Cable theft continues.....

whirleybird

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Feb 27, 2006
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At some point last night, after cutting through our barbed wire fences, over 1000 metres of our electricity cables were stolen at our finca nearby to the El Choco track. The 3 workmen who visited us on Tuesday from Edenorte were due to return yesterday to install a meter - oddly enough they did not turn up and have not visited today either!! Would you be a little suspicious that these 2 events are more than just coincidence?
 

Chris

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Oh boy! Are you sure they were from Edenorte? This is going to cost you! Also, be very aware for now .. someone might think you are out of power and that they can come and break in with impunity - as it would be dark! Be very very aware - like in loaded and locked!
 

whirleybird

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Feb 27, 2006
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Oh boy! Are you sure they were from Edenorte? This is going to cost you! Also, be very aware for now .. someone might think you are out of power and that they can come and break in with impunity - as it would be dark! Be very very aware - like in loaded and locked!

Not sure of anything, just remarked on the coincidence.... fortunately, we are not out of power here at the house as they didn't enter the compound where our nine dogs were but I certainly appreciate your warning. Would like to know if anyone else also in this area had their cabling go missing??
 

gamana

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yes. We had cables stolen about 5 times in the past year on our finca. The last attempt was not successful due to a little trick I recommend to anybody with the same issue. Thieves usually go to one end of the cable, cut the pvc pipe and the cable inside it. Then, they go back to the original point, usually close to the road or property limit, cut pvc and cable and just pull it.
Now the trick: once your cable is in the pvc pipe try to determine which side of the two cutting points is higher than the other, open that section of the pvc and pour concrete mixed with water until it reached the other side. Once the concrete dries it will be impossible to pull the cable.
 

elkangorito

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yes. We had cables stolen about 5 times in the past year on our finca. The last attempt was not successful due to a little trick I recommend to anybody with the same issue. Thieves usually go to one end of the cable, cut the pvc pipe and the cable inside it. Then, they go back to the original point, usually close to the road or property limit, cut pvc and cable and just pull it.
Now the trick: once your cable is in the pvc pipe try to determine which side of the two cutting points is higher than the other, open that section of the pvc and pour concrete mixed with water until it reached the other side. Once the concrete dries it will be impossible to pull the cable.

Just a couple of things.

1] Was the stolen cable copper?
2] Concrete inside of PVC electrical conduit will reduce the current rating of the cable. Even though this sounds like a good idea, DO NOT DO THIS!!!

As an alternative, I suggest the use of aluminium PVC double insulated cables. They will need to be bigger than copper cables of the same current rating but aluminium is not as valuable on the "black market" as copper. Also, double insulated cables need to be stripped of their 2 layers of insulation, which is extra work & therefore not so "inviting" as normal single insulated cable.
 

gamana

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the cable I have is copper and insulated. it goes from a pump to my house electrical panel. I have not had any kind of loss of current due to the concrete and my cable has not be stolen since then. I am not an electrical expert but so far it is working well.
My first cable was a thick aluminum one and it still got stolen. I also once put a temporary thin cheap cable, and it got stolen as well. I don't think thieves even know the difference. They are just doing the dirty job of stealing it and pass it on to others to sell it on the black market for export.
 

PICHARDO

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May 15, 2003
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the cable I have is copper and insulated. it goes from a pump to my house electrical panel. I have not had any kind of loss of current due to the concrete and my cable has not be stolen since then. I am not an electrical expert but so far it is working well.
My first cable was a thick aluminum one and it still got stolen. I also once put a temporary thin cheap cable, and it got stolen as well. I don't think thieves even know the difference. They are just doing the dirty job of stealing it and pass it on to others to sell it on the black market for export.

I have my finca in Santiago and I use this method to thwart any attempts to steal the cables:

No matter what kind of cable you're using, since you use PVC to run the cable to the usage point, place some "tie boxes" every 100 meters or so (depending on cable length) and either make two knots with the cable in the "tie" junction boxes or split the cable and tie them with a bolt clamp secured to the box with a C clamp.

Even if they cut your cable at either end, the cable won't budge more than a few inches at any point. At worst you'll need to split the cable at the closest junction and add a new long piece to the cut joint or do like I did and always leave some extra cable at the exposed ends to re-link them with a bolt clamp.

I got my cable stolen once and that was all it took to out-think the bastards...
 

