guys didn't cut Internet access to an entire country...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12985082" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Drivers bringing their own cable is not a solution either. If theives are so brazen as to steal brass urns off of gravesites, they will steal anything.

Of course, you could always sit there and "guard" your cable while charging ..sad that it has come to this.

coqui said:

If theives are so brazen as to steal brass urns off of gravesites, they will steal anything.

Of course, you could always sit there and "guard" your cable while charging ..sad that it has come to this.

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Or we could put an effective criminal justice system in place.

TomT said:

But of limited value if someone actually needs a substantial charge to get home or wherever. 120 is just too slow.

Herm said:

TomT said:

A company I work with from time to time installed a EVSE in the back lot for its employees about a month ago. Last week the J1772 cable was cut at the unit and the cable and connector stolen.

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Much simpler if they just installed a few 120V sockets.. not as sexy but it works.

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If we could go 600 volts we would only need 6 amps and #20 wire(or smaller?) so it would be too small to bother recycling.

coqui said:

Drivers bringing their own cable is not a solution either. If theives are so brazen as to steal brass urns off of gravesites, they will steal anything.

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Our company has several large box trucks with dual tires on the rear axle. The other night someone stole one tire from each side. They deflated the tire and took it off the rim. Plus they were new tires only a month old.

So I guess your right, people will steal just about ANYTHING.

LTLFTcomposite said:

coqui said:

If theives are so brazen as to steal brass urns off of gravesites, they will steal anything.

Of course, you could always sit there and "guard" your cable while charging ..sad that it has come to this.

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Or we could put an effective criminal justice system in place.

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One effective element of the criminal justice system is the trained and armed citizen. It is a proven fact that it takes less time to shoot a criminal in the act of committing a crime with three well-aimed shots (2 to the torso and one to the head) than it does to dial 911, even on a pre-programmed cell phone. Pure Darwinian selection.

CWO4Mann said:

LTLFTcomposite said:

coqui said:

If theives are so brazen as to steal brass urns off of gravesites, they will steal anything.

Of course, you could always sit there and "guard" your cable while charging ..sad that it has come to this.

Click to expand...

Or we could put an effective criminal justice system in place.

Click to expand...

One effective element of the criminal justice system is the trained and armed citizen. It is a proven fact that it takes less time to shoot a criminal in the act of committing a crime with three well-aimed shots (2 to the torso and one to the head) than it does to dial 911, even on a pre-programmed cell phone. Pure Darwinian selection.

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Finally found someone with views more extreme than my own! I probably wouldn't have advocated shooting copper wire thieves on sight :lol:

One interesting solution to the copper theft problem:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/248211/copper_thieves_battled_with_new_antitheft_telecom_cable.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

CWO4Mann said:

LTLFTcomposite said:

coqui said:

If theives are so brazen as to steal brass urns off of gravesites, they will steal anything.

Of course, you could always sit there and "guard" your cable while charging ..sad that it has come to this.

Click to expand...

Or we could put an effective criminal justice system in place.

Click to expand...

One effective element of the criminal justice system is the trained and armed citizen. It is a proven fact that it takes less time to shoot a criminal in the act of committing a crime with three well-aimed shots (2 to the torso and one to the head) than it does to dial 911, even on a pre-programmed cell phone. Pure Darwinian selection.

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they use to hang horse thieves on sight.

Copper thieves are supposedly to blame for a massive explosion at UC Berkeley on Monday that caused the evacuation of the entire campus, knocked out almost all its power and caused all remaining classes that day to be canceled. It was in our local news that day...
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/UC-Berkeley-Evacuated-After-Explosion-225903491.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/UC-Berkeley-Cancels-Some-Classes-After-Explosion-Power-Outage-225954181.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

On the 11 pm news of that channel today, they mentioned a generator had exploded.

CWO4Mann said:

One effective element of the criminal justice system is the trained and armed citizen. It is a proven fact that it takes less time to shoot a criminal in the act of committing a crime with three well-aimed shots (2 to the torso and one to the head) than it does to dial 911, even on a pre-programmed cell phone. Pure Darwinian selection.

