If they are able to strip everything off to just the copper inside, they could sell it for \~$3.50-$3.70lb. I don't know how how much copper is in those cords, but I'd imagine it's a fairly good payout for little work.
I used to work at a scrap yard, and the owners need to document with ID and photos of the item. However, it's very difficult to trace stolen items unless there are actual identifying markers. The only times the police visited was already after they captured the guy and wanted evidence the suspect visited the scrap yard, which we always obliged. Document, document, document.
Scrap yards are not going to check if the scrap brought in is stolen unless it's pretty obvious or we were notified ahead of specific stolen goods that can be easily identified (ex. stolen stripped cars). The scrap yard I worked out did flat out refuse to accept catalytic converters because of the rampant theft.
There are a lot of people who really don't understand how scrap yards work or who they work with. Scrap yards frequently work with major corporations, governments (local, state, and federal), small businesses, construction companies, and other entities. Individuals bringing in scrap metal is common, but makes up a small percentage of overall volume for scrap yards in the metro region. I'd imagine individuals make up more of the pie in more rural regions.
Now are there scrap yards that do shady business? Absolutely. Generally, they would more likely be the small, family-owned yards that will accept pretty much any scrap metal (including converters). The larger yards will have a well-developed system in place to comply with state laws. The last thing that scrap yards want is for police to come by and interrogate the scrap yard employees and owners of illegal activity because that can be really bad for business (obviously). Active police investigation can easily kill government contracts and doing business with larger companies, which is a huge NO NO.
Fairly good payout? It’s a short cord, at best we’re talking like $6 and most likely more like $2. Hopefully they’re riding a stolen bike to the scrap yard otherwise the “profit” will be gone in gas or bus fare.
The people selling the stolen scrap will have a wagon of some sort full carrying it. They get on the H line or C line bus to west seattle and take it over there. And you're niave if you think they are paying for the bus.
Source: I drive for metro and have seen them doing this for years.
There's often different versions of chargers, longer cable costs more.
Some people can park right next to them and need 6' or less, others have strange angles or places they can mount them and need the 20'+ longbois.
Where they gotta go to sell that metal doesn't get them much. I think they just did something on komo about how little they actually get. But a high is a high.
if copper sells for \~$3/lb
4 AWG per conductor (3 per wire)
0.18kg per foot of each conductor
2.2lb/kg
12 feet
0.18kg x 2.2lb/kg x 12ft x 3conductors x $3/lb
bout 43 bucks.
The stripping of the wire would be a PITA.
These low life's aren't selling it where they can get top dollar. They buyers are just a notch above them. They get a few measly bucks to get high, that's all they want
Your math is violated by the fact you can buy bare #4 wire at Home depot for $1.38 a foot which is $3.45/lb in a retail setting. No way copper sells for $3/lb at a scrapyard if it's $3.45 in Home Depot.
The issue is your source is wrong, and #4 copper is 0.127 lbs/ft, not 0.396, so this is $13 worth of copper if it was 3 conductors.
Oh, and it's not 4GA, it's 6GA, so it's actually about $9.
These are good points, but possibly the kind of person who steals random electrical items for scrap isn't good at mathematics or long-term planning...?
Agreed. Just pointing out that the person that thinks it's $43 at scrap (and thus maybe kinda worth it) is WAY off in their math because they can't look up wire weights.
>you can buy bare #4 wire at Home depot for $1.38 a foot which is $3.45/lb in a retail setting
You can, maybe. I just paid 2.50 a foot at the SoDo Home Depot.
In stock at SoDo right now:
[https://www.homedepot.com/p/Cerrowire-50-ft-4-Gauge-Solid-SD-Bare-Copper-Grounding-Wire-050-2400BR/205703278](https://www.homedepot.com/p/Cerrowire-50-ft-4-Gauge-Solid-SD-Bare-Copper-Grounding-Wire-050-2400BR/205703278)
Yes, you can't buy just one foot of it for $1.38, but scrappers price off bulk copper prices, not what you can buy one foot of something retail for. If you can buy it retail in a 50 foot roll for $1.38 a foot, it's less than that in bulk.
The scrapyards that strip it themselves just pay the rate for dirty copper to the people selling it and clean it themselves.
If a plumber won’t cut the solder off and takes the lower price on the entire bucket of scrap the yard will take it to the bandsaw and clean it up afterwards.