PICHARDO

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May 15, 2003
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Also worth noting:

A friend that also owns a Finca in Puerto Plata (Buen Hombre I think) had some problems with the "electricians" just as you. I explained what I did and he went a step further: He placed an extra 24 gauge wire (two lines insulated) and taped every few feet to the electrical cable, he then used black electrical tape to wrap the wire at the exposed ends as part of the main cable (like you do to a baseball bat handle) and he connected the ends at closest point that the electrical cable was exposed to cut, always covering them the same way (he looped the cable). He then used the end at his service panel and placed a solenoid with a 12 volt /120 volt ac transformer that kept a loud speaker cone (the one use for home alarm systems) alarm active, as soon as anybody cut the cable the solenoid release the switch and the alarm went off like a "prison escape alarm".
He said it has only gone off twice in 4 years so far...
I wanted to do the same but it meant to redo the whole cable thing with all my safe knots and all, so I left it as next anti-theft system to try on...
 

elkangorito

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Sep 24, 2007
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the cable I have is copper and insulated. it goes from a pump to my house electrical panel. I have not had any kind of loss of current due to the concrete and my cable has not be stolen since then. I am not an electrical expert but so far it is working well.
My first cable was a thick aluminum one and it still got stolen. I also once put a temporary thin cheap cable, and it got stolen as well. I don't think thieves even know the difference. They are just doing the dirty job of stealing it and pass it on to others to sell it on the black market for export.
You will not experience "loss of current". You will, however, contribute to the reduction of the life of the cable by issuing concrete in the conduit of your cable. This will happen because the cable is less able to get rid of heat due to the presence of the concrete. Also, after the cable has been detrimentally affected (heat) by the application of the concrete, the concrete can conduct & hold water, which could cause further problems.

Also worth noting:
A friend that also owns a Finca in Puerto Plata (Buen Hombre I think) had some problems with the "electricians" just as you. I explained what I did and he went a step further: He placed an extra 24 gauge wire (two lines insulated) and taped every few feet to the electrical cable, he then used black electrical tape to wrap the wire at the exposed ends as part of the main cable (like you do to a baseball bat handle) and he connected the ends at closest point that the electrical cable was exposed to cut, always covering them the same way (he looped the cable). He then used the end at his service panel and placed a solenoid with a 12 volt /120 volt ac transformer that kept a loud speaker cone (the one use for home alarm systems) alarm active, as soon as anybody cut the cable the solenoid release the switch and the alarm went off like a "prison escape alarm".
He said it has only gone off twice in 4 years so far...
I wanted to do the same but it meant to redo the whole cable thing with all my safe knots and all, so I left it as next anti-theft system to try on...
From my understanding, your friend ran a 24 guage wire IN PARALLEL with the main supply cable. Is this correct? If so, did he protect it with an appropriate HRC fuse? If not, he is an idiot. Unless you know anything about "fault current" & electricity, I strongly suggest against doing anything so stupid as suggested above.


There appears to be no "burglar proof" way to prevent cable from being stolen. On the other hand & as I have suggested, use a double insulated aluminium cable for each wire. For example, in a single phase installation, use one double insulated aluminium cable for the "hot" (active) & one
double insulated aluminium cable for the "neutral". The thieves probably don't know what they are stealing until they try to "cash in" their goods. I guarantee, if their "goods" are aluminium, they will get almost nothing for their efforts. Therefore, the more people that use aluminium conductors for their mains supply, should equate to a slow but sure reduction in power cable theft.

Anybody wanting assistance in the size of their aluminium mains cables can contact/ask me.

I am an electrical fitter-mechanic/engineer (electrician).
 

PICHARDO

One Dominican at a time, please!
May 15, 2003
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Santiago de Los 30 Caballeros
You will not experience "loss of current". You will, however, contribute to the reduction of the life of the cable by issuing concrete in the conduit of your cable. This will happen because the cable is less able to get rid of heat due to the presence of the concrete. Also, after the cable has been detrimentally affected (heat) by the application of the concrete, the concrete can conduct & hold water, which could cause further problems.


From my understanding, your friend ran a 24 guage wire IN PARALLEL with the main supply cable. Is this correct? If so, did he protect it with an appropriate HRC fuse? If not, he is an idiot. Unless you know anything about "fault current" & electricity, I strongly suggest against doing anything so stupid as suggested above.


