I was amused to see, strapped to a giant power line tower, a box of industrial equipment with… a solar panel on it. It probably makes perfect sense; panels are cheap and universal, but it makes me wonder if there is a way to inductively pull modest power from 345KVac lines.
@ID_AA_Carmack There are some things in the world that you want to have working even or especially if the power's been out for a month...
@ID_AA_Carmack the future version of the "you never see a $20 bill on the pavement" is "you never see a box of electronics without a solar panel on it"
@ID_AA_Carmack There's the urban legend of stealing power from the utility with a coil...
@ID_AA_Carmack What do you consider modest? It all comes down to how much you need, to dictate the coupling style. The panel is probably standby for other purposes.
@ID_AA_Carmack There was some research into making drones that you could land on powerlines like a bat to inductivly recharge them.
@ID_AA_Carmack Maybe to report a fault when there is no electricity?
@ID_AA_Carmack This was, perhaps, a standardized solution. I see such things in programming all the time.
@ID_AA_Carmack Ever since I rode a stationary bike to turn a lightbulb on at the Exploratorium, I thought it would be a neat idea to turn a gym into a power generator. At the very least, all the energy from lifting weights and running on treadmills should be enough to keep the lights on.
@ID_AA_Carmack Probably important that the equipment works also when there is no power in the lines?
@ID_AA_Carmack Line workers have devices that pull power from the electro radiation coming off the lines. It’s decreases the power transmitted by 0% Pretty much exactly like a clamp meter