Darwin Alert: Man dies hooking jumper cables to electric pole

Detroit News ^ | 2/5/02

[11th Earl of Mar]

DETROIT -- Police are investigating the death of a man who was electrocuted when he attempted to illegally attach car jumper cables to an electrical transformer on a utility pole to a generator inside a vacant house where he was staying, police said.

[spunkets]

I bet the guy was hooking up the first 12 footer and then he was going to pilfer some more wire.

[SpottedBeaver]

Yes, see my post number 37. I admitted that I got it backwards.

The problem is, I read too much and sometimes get a few things mixed up.

[fogarty]

"Tesla was the one pushing DC. He lost that battle and the electric companies went with AC, which was pushed by Edison."

Check your facts. It was TESLA who made all the innovations in AC generation and transmission. And it was his supporter, Westinghouse, who made it commercially viable. Edison was pushing his DC mode for many years after Tesla showed the capabilities of AC.

In fact, our use of 50/60Hz is mainly due to Tesla.

[UCANSEE2]

Not that it makes much difference, but most jumper cables nowadays are made of aluminum wire, not copper.
The aluminum would heat up pretty fast (if connected to the outputs of the pole transformer), and would vaporize if connected to the high tension wire.
Now, just what would he be trying to connect outside power to on a generator ? Maybe he thought he could plug outside power into the generator outlet to get it running. (cause he was out of gas).

[fogarty]

Yep. In fact, the Supreme Court ruled in the 1940's that Tesla in fact was the true inventor of the radio. Tesla's patent was before Marconi's - but Marconi (who was rich and politically connected) had gotten the patent office to recognize his patent over Tesla's. Marconi essentially stole the patent and made a killing on Tesla's pioneering work.

It was too bad all the recognition was after Tesla's death. He was a real genius - a true engineer. Our use of electricity and wireless transmission (including LF and ULF to talk to submarines!) would not be the same were it not for him.

[Orangedog]

Ye Gods, I can't believe I typed that completely BACKWARDS! I need to stop drinking my lunch.

[_Jim]

I bet the guy was hooking up the first 12 footer and then he was going to pilfer some more wire.

I'll bet he eyed those LARGE-ish posts (insulators with *live* contacts on the ends) sticking out of the pole xfmr and thought to himself: "All I need to do is hook up a pair of jumper cables to those two posts and I'll have power tonight ... and I'll take 'em off in the morning and no one will be any wiser!"

[Orangedog]

Oops again, wrong board!

[Jhoffa_]

PS: I actually watched a guy in the Dominican Republic do this very thing, successfully..

He was pretty clumsy and I was waiting for him to get fried off his roof.

[SpottedBeaver]

I need to stop drinking my lunch.

Maybe I should use that excuse. And it was backwards. :)

[11th Earl of Mar]

Automobile jump starter with new internal auto charger that will maintain charge after battery is charged. Safe and easy operation. Jump start on/off switch and reverse hookup protection prevents battery damage.

I just got one for Christmas! Works great on the tractor, etc.

Never tried it on an electric pole or a generator though.

[meatloaf]

Westinghouse bought Tesla's AC patents. When Tesla first immigrated to this country he worked for Edision and tried to interest him in alternating current. Edison would have none of it.

Westinghouse went on to light the Columbian Exposition and won the contract to build the electrical generation equipment at Niagra Falls.

The controversy back then involved lots of mudslinging. On the Edison side a big issue was made of the danger of AC and the electric chair was used as a example.

Tesla was probably the one person most responsible for modern society. His inventions provided the basis of the modern electric utility. Today in any list of the most important individuals he's rarely mentioned. In some cases such as the Smithsonian, Edison has even been given credit for some of Tesla's inventions.

Another fact is that Tesla also held radio patents that predated Marconi's.

[_Jim]

Our use of electricity and wireless transmission (including LF and ULF to talk to submarines!) would not be the same were it not for him.

Objection.

This viewpoint is waaaaay overblown in my estimation.

While he may have been first to gain the fame or publish articles on or file patents for a number of 'things' or discoveries on electricity - MANY of his contempraries were at the same stage/level as he was - he was, however, a publicity seeker and un-abashed showman much to the detriment of his contemporaries ...

He was NOT the super-genius all the HYPE makes him out to be ...

[_Jim]

Not that it makes much difference, but most jumper cables nowadays are made of aluminum wire, not copper.

<sarcasm>Not that it makes any difference </sarcasm> - but a lot of HV transmisison wire is ALUMINUM too ...

[duckman]

Riley to Dudley: 'What a re-VOLTing development this is.'

[Justa]

"Tesla was the one pushing DC. He lost that battle and the electric companies went with AC, which was pushed by Edison."

Not to nitpick but an important correction: It was Edison who stubbornly advocated DC power generation and Westinghouse which went with AC. Edison set up his DC generator plants in high-density areas of NYC where they were limited to powering only a few blocks because of DC's poor transmission quality (leakage). When it rained horses would sometimes get electrocuted when pulling their loads over areas where Edison's DC cables were buried. Because AC doesn't ground as readily less insulation was necessary and it could be transmitted much further from distant generator plants. It's surprising Edison held onto his DC power scheme as long as he did. His stubborness is typical of many geniuses.

[crystalk]

Generators seem to me to be quite costly: how could he afford this and not his light bill? And why would a generator need to be hooked up to the power pole anyway? And I assume it was really an alternator, not a generator?

In any event I think Tesla (say TOOZ-la) was the big guy in AC, and the greatest electrical genius ever. Some say his work got attention out in the universe that we didn't really want, and caused the UFO phenomenon.

[Source says he was at best AC/DC, but that is another thread.]

[LibertyGirl77]

Police are investigating the death of a man who was electrocuted when he attempted to illegally attach car jumper cables to an electrical transformer on a utility pole to a generator inside a vacant house where he was staying, police said.

That is SOME run-on sentence. Let me be the 1,234,567,890th person to say: "This man is a candidate for the Darwin Awards."

[Still Thinking]

High voltage / low current is a desirable configuration for transmission because power losses are proportional to current, but not voltage.

AC is used because it is easy to change from the high voltage / low current transmission mode to the lower voltage / higher current mode that is safe and useful for consumption (but not for transmitting long distances).

That having been said, I once heard of a distribution application in South Africa where the transmission was done with high voltage DC, using the earth as the return conductor.

[TOMH1]

A lot of Beacon Hill, Boston, especially the backside, homes and businesses were DC powered into the early '60s. Until the mid/late '50s refrigerators and some other appliances were offered in AC & DC models. There may still be some DC powered elevators on the hill. Local power company was supposedly going to stop DC service. Very expen$ive to replace DC elevators with AC versions. Some of these are in private homes.