There appears to be no "burglar proof" way to prevent cable from being stolen. On the other hand & as I have suggested, use a double insulated aluminium cable for each wire. For example, in a single phase installation, use one double insulated aluminium cable for the "hot" (active) & one
double insulated aluminium cable for the "neutral". The thieves probably don't know what they are stealing until they try to "cash in" their goods. I guarantee, if their "goods" are aluminium, they will get almost nothing for their efforts. Therefore, the more people that use aluminium conductors for their mains supply, should equate to a slow but sure reduction in power cable theft.

Anybody wanting assistance in the size of their aluminium mains cables can contact/ask me.

I am an electrical fitter-mechanic/engineer (electrician).


He had the transformer coupled to the Solenoid via an in line fuse with a ground discharge to a 4 feet 1/2 inch copper rod dug into the ground.

As soon as the cable was cut the possibility of a high voltage current passing to the circuit of the alarm would have been safely defused via two ways.
He used a ceramic fuse system to avoid arcing as well from the high voltage current. He did try it out (kudos to him as he used a Hollywood type of fx to cut the cable safely from a distance) remotely cutting the cable and having the alarm go off...

He's a retired Navy electrician of a LA class sub. So I guess he knows what he's doing...

I wouldn't do it myself as he told me to do so with a 12 volt car battery instead of his direct AC via transformer service.

But I guess any good electrician could make the loop work safely as explained...
 

elkangorito

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Sep 24, 2007
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This may bore you but please read.

I'm glad that your friend is at least an "electrician". Mind you, I spent 3 years in the Australian Navy (as an electrician) & 2 years in the Royal Australian Air Force (as a Radio Technician) & in neither of these sojourns, I learnt anything about "fault current". I did all of my "real" learning as a switchboard design engineer in civvy street (almost 10 years).

By the sounds of things (as you describe), your friend used a HRC (High Rupturing Capacity) fuse, which is nothing like a normal fuse. This kind of fuse has the unique ability to limit "fault current". You can easily tell an HRC fuse from any other as it has "HRC" written on it.

Running a cable in parallel with your main supply cables means that these cables must be able to safely withstand the "prospective fault current" of the supply. If the fuse is placed at the "load" side of the supply (the house end), the cables must therefore be able to tolerate this fault current. If the fuse is placed at the "line" side of the supply (the pole end), the cable will only need to tolerate the fault current that is limited by the fuse. There is a distinct difference between these 2 situations.
What I'm trying to say is that if your friend placed the fuse at the house end of the cable, VERY BAD!!! This fuse MUST be placed at the "beginning" of this cable to be of any use. Again, this MUST be an HRC fuse.

What is "Prospective Fault Current?"
It is the maximum amount of current that can be delivered by a supply under short circuit conditions. Consider a standard 150kVA 3 phase 380 volt transformer (normal for domestic supplies in Thailand & Australia). The impedance of these transformers is usually about 4-6%. By calculation & using the worst case value (4%), the prospective fault current at the transformer terminals is about 6000 Amps. This means that if a short circuit happens very close to the supply transformer, 6000 Amps will flow in the short circuit. Between your house & the transformer, you have lots of cable. The length of this cable will reduce this amount of current under these conditions. So, if you get a short circuit in your house & you do not have circuit breakers/fuses that are capable of safely disconnecting this fault, you will experience an explosion.
Since the DR uses the American system of wiring (yuk!), it's quite possible that all prospective fault currents for domestic residences, will be limited to less than 5000 Amps. In any case, this fault current MUST be considered when selecting circuit breakers etc.

Even though all of this may seem complicated (this is why "electrical" people are paid to figure this out), it must be realised that this old & unamazing thing called Fault Current is much more important than anything else, since it can destroy switchboards, homes etc in a matter of seconds.

Unless you know EXACTLY what you are doing with electricity, don't meddle with it.
 

whirleybird

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Feb 27, 2006
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So others are aware, I thought I would report our update on the cable theft which occurred earlier in December. It has now been established that, despite paperwork and authentic looking credentials, the 5/6 men who arrived on the premise of fitting a new meter the day prior to our theft were NOT representatives from Edenorte. Two of the 3 vehicles had Edenorte logos on the sides and the 3rd vehicle had a number of meters in boxes so they appeared to be genuine. We have now spoken with officials of Edenorte who confirm that our system does not require any amendment or alteration (or new meter) and they have assured us that the previous "visitors" were not Edenorte staff or contractors. The Manager of the Sabaneta branch of Edenorte has supplied his name and telephone and told us that, in the event of any similar intrusion, we are to telephone him for verification.

