Category: Home Power

Six Letters Re: Hurricane Irene Lessons Learned

Dear Mr. Rawles: We’ve been without power for 3-1/2 days and Internet even longer, so I’m late in writing, but I wanted to say that the grace of God and deep preps won the day, here as hurricane Irene blew through. When the power went out, we went to our generator, so we had water for ourselves and less prepared neighbors.  Those votive lights, the ones in the tall glass containers that often have saints’ picture on them were perfect for our windowless bathrooms, and they’re fairly cheap.  They burned safely almost the whole time and there’s still a day …


Letter Re: My Home Energy Backup System

James, The advice given by J.M. from Oklahoma regarding computer UPS systems could be dangerous if followed as cavalierly he/she laid out for charging and using batteries! UPS systems come in several flavors as it relates to how the batteries are used and charged. Using the wrong type or capacity of battery in a UPS system can lead to overcharging either through length of charge or how much power is sent during the charge cycle. This can cause batteries to swell, leak and explode! J.M. is correct that UPS systems are often disposed of because the batteries have gone dead …


Five Letters Re: My Home Energy Backup System

Sir: As a solar power contractor/installer, I can tell you that David L.’s power plan is a solid one. One thing he left out was the 30% Federal Tax Credit (not just a deduction) offered against the cost of residential renewable energy systems, including of course solar. A synopsis of the Federal tax credit as well as all available state credits (some huge) is online at the Database of State Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE). Also, Eco Business Links keeps an updated listing of the lowest available prices on solar panels, inverters, and both on and off grid systems.  230 Watt panels like David used …


Four Letters Re: Hurricane Irene Lessons Learned

Mr. Rawles, I am in northwest N.J. I wasn’t affected as badly by the hurricane as others were, but I did learn a few lessons about my preparedness. 1. Inspect your gear on a regular basis. I live on a dead-end street, and the road goes over a country stream, which flows underneath through a 2-foot culvert with a paved berm built over the top of it. Yesterday, that country stream became a 40-foot wide river about 10 inches deep and flowing rapidly over the road surface. To get across that, I got out my waders — and discovered that …


Letter Re: Converting Body Motion and Heat Into Electricity

Jim: The piece that you linked to was simply copied from GizMag. (They did so with credit, as if that makes it okay.) It looks like volumatrixgroup.com is one of those sites that uses stolen blog posts to get hits for ads. The technology itself is a scam under a thin veneer of science. Their “20W” figure is about three orders of magnitude too high, for one thing. That figure describes all of the energy losses in walking, including the energy losses inside muscles and joints and the energy that goes into warming the surface under the shoe. The part that …


My Home Energy Backup System, by David L.

Introduction My home energy backup system was originally conceived to make a little bit of power for a very long time.  Rather than backing up the whole house with a generator for a relatively short power outage of just a few hours or days, I wanted a system that would function in an extended power “grid down” scenario.  I was working from the self declared principle that when the grid is down at night, a single light bulb makes a huge difference in how you feel.  In addition, I wanted to preserve critical refrigeration and freezer functions indefinitely. So why …


One Big BOV, by KC-4-JC

In my prepping, one of the hardest things for me currently was the bug out vehicle (BOV), so as with any prepping activity I made my list. I first made my list for a “normal” BOV; 4×4, diesel, four doors, trailer hitch front and back, winch front and back, spare rims and tires, and enough storage for our stuff. Since we currently do not have a retreat location, we would have to be able to carry a large amount of supplies and equipment to the location we will be hunkering down at. Continuing the thought process I decided we would …


Letter Re: Hurricane Preparedness Steps

Jim: Now is the time for those in the Southeastern United States to check their preparations for hurricanes.  Below is a list of steps I go through anytime there is a hint of a potential storm.  These steps were derived from past experiences and lessons I have learned from other Survivalblog.com posts.  I do this prep so as not to get caught up in panicked crowds on the days immediately preceding the storm.  Should the storm not hit me directly I consider this prepping chance to practice and shore up my supplies. 7 Days Out 1)    Water (1 or 5 …


SHTF Electricity Basics, by M.N.

