Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.153.28] on Sunday, August 10, 2014 at 21:00:00 :
In Reply to: Re: Stolen radiators posted by Joe Lorenzino [216.197.153.67] on Sunday, August 10, 2014 at 19:51:08 :
Thanks for the sympathy. Yes, being an electrical sort of guy, I've certainly designed several human-scale bug-zappers in my mind at least. It's weird that the "scrap" thieves only look at red metal. I can leave stainless scrap forever and nobody will take it. I even had a $500 hunk of pure nickel in my yard for a long time and it didn't budge. For a year or so now, I've had some gold-plated PCB in the back of a truck parked in my yard. The green solder-mask has come off due to weathering, and anybody can see they're gold, but nobody touches them. It's like the tweekers only have 3 neurons working in their brains: One says "copper", one says "batteries", and one says "Meth!".
I'm sure I'd be in a heap of trouble if I hooked up 50 kV at 5 kW to an old radiator propped up against the side of my building, but if I left an aluminum ladder near a low-hanging power line....? I've also thought of putting ads on CL: "WANTED -- copper, brass, and batteries. No questions asked. Payment in cash or meth." And have them meet me at my cabin, 10 miles from the nearest house, on a weekday when there's nobody else in the whole valley. I'd have to get the backhoe working first, though.
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