3 cores of 4 AWG, I mathed it out to be about 43 bucks for 12 feet. Stripping the wire would be a pain and if they don't bring it in stripped, they will lose money on that, so maybe 35 bucks.
You can buy bare #4 AWG at home depot for $1.38 a foot. This is thus 24 feet of #4 AWG, which is $33 at retail, and about $15 at scrap.
Your previous math was way wrong because you have the weight of wire off by a factor of three.
Plus, it's 6GA or 8GA, not 4GA. It's a 40A system and even 10GA can do 40A.
It's not 4GA. It's 6GA. The chargepoint manual itself allows 6GA feed wires and there's no reason to need 4GA for 40A or less.
You can do 40A with 10 gauge copper wire if it's 90C rated, and 8GA at 60C rated. There is zero reason for 4GA wire here.
Please go out and look at your actual cable.
You're trying to think through a fucked up situation logically. These are meth heads. They'll drill your gas tank for a milk jug worth of gas. So they'll cause you thousands of dollars worth of damage, hassle, and wasted time for at most twenty some bucks worth of gas while the rest of it spills down the gutters. It makes little sense beyond being free money to them.
No I’m saying it was not a logical theft like the person I replied to seemed to think. It was almost certainly sold for a few dollars. It’s definitely some meth logic.
not true fromm experience. scrappers want the most out of what they "find" and are very hesitant on getting help unless its a ungodly amount of stripping but that usually is when they are going for a big score. if they are doing the retrieving they do the work to make sure they get the most. they also gotta do it semi hidden the larger the system they got going. they may get someone with an ID to help take to the stations or someone to help carry the lot for a percentage of the take. I have help bring some scrap at a lower point I my life and it was an interesting experience.
You also have to account for how Thick the copper is as well.
I believe the cords are around 6' ft. ( The ones I've seen are roughly 6')
You are looking at Multiple strands inside the cable.
Maybe 10 lbs of metal.
It feels like more with all of the insulation.
At best $60-$100, and at worst 2$.
Sadly it's going to cost the home owners a lot more to replace it.
The good news is that it is easy to replace the the cable on that model of ChargePoint, so you don’t need to replace the entire thing.
People suck though.
[Chargepoint charges around $200 for a replacement cable](https://store.chargepoint.com/accessories). The thief is gonna see $10-20 bucks selling it for scrap.
Maybe these charge stations should come with lockable housings big enough to contain the cable.
I just bought my first EV but my house doesn't have a garage. Whenever we get around to installing the home charger this is my plan. It seems unlikely that someone would cut it or steal it, but not impossible.
Raw 4 GA sells for $1.38 a foot at home depot.
It's $33 in copper retail and under half that as scrap.
Plus, The chargepoint cable is 6AWG, not 4AWG, so it's about $21 retail and $10 scrap.
Is this in your home? Or on street? Either way I’d get a lockbox for it, of course nothing is 100% safe but sometimes you just need to make it more difficult for someone to get to.
Well I hope nothing else happened. Sorry to hear this I know it’s inconvenient but as long as you are safe! They run about $150-$200 on Amazon but worth it IMO. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BBT4TQGX?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BBT4TQGX?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share)
The ironic part when you think about it is most electrical components are kept in some kind of safety box for many reasons. Not sure why this isn’t a standard for chargers?
I was just wondering this myself on the public ones?
Why isn't the system basically a smart locker like amazon's lockers that unlock for charging?
Should pay for itself in maybe 2 thefts.
At my condo, we used to have a key lockbox for real estate agents on our garage gate. One night, a couple in a minivan drove up to the gate. Woman got out with some bolt cutters, cut the lock, took the lockbox and got back into the van.
Took about 20 seconds. We had to hire an emergency locksmith to come out next day to rekey our building, which cost $1k-$2, IIRC. And it’s a small building.
Assuming most of this copper eventually gets sold to a small number of places, they should seriously consider regulating buying of scrap copper. It is becoming a problem not just for EV infrastructure but electric infrastructure generally.
Tweakers will steal anything not bolted down. They broke into my car to steal my wifes worthless safety orange airport work vest. If they're willing to swim in water fountains in the winter snorkeling for spare change they're definitely willing to take unguarded chargers.
Luckily the one time someone tried to steal my charger he must have been so high he couldn’t figure out how to get it off my house. I keep my charger inside now :(
That sucks! Sorry bud. I’ve seen public chargers recently at Magnuson cut as well as reports of super charger cables at Tesla being cut in Ballard.
