Okay, how the hell would you do this?

[trampledamage]

Just read this report on twitter from Tahrir Square in Cairo

People have routed power from the street lights and are charging their cell phones in Tahrir

(from @sharifkouddous if you're interested)

Anyway, I'm curious - how would a person go about routing power from street lights to charge their cell phones? Is there an enclave of telephone engineers joining in the protest?

 

[Mr. B]

Electricity in Egypt is 220 volts at 50 hz. Assuming the street lamps run on the same mains as consumers, they could just strip the wires and attach them to a power strip and plug in chargers.

...and apparently professors and other similarly educated people are among the protesters in substantial numbers.

 

[Jadzia]

If they're anything like the street lights in UK, the posts have a metal cover plate at waist height. Some times you see them loose, wobbly, or vandalised.

Once removed, the circuitry is easily accessible, which is at normal mains voltage (because that saves having two different power grids under our streets).

The old fashioned ones have metal blades inside to which crocodile clips can be attached for testing the power (or tapping it where one has permission to do so).

It would be very simple to use a pair of jump leads to connect these blades to the mains pins of a phone charger, or any other appliance.

If they mean business, they could easily reinforce their barricades with mains electric fencing if they wanted to.

 

[trampledamage]

Human ingenuity is unstoppable.

I would be lost though, I'm just not a person who looks at a street light and says "I could charge my phone off that"

 

[STR]

It would take longer, but you could charge most things through the power supply in a landline too, so long as not too many people tried it at once. That would overtax the meager supply and cut off phone service to a large swatch of area.

 

[FPAlpha]

Human ingenuity is unstoppable.

I would be lost though, I'm just not a person who looks at a street light and says "I could charge my phone off that"

Whereas a technical engineer would say "Easy peasy.. gimme your phone!"

That's the beauty of knowledge.. you won't be able to get far without it.

 

[SeerSGB]

Human ingenuity is unstoppable.

I would be lost though, I'm just not a person who looks at a street light and says "I could charge my phone off that"

Whereas a technical engineer would say "Easy peasy.. gimme your phone!"

That's the beauty of knowledge.. you won't be able to get far without it.

That's why I kept a Pocket Reference and a multitool on me everywhere I go.

All though, if there is one Trekkie in that bunch that did this, I would hope he applied appropriate technobabble and multiplied his estimated time by 4 just to amaze his friends.

 

[Lindley]

I would be lost though, I'm just not a person who looks at a street light and says "I could charge my phone off that"

 

[Jadzia]

That's why I kept a Pocket Reference and a multitool on me everywhere I go.

A few other bare essentials:

Feel free to add to this list.

 

[SeerSGB]

That's why I kept a Pocket Reference and a multitool on me everywhere I go.

A few other bare essentials:

Feel free to add to this list.

And as tribute to the Patron Saint of EDC: Saint McGyver

 

[trekkiedane]

If they're anything like the street lights in UK, the posts have a metal cover plate at waist height. Some times you see them loose, wobbly, or vandalised.

Once removed, the circuitry is easily accessible, which is at normal mains voltage (because that saves having two different power grids under our streets).

The old fashioned ones have metal blades inside to which crocodile clips can be attached for testing the power (or tapping it where one has permission to do so).

It would be very simple to use a pair of jump leads to connect these blades to the mains pins of a phone charger, or any other appliance.

Back when I was a boyscout (well, it's different here than what you have in the US) we often found ourselves in the middle of nowhere and in need for power; our group didn't have a building to be in, only an old train freight car put down in the middle of a field.

Alongside the country road that led to our place there was a power line not entirely unlike this one:

Here's what you do to tap it: Hammer two nails into a piece of board (making sure the distance between them is the same as between the wires, bend the nails to resemble hooks, attach a wire to each of the nails and hang the board so each nail touches one of the power-line wires...

Feel free to add to this list.

And as tribute to the Patron Saint of EDC: Saint McGyver

 

[SeerSGB]

So I just checked my jacket pockets,

Okay, I'm ready to go to Cario.

Image of the first guy that tried to charge is cell off the streetlights