SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on the belated arrival of COVID-19 in the relatively isolated American Redoubt region. Redoubters already practice Social Distancing. Locally, it is just called being ornery and clannish.  We need to just amp that up a bit, and we’ll pull through, just fine. I predict that the Redoubt’s rural counties will have some of the lowest virus death rates in the nation.

Region-Wide

Americans are running for the hills

o o o

Dozens of Spokane, Coeur d’Alene events canceled due to public health concerns over COVID-19

Idaho

Reader M.D.B. sent this legislative alert: Senate Bill 1384 — Weapons, firearms, school property.  This bill: “…allows public school employees with an enhanced carry permit to carry a firearm on school property with certain restrictions. ”

o o o

Black Rifle Real Estate has a new listing that caught my eye. It is a very nice log house on nearly 19 acres, north of Libby, Montana: 1776 5 Mile Road. (In case you are wondering: It is above the waterline of Lake Koocanusa.)

o o o

Idaho health officials confirm three coronavirus cases

o o o

K-9 unit ‘backbone’ of Idaho search, rescue group

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“[I]t is the greatest absurdity to suppose it in the power of one, or of any number of men, at the entering into society to renounce their essential natural rights, or the means of preserving those rights, when the grand end of civil government, from the very nature of its institution, is for the support, protection, and defence of those very rights; the principal of which, as is before observed, are life, liberty, and property. If men, through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up an essential natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate such renunciation. The right of freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.” –  Samuel Adams

Preparedness Notes for Monday — March 16, 2020

11

Today is the anniversary of the Battle at Pound Gap, Kentucky. (1862)

—

There are now less that two weeks left in for Round 87 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.  Please get your entries in soon!  Note that they must be at lest 1,500 words long. Articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

—

Normally, on Mondays, I post product reviews by our stalwart Field Gear Editor. But given the urgency of the current pandemic, I’m postponing the review article that I had planned to present. Thanks for your patience.

But first and foremost, I need to mention that the “panic buying ” is for much more than toilet paper and hand sanitizer. The TP Locusts(TM) have actually started thinking and therefore have moved on to buying staple foods, guns, and ammunition, in quantity.

Oh, and please read this news.  Thanks, – JWR

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 87 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  6. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $100 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 87 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

COVID-19: My View From The Powerhouse

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I thought I’d give some insight on the COVID-19 impact from my perspective in the hydroelectric power industry.  As a journeyman hydro electrician, I’ll provide a “boots on the ground” tradesman’s point of view.  I’ll do my best to give a short- and medium-term interpretation of this event’s impacts insofar as keeping the lights on.  While not as prevalent throughout the entire country, hydroelectric projects (dams) are the major supplier of electricity for the bulk of those already in the Redoubt and BC.  While all the windmills along the Columbia produce more political “warm and fuzzies” than actual power, dams are the reliable workhorses that make up the Northwest’s power backbone. Reasonable steps are being taken to keep it that way.  I cannot and will not speak to the rest of the country, but I would assume CoOP (Continuity of Operations) strategies are being implemented elsewhere and my situation is not unique. Coal, wind, solar, and nuclear have other logistical issues that hopefully someone else can elaborate on.

I work for a major public utility in the Northwest.  There has been no small amount of neither literal nor virtual ink spilled over the recent virus outbreak.  It’s a big deal.  My utility and pretty much every other public and private entity is taking it very seriously.  Almost a fashion statement, I literally just got an e-mail from a car dealership in Spokane saying they’re going on the defense as well.  But think about it: These bosses, whatever we may think of them, have a vested interest in keeping things going as smoothly as possible.  Whether they answer to the shareholders, board, or voters, they’ll all have their day within the next few months.  Dams and the power they produce are a necessity for the grid and most companies recognize them for the cash cows they are.  I’m not saying “Don’t worry, the government has it under control,” but I really don’t think this virus will render my sector with its overarching implications inoperable.

Digest:  E’ry little thing’s gonna be alright.

