Category: Home Power

Making Assumptions, by Mudflap

Prepping is full of assumptions.  We prepare because we assume that something could go wrong in our lives and that it is our own responsibility to take steps to assure that we come out smelling like roses.  Others don’t prepare because they assume that nothing could go wrong in their lives and that someone else will take care of them.  We buy long term storage food because we assume that there will be a food shortage in the future.  Others barely have enough food in the pantry because they assume the pizza place will always be able to deliver and …


A Taste of TEOTWAWKI, by Anne S.

I never realized how dark and eerie our house could be.  Even at night, there were usually two or three nightlights casting their brave glow to prevent midnight mishaps. But on this evening, there was no electricity to power this smallest of luxuries.  Another thing I noticed as I kept vigil over my sleeping loved ones by emergency candle light was the extreme, echoing silence.  There was no fan humming in my son’s room. There was no whir of the compressor cycling on and off in the refrigerator.  There was no air blowing through the central air unit of our …


L.K.O.’s Product Review: PocketPanel 6 Watt Portable Solar USB Phone Charger and Cinch Power CP505S Power Pack

In early January 2012, I began thoroughly testing the Pocket Panel: 6 Watt Portable Solar USB Phone Charger and the Cinch Power: CP505S Power Pack (USB Battery). These two products team up to make a compact, lightweight, portable power solution for USB powered devices such as cell phones, GPSes, digital cameras, bluetooth headsets, games, PDAs, MP3/MP4 players or small LED lamps. After a review of the individual components, I’ll summarize some quick system tests. Pocket Panel: 6 Watt Portable Solar USB Phone Charger The PocketPanel photovoltaic solar charger is rated at 6 Watts and 1.2 Amps. Reviews on the company’s …


Letter Re: Prepping with Natural Gas From My Own Well

Dear Editor: I tip my hat to Y. Sam! In my opinion, he has absolutely hit the jackpot as far as resources to have on your property. Having oil and gas even opens up the possibility of home distillation of gasoline and diesel fuel. One aspect he didn’t mention: I was wondering if the gas from his wells is ‘wet’ enough to produce any casing-head gasoline? [A condensate, commonly called drip gasoline.] In addition to converting modern engines and vehicles to run on natural gas, don’t forget that different types of engines were built specifically to run on natural gas. …


Prepping with Natural Gas From My Own Well, by Y. Sam

Like many people, I was a prepper long before I ever heard the term.  I grew up on a farm and learned the value of hard work and ingenuity at a young age.  I never liked being in debt or the feeling of having others in control of my well being.  The following topic may not be of any interest to many people but for those of you who are thinking about moving out of the city to a place in the country it may give you one more thing to add to your retreat wish list. In 1998 my …


Letter Re: Evaluating Military Surplus Generator Sets Before Bidding at Auction

James, I wanted to offer a few more thoughts on DoD generators.  Most of the generators I found on Government Liquidations were Mil Std Generators.  This family of generators was designed in the 1970s and manufactured into late 1980s to early 1990s.  The DoD is selling of the generators because they are old, and compared to newer DoD generators they consume more fuel, require more regular maintenance (PMCS), are less reliable and are more expensive to repair if you can get the parts.   The Mil Std Family are tough generators designed to run in environmental extremes.  They are not …


Two Letters Re: Evaluating Military Surplus Generator Sets Before Bidding at Auction

James: In response to buying military gensets, I wouldn’t. I have owned quite a few of them and my view is they take a really good genset and make it so complex its hard to work on let alone get parts for it. The wiring is usually the problem, very complex. I purchased a [commercial] 6.5 Kubota last year and it is a super gen set. I run it on Bio Diesel and it cost about 10 cents per hr to run. One good place to look for these is the Light Towers web site. Check tool rental places for sales. …


Letter Re: Evaluating Military Surplus Generator Sets Before Bidding at Auction

JWR, Thanks for the recent post mentioning GovLiquidation.com-listed auctions in response to a reader’s question about concertina wire. While browsing the site, I found lots of generator sets (“gensets“) offered and I am wondering if there are any caveats a buyer should be aware of before purchasing (besides the long drive to retrieve a purchase). Thanks for all you do for the SurvivalBlog community. – G.R. in Texas JWR Replies: Military surplus (“milsurp“) gensets are generally a bargain. But unfortunately, the days of incredibly cheap milsurp generator auctions is gone. This is because the scrap copper merchants will now be there …


When Your Batteries Die, by Jay W.