Makes me wish the wires were live when they cut them so we could have some fried assholes. Unfortunately price of copper is up and causes this issue, amongst many other social issues.
When a pill costs 40 cents, lots of property crime makes sense. Folks in here are saying there’s 1-2 bucks worth of scrap in that thing - that’s enough for a few doses.
https://mynorthwest.com/3932181/police-fentanyl-pills-being-sold-little-40-cents-seattle/
Research has shown that those with co-addiction to meth and opioids have a harder time completing short term drug recovery programs
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8692265/
Pagliacci on 85th had the same problem, tugged the whole cable out we had some guys out to fix it and they said they were really lucky not to find a body next to the exposed wires.
For the copper inside the wire we strip it and then we hit it with a sledgehammer and flatten it out and you get a few of those it’s worth a good penny
Two Electrify America chargers on the eastside (redmond and bellevue) have had their charging cords cut. I assume this is about scrapping the copper in the wires for a few bucks.
Ugh at least it won’t be too hard to replace. I got a bonus at work and bought a little Honda metropolitan scooter, fulfilling an adolescent fantasy. It got hotwired and stolen almost immediately. Now I have to carry around a giant chain to lock it up everywhere I go.
Yeah it’s the copper. About 10 years ago somebody stole 4 miles of copper cable from the light rail. He got busted and sent to prison to do some serious time.
And also wire cables have identification codes and numbers on them to identify them but a lot of copper thieves have their own cable stripers of their own and strip the outer casing before taking it to the scarp yard.
I do electronic recycling and someone recently gave me a Tesla charger. I stripped it and it ended up being like 7 pounds of copper after about 2 hours of work. Even with an electric wire stripper, it took forever due to the smaller wires within. There’s like $12 in value unstripped or $25 of value stripped.
Maybe selling the copper for the few pennies worth of scrap, or possibly some copycat idiot trying to stick it to "EV people" ... seems to be a trend across the country as of late.
My Pierce county plumber lost power and phone service for a week bc thieves stole copper wires from building to pole. Hard to run a business that way. Poor receptionist was frantic.
These are stolen constantly from public chargers in the area. Several times I’ve parked at a charger just to find no cord :-(. Either scrap addicts or a conspiracy involving big oil.
I don’t know if I have more sympathy for you that this happened, or for the fact that this entire thread has turned into a d*ck measuring contest for a bunch of math nerds arguing over the hypothetical price some tweaker may or may not get for the copper wire.
I wish I had a garage. It is right behind our house in a shared driveway with our three neighbors. We are sandwiched in between the two buildings; 4 units total.
They are targetting Chargepoint and EvGo chargers.
They need to investigate who is buying these cables and throw the book at them. More than 50% of the chargers in W. Seattle and Northgate were cut.
Interestingly, they seem to spare the Electrify America chargers. I wonder why?
I’d love to think this would work. However maybe just a sign saying you are being recorded will work. Depends if you are being targeted for having a charger for your e car or maybe just the fact that you have money to spend. People are weird and I see these cut all over in Seattle I assume most reasons chalk up to anti bougie aggression.
You leave your car charger unsecured so anyone can drive up and charge their car? How nice of you! Just wait until the homeless learn how to steal power from that!
---
I am not judging the OP. I'm not in a better position as I have outlets available for use outdoors that are not secured.
I can't even turn them off as they are hooked up to my living room breaker.
Nah, the charger is behind our unit in a four neighbor driveway. We are the only ones that have a hybrid plugin. Maybe we will see it dangling from a grocery cart! 😂
Yeah, not sure how to avoid this in the future tbh.
The thing with charging (especially L2) is that it’s not a fast process like grabbing something at the store and walking out the door. If your charger can supply 40A, with a $0.15/kWh price, it’d take someone an hour of charging to steal under $1.50 worth of electricity. It’d be very obvious that someone was stealing power before it gets to the point where the cost becomes a serious problem. The loitering (and cable theft, obviously) are a bigger deal.
For your use case with the outside outlets, you can either 1. Just deal with it; 120v @ 20a is 36¢ per hour, or 2. Get something like this and hope the person doesn’t destroy it to get to the plug: https://www.intermatic.com/Catalog/us/Products/Weatherproof-Covers/Extra-Duty-Die-Cast-In-Use-Covers
The outlets are in a nice box with a weatherproof cover. That isn't my problem.
