Cable thieves

R

Roadrunner

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Just returned from hunting cable thieves for the second time in less than a week.

I expect the municipality to come and switch off the power (again) very soon as the live cables are laying on the ground.

How can you operate like this when you have no power every second day? It takes at least 12 hours to be repaired, which means a whole day of trying to earn a living is down the drain.

They just don't care and will risk their lives for the little bit of copper that they could get.
 
My sympathies to you Roadrunner...

I know how difficult it is to earn a living when the tools you depend on for your livelihood on are not available...

What these numbnuts don't understand is that for the R50 they get for the stolen copper they are ruining more than just one family's life, which just makes the situation worse for the rest of the country :mad:

Vicious circle...

Hope you catch them soon though :D
 
bawrak said:
My sympathies to you Roadrunner...

I know how difficult it is to earn a living when the tools you depend on for your livelihood on are not available...

What these numbnuts don't understand is that for the R50 they get for the stolen copper they are ruining more than just one family's life, which just makes the situation worse for the rest of the country :mad:

Vicious circle...

Hope you catch them soon though :D
Click to expand...

Thanks Bawrak.

I hope we get them real soon. They have been terrorizing our little suburb for quite a while now and it has to stop.

I was just on the scene taking photos when the Municipality arrived to start fixing it again. The damage is much worse than last week, so it sounds like we could be looking at a period of 24 hours or more in the dark. :mad:
 
It's ridiculous, what can be done to stop it?

Sad thing is, these guys must be really desperate. Danger and effort for the pittence in return! It would be cheaper for the municipality to stand around and randomly hand out cash to the would be thieves..
 
The power has just been restored, after 14 hours of sitting around doing nothing. Let's see if we can make it a week now without the cables being stolen again.

This is even worse than the loadshedding that we had last year. :(
 
Roadrunner said:
Just returned from hunting cable thieves for the second time in less than a week.

I expect the municipality to come and switch off the power (again) very soon as the live cables are laying on the ground.

How can you operate like this when you have no power every second day? It takes at least 12 hours to be repaired, which means a whole day of trying to earn a living is down the drain.

They just don't care and will risk their lives for the little bit of copper that they could get.
Click to expand...

If its that much trouble Go wireless then?
 
Anyone knows what size UPS will keep an ADSL modem and Wireless Access point up and running for about 24 hours?

My current 600VA one just keeps them up for about four hours. Does that mean a 3600VA one will do? I see they go for about R5K.
 
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Roadrunner said:
Anyone knows what size UPS will keep an ADSL modem and Wireless Access point up and running for about 24 hours?

My current 600VA one just keeps them up for about four hours. Does that mean a 2400VA one will do?
Click to expand...

Hello Rr :)
24/4 = 6
6 x 600VA = 3 600VA
3.6kVA should be fine?
 
Roadrunner said:
Anyone knows what size UPS will keep an ADSL modem and Wireless Access point up and running for about 24 hours?

My current 600VA one just keeps them up for about four hours. Does that mean a 3600VA one will do? I see they go for about R5K.
Click to expand...

VA refers to the size of the inverter, not the size of the battery. While a 3600 VA unit is likely to have a bigger battery than a 600 VA unit, you're paying for capacity (VA) you're not using. Ideal would be a 600 VA unit with a bigger battery, but you need to choose a unit with an inverter that can handle running for 24 hours. Also the 600 VA units charger might be too small to charge a bigger battery.

The best thing to get is a APC SURT1000XLI or a SUA1500XLI and a few extra battery packs. Big money.

The "boer maak 'n plan" options are:

1. Improve the cooling on your 600 VA inverter (add a fan), attach a bigger battery, and an external charger. Or.

2. Run your AP and router straight off the battery (check voltages), they both take DC don't they. Speak to a security shop about a battery backed up DC power supply for your kit, or, if you know any Wuggers, ask them, a lot of their highsite APs run that way.

Get professional advice either way. I take no responsibility for bricked routers, I'm just suggesting a few options, no guarantees.
 
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Hmm well i know what you're feeling RR!! we had that for most of last year and now since they replaced the wires with aluminium uhm yeah we have just been having problems...

We have a weekly power outage... So our pc's are plugged into next door where the wire can't be cut...
 
Drunkard #1 said:
VA refers to the size of the inverter, not the size of the battery. While a 3600 VA unit is likely to have a bigger battery than a 600 VA unit, you're paying for capacity (VA) you're not using. Ideal would be a 600 VA unit with a bigger battery, but you need to choose a unit with an inverter that can handle running for 24 hours. Also the 600 VA units charger might be too small to charge a bigger battery.

The best thing to get is a APC SURT1000XLI or a SUA1500XLI and a few extra battery packs. Big money.

The "boer maak 'n plan" options are:

1. Improve the cooling on your 600 VA inverter (add a fan), attach a bigger battery, and an external charger. Or.

2. Run your AP and router straight off the battery (check voltages), they both take DC don't they. Speak to a security shop about a battery backed up DC power supply for your kit, or, if you know any Wuggers, ask them, a lot of their highsite APs run that way.

Get professional advice either way. I take no responsibility for bricked routers, I'm just suggesting a few options, no guarantees.
Click to expand...

What he said.

Your 600VA UPS is more than capable of driving your router etc., the problem is the battery life. Some UPS' have the capabilities to add extra batteries in an official and approved way, but they are horribly expensive.

Check on your equipment if it has a DC input, I know my router has. If it does, post the data here and we'll try to give you more advice.
 
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Roadrunner said:
Just returned from hunting cable thieves for the second time in less than a week.

I expect the municipality to come and switch off the power (again) very soon as the live cables are laying on the ground.

How can you operate like this when you have no power every second day? It takes at least 12 hours to be repaired, which means a whole day of trying to earn a living is down the drain.

They just don't care and will risk their lives for the little bit of copper that they could get.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't it be cheaper to setup a http://www.aimetis.com/Aira system connected to a GPRS network. Only on detecting strange behavior around power cables will it send an image, no need to sit and watch the spot the whole time?
 
another option is getting a decent Rack mountable ups. They normally have an option to add external battery packs. But they are very expensive.

cheep option, 1Kvz or bigger ups, with lots of sealed batteries connected externally.
 
spiderz said:
another option is getting a decent Rack mountable ups. They normally have an option to add external battery packs. But they are very expensive.

cheep option, 1Kvz or bigger ups, with lots of sealed batteries connected externally.
Click to expand...

Just bear in mind that the UPS' charging circuit should have current limiting to prevent a bank of empty batteries from frying it. The "decent" UPS' like APC has.

ALSO bear in mind that you charging time will increase. If you double your battery capacity (and therefore your uptime) your charging time will also double.
 
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