Stolen Cables from Robots at Intersections

eg2505 said:
but it is, am I wrong?
complexes have razor wire and spikes and cages to get in,

I mean I just thought surrounding a traffic light with electrified fencing is just ridiculous
just as crazy as using fibre to power it is,
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Thats wont stop them, electric fencing is actually an alarm system, they'd just trigger many and steal where there is no response.
 
supersunbird said:
Where do you think the R511/lion park and N14/R511 safety cameras went? They broke down the concrete poles those were on (with the solar panels and batteries) and stole them and the traffic lights cables.
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ok, so go with my first idea, cant one electrify the housing of a pole to be difficult to scale?
I mean basically a traffic light with a pole thats electrified? as a electrified wire or spikes are not good enough

I mean yes you'd need to put warnings all over it, and yes, birds wont like it,
but if it prevents criminals breaking them to steal the copper cables inside them,
one has to think creativly
 
Or they could just replace the copper with the new alloy that still conducts electricity.
There used to be a billboard powered by solar panels by Eagle Canyon, it didn't last very long wonder if it was man handled like this?
 
Not even sure what the point of the thread is. Yes, they steal whatever they can get their hands on. Will it stop? Never. Will anything be done about it? Nope. Easier to just accept and move on.
 
eg2505 said:
ok, so go with my first idea, cant one electrify the housing of a pole to be difficult to scale?
I mean basically a traffic light with a pole thats electrified? as a electrified wire or spikes are not good enough

I mean yes you'd need to put warnings all over it, and yes, birds wont like it,
but if it prevents criminals breaking them to steal the copper cables inside them,
one has to think creativly
Click to expand...

Has anything ever stopped a thug from doing what they do?
 
From the WSDOT (US)
Out of pocket costs to me?
It costs the taxpayer $250,000 to $500,000 to purchase and install a traffic signal. Electric bills and routine maintenance amount to about $8,000 a year. Drivers also have increased costs for fuel, time delay, and accidents. This adds to the reasons for installing signals only where clearly justified.
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Wow. But that's the complete thing, not just replacing a robot.

South Africa:
On average 32 lights are vandalised or stolen a month, costing the JRA R380 000 to fix and R12.7 million over three years, while an average of 81 lights are damaged by accidents, costing R500 000.
https://www.htxt.co.za/2016/03/18/o...ffic-lights-cost-joburg-r800-000-every-month/
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So quite costly, way more than the cost of the copper.
 
The real solution, replace all incandescent light robots with LED light robots, using thin aluminium alloy cables for the power.

And if they are stealing the metal of the robots themselves, then replace them with concrete poles,
 
Make the pole out of a steel pole with a concrete sleeve that has big chunks of cast iron scrap mixed in so that a concrete/diamond disk snaps when trying to grind and a metal disk shatters.

My 2c anyway, need to make is so that conventional tools can't cut it and a sledge hammer can't get through it as.
 
The only viable method I've heard of thus far is to coil & encase the cable in concrete at regular intervals. That you're not gonna pull out the ground no matter how much horsepower your bakkie has.

eg2505 said:
batteries or solar or wind power,
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Some traffic lights do actually have batteries for backup. JHB is fighting a major battle on that front since those get stolen even faster than cables.
 
I'm pretty sure a ban on recycled copper exports would help...
 
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