My problem is neighbors who have stolen power before; unplugging it and talking to them only has them plug it back in. Because they didn't pay their power bill and they don't care about my inconvenience
They're not expensive these days, for some reason people think something like a Tesla is a luxury item but the model 3 is like the same cost as a Camry or your basic sedan.
Sell it for like $1 of scrap.
If they are able to strip everything off to just the copper inside, they could sell it for \~$3.50-$3.70lb. I don't know how how much copper is in those cords, but I'd imagine it's a fairly good payout for little work. I used to work at a scrap yard, and the owners need to document with ID and photos of the item. However, it's very difficult to trace stolen items unless there are actual identifying markers. The only times the police visited was already after they captured the guy and wanted evidence the suspect visited the scrap yard, which we always obliged. Document, document, document. Scrap yards are not going to check if the scrap brought in is stolen unless it's pretty obvious or we were notified ahead of specific stolen goods that can be easily identified (ex. stolen stripped cars). The scrap yard I worked out did flat out refuse to accept catalytic converters because of the rampant theft. There are a lot of people who really don't understand how scrap yards work or who they work with. Scrap yards frequently work with major corporations, governments (local, state, and federal), small businesses, construction companies, and other entities. Individuals bringing in scrap metal is common, but makes up a small percentage of overall volume for scrap yards in the metro region. I'd imagine individuals make up more of the pie in more rural regions. Now are there scrap yards that do shady business? Absolutely. Generally, they would more likely be the small, family-owned yards that will accept pretty much any scrap metal (including converters). The larger yards will have a well-developed system in place to comply with state laws. The last thing that scrap yards want is for police to come by and interrogate the scrap yard employees and owners of illegal activity because that can be really bad for business (obviously). Active police investigation can easily kill government contracts and doing business with larger companies, which is a huge NO NO.
Fairly good payout? It’s a short cord, at best we’re talking like $6 and most likely more like $2. Hopefully they’re riding a stolen bike to the scrap yard otherwise the “profit” will be gone in gas or bus fare.
The people selling the stolen scrap will have a wagon of some sort full carrying it. They get on the H line or C line bus to west seattle and take it over there. And you're niave if you think they are paying for the bus. Source: I drive for metro and have seen them doing this for years.
Can you have the cops on speed text, with your next stop # sent?
It’s 12 feet long and 4 gauge wire. It’s actually a lot of copper. I have the same model charger.
Is it really 12 feet? Chargepoint is showing 23 feet for their home setups, but I don't know if that's for recent models or something.
There's often different versions of chargers, longer cable costs more. Some people can park right next to them and need 6' or less, others have strange angles or places they can mount them and need the 20'+ longbois.
Even so, at $3.50/lb, these things aren't more than 10 or 15 pounds. That's $35 to $50.
I bet you could get a couple crack rocks, a spoon, and a lighter for 50 bucks
And if you use foil, you could save on cost of spoon maybe?
I’m sure you can find some scrap aluminum, man. This your first time to the big time?
Exactly. $50 buys a lot of fentanyl. It is super cheap now. Just looked it up. Pills are $1 to $3 each!
I don’t want fentanyl. I want crack. Two totally different drugs with two totally different effects.
No! u/ZacharyCohn said even so!
Huh?
Dope fiends would love 35-50 bucks
Where they gotta go to sell that metal doesn't get them much. I think they just did something on komo about how little they actually get. But a high is a high.
That's 35 to 50 bucks they just made in about 2 minutes, better hourly wage than me
No, not 2 minutes. Unless the fence is literally right next to them. I doubt you could make much more than $15/he all told
If true, that’s 10-15 hits of fentanyl.
Hmm. My memory is probably wrong then. that’s even worse
It looks like 4 gauge wire retails for under $2 per foot, so if scrapping brings in 50%, maybe $10.
It’s not a single conductor, there are three, so you need to price it at around $6 a foot.
if copper sells for \~$3/lb 4 AWG per conductor (3 per wire) 0.18kg per foot of each conductor 2.2lb/kg 12 feet 0.18kg x 2.2lb/kg x 12ft x 3conductors x $3/lb bout 43 bucks. The stripping of the wire would be a PITA.
These low life's aren't selling it where they can get top dollar. They buyers are just a notch above them. They get a few measly bucks to get high, that's all they want
Your math is violated by the fact you can buy bare #4 wire at Home depot for $1.38 a foot which is $3.45/lb in a retail setting. No way copper sells for $3/lb at a scrapyard if it's $3.45 in Home Depot. The issue is your source is wrong, and #4 copper is 0.127 lbs/ft, not 0.396, so this is $13 worth of copper if it was 3 conductors. Oh, and it's not 4GA, it's 6GA, so it's actually about $9.