Don’t worry. I know I’m writing to the SurvivalBlog audience. Doom and gloom may abound, but a power outage isn’t the point to get freaked out about.  Spend your energy trying to get that last corner of your pantry stocked.  I’ve been asked this so many times it prompted a quick letter to the editor that morphed into this article.  You’ll probably still have electricity.  It’s a virus we’re fighting, not electrons and for you and yours, the concerns will most likely be something other than lumens.  That said, things could change over time.  Prepare as so many other articles have instructed.  Whether for an hour, day, or year, I do believe an extended power outage will occur sooner or later but that’s not the pressing issue.  Let me reiterate, I’m writing from an admittedly myopic position at the ground level and can only confidently speak specifically of the northwestern US and possibly BC, but I feel reasonable in projecting this across the rest of the nation.  My contacts at other utilities feel the same.  After getting many late-night panicked texts, I’m relatively confident the dams will still crank out electricity with even 3/4 of the crew out on sick bed.  Let’s take a look at this.Continue reading“COVID-19: My View From The Powerhouse”

Recipe of the Week: Engineering Student Pad Thai

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Nathan sent us his Engineering Student Pad Thai recipe. Nathan says:  “This is a simple recipe I created after some trial and error. Ingredient ratios are variable depending on taste. This recipe makes enough for two adults.”

Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter. (I prefer the stuff that is just peanuts and salt)
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon red chili paste
  • 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce
  • 1 teaspoon minced ginger or 2 teaspoons dried ginger powder
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 pound rice stick noodles.
Directions
  1. While the noodles boil, mix everything except the noodles in a bowl.
  2. Once the noodles are done, dump on the sauce and stir until the noodles are coated.

—

Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column we place emphasis on recipes that use long term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven and slow cooker recipes, and any that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at some big Forex moves. (See the Forex & Cryptos section.)

Precious Metals:

Gold futures log largest weekly loss in more than 8 years. Here is a snippet that confirms my observations:

“It seems that investors have been selling gold in order to cover losses elsewhere,” said Caroline Bain, chief commodities economist at Capital Economics, in a Friday research note. “Ample liquidity in the gold market means that the sale of gold holdings is a relatively quick and seamless way to raise cash in times of need.”:

o  o  o

Recession fears weigh on silver, palladium prices – analysts

Economy & Finance:

So, here’s one aspect of the Plunge Protection, that I predicted:  A 0% Interest Rate: Fed takes emergency steps to slash rates and ease bank rules

o  o  o

The Baltic Dry Index does not look good. Global shipping is reaching a low ebb.

o  o  o

At Zero Hedge: The Last Time This Happened Was October 1929…

o  o  o

$50 Trillion in Question as U.S. Treasury Liquidity Dries Up

o  o  o

At Wolf Street: Historic Volatility Tells Me This Stock Market is in the Middle of an Equally Historic Crash

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“So, 61% of Italian confirmed cases are requiring hospitalization. And, low-ball figures now are claiming at least 40% of the American population can be expected to contract it (I suspect it’s higher, because I suspect there’s a lot of as-yet unidentified cases floating around out there still). The American population is 331 million. 40% of that is 132.4 million. If 61% of those require hospitalization (and remember, we’re not even looking at the case fatality rate right now…just the number of cases in Italy-—a first world nation—-that require hospitalization), that’s 80.76 million hospital cases. That’s just below 25% of the American population requiring hospitalization! You think that’s not going to have an impact on the economy?’  – The Mountain Guerilla Blog, March 9, 2020

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — March 15, 2020

7

President Donald J. Trump declared today, Sunday, March 15, a National Day of Prayer. Please pray for Divine Intervention in the spread and severity of the current pandemic.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 87 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  6. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $100 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 87 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Generators for Family Readiness – Part 2, by Greg X.

8

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.)

Starting

Electric starting is a nice feature. An electric starter motor spins the engine faster than pull starting increasing the probability that the engine starts. The starter keeps the engine spinning longer because a starter rope always runs out of length. My wife can push the start button and if your back is hurt “the button” still works. Gasoline engines are easier to pull-start than diesels. There are some small diesel engines with compression release that can be pull started, but it can be tough even for a 3-kW engine. We put starters on even the small diesels at work, for cold weather starting. Both my snowblowers have electric start too for the cold weather advantage. I have a 2.8 kW gasoline set that starts better electrically because the rope is so short. I can quickly pull it up to speed but then I run out of rope and it starts slowing down. With a bad back I can still start my 5.5 kW gasoline set but I have to electrically start my 7 kW even though it has a pull-start rope. My 7 kW should have around a 12 h.p. engine plus additional drag from the alternator inertia. Consider electric start an advantage for any genset and necessary for gas power over 5.5 kW and diesel power over 3 kW.