Most of us are accustomed to having safe, easy, instant access to electricity. After a disaster electrical power is low on the hierarchy of needs.  On the other hand, avoiding electricity may become a priority.  Damp clothes and wet, lacerated skin make us much more vulnerable to electrocution.  By definition, improvised or post disaster grid power won’t be as safe as we’re used to today.   After a disaster, electricity becomes an elemental threat that can kill you dead if you miscalculate. If you’re lucky enough to be able to prepare a bastion with solar and generator power, do a good …


Letter Re: Making Good Use of the Hissing Well

Mr. Rawles, A s a distributor of oil and gas parts, it warmed my heart to read R.J.’s article. I would note a couple of things, however. First, when you reduce the pressure of gas you also reduce its temperature. In the aforementioned case, that pressure reduction would drop the temperature by around 10 degrees F. Ordinarily this isn’t a problem, but in the winter an already-cold regulator could seize or internal parts could break. With higher pressures, the problem becomes much more significant. To solve this problem, most installers would use two regulators with some pipe between them. Each …


Making Good Use of the Hissing Well, by R.J.

When shopping for our retreat property a few years ago our family was looking for something that could sustain several families besides our own and have as many features common to a retreat that most readers would recognize as desirable for TEOTWAWKI.  Water, security, location, population, soil, and local wildlife (four and two legged) were all things we were concerned with.  When we came across our current retreat property we were shown what was supposed to be a 400 foot deep, 10 Gallon Per Minute (GPM) well.  Luckily we were serious and bought a new pump and had a well …


Electronics for Mobile Self Sufficiency, by Blue Sun

I believe that the ultimate survival strategy for the ultimate collapse of civilization goes far beyond simply fortifying and stocking a retreat and locking yourself into a potential box canyon, I believe that the last resort for survivors is to develop the skills and knowledge to exist for years, or even for the rest of your life, in the most extreme and remote areas as a hunter-gatherer with nothing in terms of equipment except what you can carry on your back. So, here I will present part one of my must-haves for total self-sufficiency: self-contained electronic tools that can be …


Letter Re: Military Surplus Generators and Concertina Wire

Jim: I have found some good advice in SurvivalBlog over the years.  For example your referenced GovLiquidation.com site some years back.  Fort Polk, Louisiana is a two hour drive from my retreat.  I bought a $10,000 MEP-002A 5 KW diesel generator with only three hours clocked on it at auction for $1,500. I was somewhat concerned that it might not work or have problems with it but I decided to chance it.     Picked it up, brought it home, hooked up two batteries and it cranked right up.  Runs like a top.  Amazing that the government is selling  stuff for …


Letter Re: Off-Grid Laptops

Dear Editor: I recently came across the announcement for a new upcoming product. With Intel creating Atom processors with lower and lower power consumption, Samsung was able to design a netbook with integrated solar panels. It immediately occurred to me that this would be an ideal solution for off-grid computing. You can archive thousands of books and references on a single hard drive, have some instructional videos, maps, and more. You may even run lightweight CAD programs that would give any aspiring designer a significant advantage in a recovering economy where no one else has access to any computational power. …


Vacuum Tube Radios for Preppers

I often have SurvivalBlog readers write to ask me about vacuum tube technology and its robustness in EMP and CME events, and which antique multi-band vacuum tube radios to look for. I’m also asked how to determine which models can be run on both AC and DC power. To begin, vacuum tubes are inherently “hard” to EMP and CME but not invulnerable. They are also relatively safe from lightning strikes–but again not invulnerable. Modern integrated circuits are at the opposite end of the scale for vulnerability. In essence, the smaller gates in a microcircuit, the greater its vulnerability. In recent …