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You won't get any argument out of me.. Except for legal issues, of course. In Texas I can shoot a man for stealing my property (if I shoot him WHILE he's doing it) but I'm pretty sure if I shoot a man because he is stealing an EVSE cable from a public charger, I'm going to go to prison.

Eliminate the cord all together! Use inductive charging! Then all of the copper would be concealed and inaccessible to thieves.

http://www.pluglesspower.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductive_charging#Electric_vehicles" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

@Nissan, get to work on that.

mirko said:

Eliminate the cord all together! Use inductive charging! Then all of the copper would be concealed and inaccessible to thieves.

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Another possibility would be to go to a European style system where you carry around your own charge cord. In fact, I think I'd like that because so far all of the cable-management systems I've seen really suck. Blink is really bad and so are the aerovironment systems. Chargepoint isn't all that bad, though. I sort of like that one.

adric22 said:

mirko said:

Eliminate the cord all together! Use inductive charging! Then all of the copper would be concealed and inaccessible to thieves.

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Another possibility would be to go to a European style system where you carry around your own charge cord. In fact, I think I'd like that because so far all of the cable-management systems I've seen really suck. Blink is really bad and so are the aerovironment systems. Chargepoint isn't all that bad, though. I sort of like that one.

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Thieves don't care if they steel a cord attached to an EVSE or my cord. So how does carrying my cord stop a copper thief?

mirko said:

Thieves don't care if they steel a cord attached to an EVSE or my cord. So how does carrying my cord stop a copper thief?

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There's no cord to steal unless there's a car parked there charging.

If there's a car there, then there's a better chance that there will be people around increasing the chances of getting caught. Unless you parked in a public lot overnight, I suppose.

The bigger advantage would be the cord cold be vehicle specific, so the charging stations would NOT be vehicle specific... making standardization of EVSEs very simple... but that's another discussion.
=Smidge=

Smidge204 said:

mirko said:

Thieves don't care if they steel a cord attached to an EVSE or my cord. So how does carrying my cord stop a copper thief?

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There's no cord to steal unless there's a car parked there charging.

If there's a car there, then there's a better chance that there will be people around increasing the chances of getting caught. Unless you parked in a public lot overnight, I suppose.

The bigger advantage would be the cord cold be vehicle specific, so the charging stations would NOT be vehicle specific... making standardization of EVSEs very simple... but that's another discussion.
=Smidge=

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So when a car (any car/truck/SUV) is parked in a public parking lot nobody will break into it? I thought that happens a lot. Even at busy malls. There is a chance of them getting caught there too. Why would they be more afraid of getting caught stealing a cable than breaking into a car?

http://www.arlnow.com/2012/11/27/more-car-break-ins-at-pentagon-city-mall/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.wthr.com/story/16122062/thieves-strike-parking-lots-at-castleton-square-mall" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

mirko said:

Smidge204 said:

mirko said:

Thieves don't care if they steel a cord attached to an EVSE or my cord. So how does carrying my cord stop a copper thief?

Click to expand...

There's no cord to steal unless there's a car parked there charging.

If there's a car there, then there's a better chance that there will be people around increasing the chances of getting caught. Unless you parked in a public lot overnight, I suppose.

The bigger advantage would be the cord cold be vehicle specific, so the charging stations would NOT be vehicle specific... making standardization of EVSEs very simple... but that's another discussion.
=Smidge=

Click to expand...

So when a car (any car/truck/SUV) is parked in a public parking lot nobody will break into it? I thought that happens a lot. Even at busy malls. There is a chance of them getting caught there too. Why would they be more afraid of getting caught stealing a cable than breaking into a car?

http://www.arlnow.com/2012/11/27/more-car-break-ins-at-pentagon-city-mall/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.wthr.com/story/16122062/thieves-strike-parking-lots-at-castleton-square-mall" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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You are missing the point. It's not about eliminating theft completely it's about making it harder. How many hours is the actual EVSE actually being used? Our EVSEs have cables available for stealing 24 hours a day. The EU EVSEs only have them when a car is charging. Obviously that is going to leave cables out less time therefore reducing the likelihood that the cables will get stolen. This doesn't stop it, just reduces it.