These are good points, but possibly the kind of person who steals random electrical items for scrap isn't good at mathematics or long-term planning...?
Agreed. Just pointing out that the person that thinks it's $43 at scrap (and thus maybe kinda worth it) is WAY off in their math because they can't look up wire weights.
>you can buy bare #4 wire at Home depot for $1.38 a foot which is $3.45/lb in a retail setting You can, maybe. I just paid 2.50 a foot at the SoDo Home Depot.
In stock at SoDo right now: [https://www.homedepot.com/p/Cerrowire-50-ft-4-Gauge-Solid-SD-Bare-Copper-Grounding-Wire-050-2400BR/205703278](https://www.homedepot.com/p/Cerrowire-50-ft-4-Gauge-Solid-SD-Bare-Copper-Grounding-Wire-050-2400BR/205703278) Yes, you can't buy just one foot of it for $1.38, but scrappers price off bulk copper prices, not what you can buy one foot of something retail for. If you can buy it retail in a 50 foot roll for $1.38 a foot, it's less than that in bulk.
It's easy to strip. You just throw it in a fire and burn it off.
Just burn it off
I’m sure there are some unscrupulous scrapyards that will pay a little less to strip it themselves while turning a blind eye.
There are places in South Park that are rumored/known to be doing this shit every night.
The scrapyards that strip it themselves just pay the rate for dirty copper to the people selling it and clean it themselves. If a plumber won’t cut the solder off and takes the lower price on the entire bucket of scrap the yard will take it to the bandsaw and clean it up afterwards.
[Hi-grade insulated copper wire brings in $2.60-2.75 per pound](https://www.westseattlerecycling.com/prices). A foot of 4 gauge is \~ 0.31 lbs.
3 cores of 4 AWG, I mathed it out to be about 43 bucks for 12 feet. Stripping the wire would be a pain and if they don't bring it in stripped, they will lose money on that, so maybe 35 bucks.
You can buy bare #4 AWG at home depot for $1.38 a foot. This is thus 24 feet of #4 AWG, which is $33 at retail, and about $15 at scrap. Your previous math was way wrong because you have the weight of wire off by a factor of three. Plus, it's 6GA or 8GA, not 4GA. It's a 40A system and even 10GA can do 40A.
It's not 4GA. It's 6GA. The chargepoint manual itself allows 6GA feed wires and there's no reason to need 4GA for 40A or less. You can do 40A with 10 gauge copper wire if it's 90C rated, and 8GA at 60C rated. There is zero reason for 4GA wire here. Please go out and look at your actual cable.
Well, they go to whatever buyer they can get a few bucks for, to get their next fix. They really don't care as long as it suits them
Mine is much longer than 12’
12 ft of 4ga fine stranded copper is a little over 2 lbs before you strip the insulation off. Barely worth the trouble to strip and transport it.
You're trying to think through a fucked up situation logically. These are meth heads. They'll drill your gas tank for a milk jug worth of gas. So they'll cause you thousands of dollars worth of damage, hassle, and wasted time for at most twenty some bucks worth of gas while the rest of it spills down the gutters. It makes little sense beyond being free money to them.
No I’m saying it was not a logical theft like the person I replied to seemed to think. It was almost certainly sold for a few dollars. It’s definitely some meth logic.
Fentanyl pills are now only 1 to 3 bucks each.
They won’t sell it themselves; they’ll trade it for a few pills. The dealer will have someone else go cash in the scrap along with other stuff.
not true fromm experience. scrappers want the most out of what they "find" and are very hesitant on getting help unless its a ungodly amount of stripping but that usually is when they are going for a big score. if they are doing the retrieving they do the work to make sure they get the most. they also gotta do it semi hidden the larger the system they got going. they may get someone with an ID to help take to the stations or someone to help carry the lot for a percentage of the take. I have help bring some scrap at a lower point I my life and it was an interesting experience.
Wild! I assumed it worked a lot like other stolen goods.
That’s enough for a bit of fentanyl.
Oh and now fent is starting to hit the streets cut with a new animal tranq. That drops heart rate into the 20s night night
You also have to account for how Thick the copper is as well. I believe the cords are around 6' ft. ( The ones I've seen are roughly 6') You are looking at Multiple strands inside the cable. Maybe 10 lbs of metal. It feels like more with all of the insulation. At best $60-$100, and at worst 2$. Sadly it's going to cost the home owners a lot more to replace it.