As deterrent to further theft, we have replaced our cabling and it now runs underground in plastic tubing with silicon seals on the joints so the wire is far more of a major job to remove.

We continue to 'live and learn' here in the DR!!!
 

Lambada

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It has now been established that, despite paperwork and authentic looking credentials, the 5/6 men who arrived on the premise of fitting a new meter the day prior to our theft were NOT representatives from Edenorte. Two of the 3 vehicles had Edenorte logos on the sides and the 3rd vehicle had a number of meters in boxes so they appeared to be genuine. We have now spoken with officials of Edenorte who confirm that our system does not require any amendment or alteration (or new meter) and they have assured us that the previous "visitors" were not Edenorte staff or contractors.

I think I'll have to re-evaluate my notions about 'planning' in the DR.......;) This sounds really organised. To go to the trouble of having Edenorte ID, vehicle logos etc. for a group of non-Edenorte guys is quite something. Unless of course their real aim is to get let inside the home for 'checking' of electrics...........in which case you were probably quite lucky that it was only cable which went. Did Edenorte say if any of their vehicles had been stolen? Or whether any driver could possibly be on the 'moonlight' shift? Although they probably wouldn't want to admit that.

It does alert people to be aware of fake staff from any organisation here. And not just if they come to your door. If you notice them out in the street near your property stop them doing whatever they are doing until you can verify their ID. (i.e. it could be fake Codetel removing land lines so you can't call out).

Thanks for telling us, whirleybird.
 

whirleybird

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I think I'll have to re-evaluate my notions about 'planning' in the DR.......;) This sounds really organised. To go to the trouble of having Edenorte ID, vehicle logos etc. for a group of non-Edenorte guys is quite something. Unless of course their real aim is to get let inside the home for 'checking' of electrics...........in which case you were probably quite lucky that it was only cable which went. Did Edenorte say if any of their vehicles had been stolen? Or whether any driver could possibly be on the 'moonlight' shift? Although they probably wouldn't want to admit that.

It does alert people to be aware of fake staff from any organisation here. And not just if they come to your door. If you notice them out in the street near your property stop them doing whatever they are doing until you can verify their ID. (i.e. it could be fake Codetel removing land lines so you can't call out).

Thanks for telling us, whirleybird.

No mention of stolen vehicles to us but think a suggestion of 'ex-employee' from Edenorte was alluded to.... I think our 9 dogs which were very evident in our home and gardens may have deterred any entry to the house and garden area hence their break-in was through the barbed wire fence into the field further down the track from which they could easily access the transformer and wires continuing down the field nearby to our workers' casita (where there are another 3 dogs) and the other one to our water pumps at the river. Under the cover of darkness, and using stealthy footsteps in the grass, none of the dogs were allerted and the loss was not discovered until the following day. I believe that further electricity cable was also stolen the same night further along the El Choco track so they were well prepared and had sussed out the area pretty well in daylight.
 

Rocky

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No mention of stolen vehicles to us but think a suggestion of 'ex-employee' from Edenorte was alluded to.....
Yup.
The guy works for the electric company, learns all the ins and outs, quits or gets fired and then turns to stealing and can easily con folks into believing that he works for the company.
 

whirleybird

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Yup.
The guy works for the electric company, learns all the ins and outs, quits or gets fired and then turns to stealing and can easily con folks into believing that he works for the company.

Well they must have been pretty convincing as Charlie allowed them to bring a van inside our gates and that is unheard of!!! Like I said before though, we live and learn....
 

Rocky

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Well they must have been pretty convincing as Charlie allowed them to bring a van inside our gates and that is unheard of!!! Like I said before though, we live and learn....
I would have believed them too.
Now, thanks to your post, I'll be a bit more careful in future.
 

miguel

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De hace muchismo......

Whirleybird., this is NOTHING new.....This "trick" have been done forever!!.

I am almost sure those guys where indeed Edenorte workers, with "free" time AFTER finishing a real job....You didn't expect someone at Edenorte to say they were, did you?...."Covering their axxes" comes to mind.

I lost count of the times a person has asked one of those workers (electricity, cable.....etc.ect): "hey listen, when you are finished with my neighbor, can you fix mine, there's a propita for you"....Only to have the guy say "ok, I'll be back after work".

Pretty simple: WHOMEVER shows up at your house to fix ANYTHING, call the company they say they belong to, to verify.....ANNNND ask them to show you some type of identification.
 
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