Some of the most common things that we stock up on for short term emergencies are batteries. Many of our important tools need electrical power to work. Flashlights, radios, many power tools, and night vision gear– essentially anything that uses DC electricity–would need batteries. For Bug Out Bags and short-term situations batteries are almost always included and could save your life.   Virtually any situation lasting less than a few years would be fine with batteries.  You can have a hand or pedal generator, solar or wind, et cetera, to charge your batteries.   But what happens in a TEOTWAWKI situation?  Where …


Three Letters Re: Battery-Powered House Interior Lighting

Sir: I enjoy your blog and support you in a small way with the 10 Cent Challenge.  After reading your response to the Battery-Powered House Interior Lighting letter, I want to add some information that I learned at a FAA seminar that I attended.  The FAA is now endorsing blue or green lighting in the cockpit of all aircraft (general aviation and commercial).  The green and/or blue takes less energy output for the eyes to see details.  Also, red lighting can be seen from further away than blue/green (red is used to designate towers and tall buildings at night, where …


Letter Re: Battery-Powered House Interior Lighting

James Wesley: We have frequent power outages.  We bought a [deep cycle] marine battery from Bass Pro Shops that was intended use with a trolling motor.  We keep this battery continuously trickle-charged.   A small inverter from Radio Shack provides 120 VAC for three strings of white LED Christmas lights attached to the uppermost part of the most important wall.  A charged trolling motor battery will keep these efficient lights on for a very long time.  All we have to do is to plug the lights into the inverter socket. Very safe. – Anonymous JWR Replies: It would be much more efficient …


Letter Re: A Self-Sufficient Vermonter

Hi James,  Thank you for SurvivalBlog. It’s an incredible resource. I thought you and your readers mind find this interesting: There is a man that lives with his family on his 24 acre parcel of forested mountain in Vermont, completely off the grid using hydro-electric and solar for power and a natural spring for water. He builds everything himself, including his house and workshop. His land is mostly accessible only on foot (though he has cleared a road — by hand). This guy is building a giant mechanical robot. Seriously. But the best part is that all of this is documented …


Letter Re: Electric Cars and Bicycles

Sir: I had an epiphany a few years ago when I first viewed “Who Killed the Electric Car?” Since then, I’ve acquired several cars converted to electric and a Nissan Leaf. We bought our last tank of petroleum fuel in May of 2011. Recently, I’ve been pondering how the electric cars might be used as a backup source of electric power. The battery packs of the conversions are readily accessible and can provide almost 100 kwh of energy. The Leaf’s battery is not accessible at this time. Inverters that use the car’s DC voltage (120-156v) as input are available but …


Two Letters Re: Understanding Five Types of Electrical Losses in Alternative Power Systems

Hello Jim, I enjoyed the article regarding off-grid power by Roger A. I’d like to add a few points  about the elimination of phantom loads and the use of inverters. As defined by the author, “phantom loads are created by appliances that have been designed to still need electricity while nominally switched off.” The elimination of these phantom loads reduces electrical needs in two ways; by eliminating the power needed by the appliance and the potential of being able to turn off the inverter. As pointed out in the article, inverters draw an average of 25 watts just to operate. …


Understanding Five Types of Electrical Losses in Alternative Power Systems, by Roger A.

“Line Loss” is often mentioned when discussing alternative energy systems, but that is just one of several significant losses. This article will describe five distinct types of losses. In an alternative energy system that incorporates a battery or battery bank, the first electrical loss is within the batteries themselves as they discharge, this is called the Puekert exponent. This loss increases with the aging of the batteries. Look at it this way: If you had a 500 gallon tank of water and you used 200 gallon a day you would have to replace 200 gallons every day or 400 gallons …