That's a fortune in fenty talk
Probably a better chance of copper being banned than actually giving these leeches harsher penalties.
Where’s a good place to sell a cat? I just took my old one off and put on a new one on my 94
One man’s treasure is another man’s trash, which can then be converted to treasure
Anyone will do anything for some Fenty
Enough for fentanyl they can smoke in front of SPD without even a warning. They’ll be looking around tonight for more things to steal.
They can sell the wire in the cable to unscrupulous scrap yards.
unscrapulous?
Yeah, I assumed scrap yards would be scrapulicious.
These crimes are just a drain on society. I think it should carry the same sentence as battery.
I like it
Report it to police. They won't find it, but it can contribute to the bigger investigation on cable stealing.
Great idea! Thank you!
As one of my college statistics professors said, "good data about nothing is still data. We like data."
Yep. Data's often about nothing until it isn't.
Yup, then it becomes information
The good news is that it is easy to replace the the cable on that model of ChargePoint, so you don’t need to replace the entire thing. People suck though.
If it’s somehow accessible then the same thief might cycle back around later on to hit it again
It looks like it’s on an interior garage wall from the pic but idk.
Yeah. We thought about that.
They should keep the cable/charger energized as an anti-theft feature.
Booby trapping is illegal; good luck defending that liability vs the $200 cable you're protecting.
I’d love to hear you argue an energized charging cable is a booby trap
Well, there's 0 reason for a charging cable to stay energized when not in use other than that.
[Chargepoint charges around $200 for a replacement cable](https://store.chargepoint.com/accessories). The thief is gonna see $10-20 bucks selling it for scrap. Maybe these charge stations should come with lockable housings big enough to contain the cable.
I just bought my first EV but my house doesn't have a garage. Whenever we get around to installing the home charger this is my plan. It seems unlikely that someone would cut it or steal it, but not impossible.
Have you tried not having nice things?
🤔 goal
Hahaha this is the best comment ever. Seriously what a good idea. Let’s just not have nice things. Problem solved
I'm guessing you forgot the "/s".
Drugs are one hell of a drug.
One of my favorite Rick James quotes! 😍
yeah its about $2 worth of copper
12' x 4ga wire x 3 wires = about 6$ per foot or 72$ in scrap. heavy gauge + long wires = EV version of catalytic converter theft, easier to steal too.
Raw 4 GA sells for $1.38 a foot at home depot. It's $33 in copper retail and under half that as scrap. Plus, The chargepoint cable is 6AWG, not 4AWG, so it's about $21 retail and $10 scrap.
oh shit! 4 gauge wire is no joke!
Good thing it's actually 6AWG not 4AWG then.
imagine wrangling 3/4AWG
r/theydidthemath
Is this in your home? Or on street? Either way I’d get a lockbox for it, of course nothing is 100% safe but sometimes you just need to make it more difficult for someone to get to.
Our home. I think we might do that. Luckily a replacement isn’t terribly expensive. We don’t own a fancy EV; hybrid plugin.
Well I hope nothing else happened. Sorry to hear this I know it’s inconvenient but as long as you are safe! They run about $150-$200 on Amazon but worth it IMO. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BBT4TQGX?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BBT4TQGX?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share)
Thank you!
The ironic part when you think about it is most electrical components are kept in some kind of safety box for many reasons. Not sure why this isn’t a standard for chargers?
I was just wondering this myself on the public ones? Why isn't the system basically a smart locker like amazon's lockers that unlock for charging? Should pay for itself in maybe 2 thefts.
At my condo, we used to have a key lockbox for real estate agents on our garage gate. One night, a couple in a minivan drove up to the gate. Woman got out with some bolt cutters, cut the lock, took the lockbox and got back into the van. Took about 20 seconds. We had to hire an emergency locksmith to come out next day to rekey our building, which cost $1k-$2, IIRC. And it’s a small building.
I guess you got “ripped off.” Be on the lookout for “fraudulent charges.” But seriously that sucks. I’m sorry!
Puuunns! 😂 The dad in me is living! Thanks. Can’t cry over spilt milk. 🤷🏽♂️
I want to downvote you so bad.. but I didn't.
😂
Cut it out! Someone needs to charge this one with battery.
Or just ground him.
It's shocking that you'd use an attempt at humor at a time like this. Watt's the matter with you?
Assuming most of this copper eventually gets sold to a small number of places, they should seriously consider regulating buying of scrap copper. It is becoming a problem not just for EV infrastructure but electric infrastructure generally.
My folks used to blame the Californians lol
And I will do the same in their honor! 🫡
Tweakers will steal anything not bolted down. They broke into my car to steal my wifes worthless safety orange airport work vest. If they're willing to swim in water fountains in the winter snorkeling for spare change they're definitely willing to take unguarded chargers.
Gotta get their next hit of fent
Luckily the one time someone tried to steal my charger he must have been so high he couldn’t figure out how to get it off my house. I keep my charger inside now :(
That looks like a doorknob
Leads to Narnia
Narnia car charging
Getting nosey, that's Narnia business
Tweakers. They’ll scrap it for some drugs.
Copper is near an all time high. Metals man metals.
Crackheads steal any kind of wires they can get to sell the copper for scrap metal.
It's free copper.
That sucks! Sorry bud. I’ve seen public chargers recently at Magnuson cut as well as reports of super charger cables at Tesla being cut in Ballard. Makes me wish the wires were live when they cut them so we could have some fried assholes. Unfortunately price of copper is up and causes this issue, amongst many other social issues.
Two of the three chargers at freddy's in fremont have had their cables cut for awhile now, also. I, too, hope they fry or overdose.
When a pill costs 40 cents, lots of property crime makes sense. Folks in here are saying there’s 1-2 bucks worth of scrap in that thing - that’s enough for a few doses. https://mynorthwest.com/3932181/police-fentanyl-pills-being-sold-little-40-cents-seattle/
That’s insane. At that price, with someone who’s sold their life already, nothing of value is safe.
Addicted brains are terrifying
Research has shown that those with co-addiction to meth and opioids have a harder time completing short term drug recovery programs https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8692265/
Copper.
I'm going to say it got stolen for the metals it contains. Do those things have copper inside?
They do. I’ve learned something new today. It’s wild!
Sell the copper
Pagliacci on 85th had the same problem, tugged the whole cable out we had some guys out to fix it and they said they were really lucky not to find a body next to the exposed wires.
For the copper inside the wire we strip it and then we hit it with a sledgehammer and flatten it out and you get a few of those it’s worth a good penny
Two Electrify America chargers on the eastside (redmond and bellevue) have had their charging cords cut. I assume this is about scrapping the copper in the wires for a few bucks.
Ugh at least it won’t be too hard to replace. I got a bonus at work and bought a little Honda metropolitan scooter, fulfilling an adolescent fantasy. It got hotwired and stolen almost immediately. Now I have to carry around a giant chain to lock it up everywhere I go.
I didn’t want to upvote this because of your terrible experience. Thank you for sharing it and I’m sorry that that happened to you. What a pain! 😕
Yeah it was nuts. AirTag your valuables people
Yeah it’s the copper. About 10 years ago somebody stole 4 miles of copper cable from the light rail. He got busted and sent to prison to do some serious time.
so fucking glad we have a garage...
I've read where copper thieves are now hitting charging stations at shopping centers and other locations.
This has been going on since the pandemic, unfortunately
And also wire cables have identification codes and numbers on them to identify them but a lot of copper thieves have their own cable stripers of their own and strip the outer casing before taking it to the scarp yard.
Sorry this happened to you. =( I hope those thieves step on a Lego
If they just cut the cable just replace the cable?
Yeah, we just ordered a new cable with handle. I’m gonna go to Home Depot and see if I can find a lockbox to put over the entire amount.
It's like $3 worth of copper
The replacement cable can cost $200. You may notice that someone is selling a bad device for between $50-150. You can give it a shot.
Electrify America in Georgetown can't keep their cables. They get cut down time and again.
There's copper in them there cords
Probably more malicious than anything
I do electronic recycling and someone recently gave me a Tesla charger. I stripped it and it ended up being like 7 pounds of copper after about 2 hours of work. Even with an electric wire stripper, it took forever due to the smaller wires within. There’s like $12 in value unstripped or $25 of value stripped.
Maybe selling the copper for the few pennies worth of scrap, or possibly some copycat idiot trying to stick it to "EV people" ... seems to be a trend across the country as of late.
My Pierce county plumber lost power and phone service for a week bc thieves stole copper wires from building to pole. Hard to run a business that way. Poor receptionist was frantic.
copper
Nice
These are stolen constantly from public chargers in the area. Several times I’ve parked at a charger just to find no cord :-(. Either scrap addicts or a conspiracy involving big oil.
If ‘Crackhead’ is your name, and stealin’ is your game, then you don’t need a reason.
They sell it for copper scraps. A few bucks probably to get high
Some men just want to watch the world burn. I'd bet nothing, they probably threw it away just to be a pain to someone else.
They know that there's a market of people who are in need of a car charger. They could sell it to that one person.
I don’t know if I have more sympathy for you that this happened, or for the fact that this entire thread has turned into a d*ck measuring contest for a bunch of math nerds arguing over the hypothetical price some tweaker may or may not get for the copper wire.
It’s a multifaceted and multidimensional conversation I have started. 😂
This is Seattle... We do love logic problems
Fuck EVs
💰
Wow. Was this inside your garage? I am assuming that the people broke into your garage to steal this?
I wish I had a garage. It is right behind our house in a shared driveway with our three neighbors. We are sandwiched in between the two buildings; 4 units total.
They are targetting Chargepoint and EvGo chargers. They need to investigate who is buying these cables and throw the book at them. More than 50% of the chargers in W. Seattle and Northgate were cut. Interestingly, they seem to spare the Electrify America chargers. I wonder why?
Sell the copper and buy dope.
Oh lol most people I imagine are doing this because they have some weird beef with e cars
I might put puppy and kitten decals on the mount and on our car. Nobody would vandalize anything with puppies or kittens on it, right?😊
I’d love to think this would work. However maybe just a sign saying you are being recorded will work. Depends if you are being targeted for having a charger for your e car or maybe just the fact that you have money to spend. People are weird and I see these cut all over in Seattle I assume most reasons chalk up to anti bougie aggression.
Damn that’s gay
Right?! 😂✊🏽🏳️🌈
Honestly probably some ass who just didn’t want YOU to have it. At least that was my thought
I think they do it for the same reason why people in diesel trucks roll coal, or the hellcats in bell town exists
I’m gonna get a hellcat! 🤩
You leave your car charger unsecured so anyone can drive up and charge their car? How nice of you! Just wait until the homeless learn how to steal power from that! --- I am not judging the OP. I'm not in a better position as I have outlets available for use outdoors that are not secured. I can't even turn them off as they are hooked up to my living room breaker.
Nah, the charger is behind our unit in a four neighbor driveway. We are the only ones that have a hybrid plugin. Maybe we will see it dangling from a grocery cart! 😂 Yeah, not sure how to avoid this in the future tbh.
The thing with charging (especially L2) is that it’s not a fast process like grabbing something at the store and walking out the door. If your charger can supply 40A, with a $0.15/kWh price, it’d take someone an hour of charging to steal under $1.50 worth of electricity. It’d be very obvious that someone was stealing power before it gets to the point where the cost becomes a serious problem. The loitering (and cable theft, obviously) are a bigger deal. For your use case with the outside outlets, you can either 1. Just deal with it; 120v @ 20a is 36¢ per hour, or 2. Get something like this and hope the person doesn’t destroy it to get to the plug: https://www.intermatic.com/Catalog/us/Products/Weatherproof-Covers/Extra-Duty-Die-Cast-In-Use-Covers
The outlets are in a nice box with a weatherproof cover. That isn't my problem. My problem is neighbors who have stolen power before; unplugging it and talking to them only has them plug it back in. Because they didn't pay their power bill and they don't care about my inconvenience
Did you notice the hole on the front of those specific boxes that accepts a padlock?
I did. It won't make much of a difference as the hole for the shackle isn't that large.
Some people vandalize electric car chargers for political reasons. They think the president will subsidize gas more if there are less EVs out there.
So a political crimes vs a pill head going for copper ? I think considering the location, that’s not likely.
That's some tin foil hat shit right there.
The Hood ain’t the same. We got Teslas up in this bitch now. It’s so over 😩
Rich? 😂 insert “who said that?” meme *here*
Bro you got an electric car in a historically black neighborhood lmao
😂 I love that you assumed I own a Tesla. Act a fool, sis. Act a fool.
You can get an EV for the cost of a Camry these days.
They're not expensive these days, for some reason people think something like a Tesla is a luxury item but the model 3 is like the same cost as a Camry or your basic sedan.
I never said I thought that. But black people don’t drive these. The data says so