SIZING

Sizing is important and tricky. The last thing a user wants is a generator that can’t carry the load or start the motor in your appliances. You also don’t want to purchase more generator capacity than you need. (As I’ll explain in a later paragraph). Lastly, you cannot trust generator name plate rating. Consumer Reports has tested consumer generators. Some produced rated capacity or more while others couldn’t do rated capacity. Some will have significantly greater motor starting (“peak load”) capability than others. We’ve tested commercial sets at work. One company’s 100 kW set might do 120 kW while another vendor’s set might only produce 80 kW using the same test method. EGSA publishes test methods but I don’t think many commercial companies follow them, unless forced to–say to meet military  specifications. Test methods and test equipment affect test results too since companies don’t have the same test equipment. I’ve spreadsheet compared specifications for consumer gasoline powered sets. The fuel consumption numbers were too inconsistent to be accurate, and should be used for no more than rough comparison purposes.

There is plenty of advice online for calculating loads and sizing generators so below are some issues not typically covered. Remember induction motors can draw 3-4 times steady state current to start. One of my set’s surge capacity is about 150% of its continuous rated load capacity. When doing your load calculations consider that not all the loads will always be running at the same time. I’ve run two refrigerators and two freezers on a 2.8 kw generator and rarely did I see more than two appliances running at the same time, and never starting at exactly the same time. Remember you can also control what is running using circuit breakers and switches to allow a smaller set to power your house loads, without overloading yoru generator. Continue reading“Generators for Family Readiness – Part 2, by Greg X.”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at The Good Simple Living vlogging family’s upcoming move to Idaho.

Good Simple Living’s Move to Idaho

The Good Simple Living vlogging family has found a buyer for their house in Western Washington and is making the move to their land in Idaho. The husband is a police officer and the wife is a homeschooling mom. Please pray for a safe move for them. This move will be taking place in the late winter “Mud Season”. They’ll be temporarily living in their camping trailer while they build a new house. So please also pray for patience and contentment for their family! I recommend subscribing, at their YouTube page.

Leaked Documents: 96 Million Infections & 480,000 Deaths

Over at Alt-Market: Leaked COVID-19 Documents: Hospitals Prep For 96 Million Infections & 480K Deaths. JWR’s Comment: Read that and consider this, for perspective: That 480,000 deaths prediction is about nine times the number of American servicemen killed in the 11 years of the Vietnam war.

A New York Super-Spreader

Reader H.L. sent us this news that confirm  that containing The Wuhan may prove to be very difficult: New York officials traced more than 50 coronavirus cases back to one attorney.

COVID-19 Patients May be Contagious for Weeks Longer

And here is some more bad news that adds weight to to the “this can’t be contained” argument: Coronavirus patients may be contagious for weeks longer than first thought, study says

Two Anti-Virals Have Efficacy Against COVID-19

And some good news, in this scientific journal paper: Remdesivir and chloroquine effectively inhibit the recently emerged novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in vitro. (Thanks to M.M. for the link.)

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.

But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.” – Revelation 11: 1-7 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — March 14, 2020

6

This is the birthday of fighter ace Major Raoul Lufbery (born 1885). He was shot down and killed in 1918.)

This is the birthday of Marlin Perkins. He was a well-known television host (Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom). He was born in 1905 in Carthage. Missouri.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 87 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  6. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $100 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 87 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Generators for Family Readiness – Part 1, by Greg X.

27

Many of us own a generator. But how much research did you do before purchasing yours? Generator system integration into you home power design is frequently a series of tradeoffs. I’m going to cover how generators work, potential design features, trade-offs, and strategic considerations. I actually own four generators of various capacities, fuel types, and features, each for slightly different purposes. I also work doing generator fleet maintenance.

Key Components

I like to break generators down into an alternator, and engine, a DC control system, an AC control system, a fuel system and a cooling system. Generator sets are typically powered with gasoline, diesel, natural gas or propane engines. The engines typically run at 1,800 RPM, 3,600 RPM, or are variable speed. The engines will be air cooled or liquid cooled. Alternators can be permanent magnet, brushless or they cnd bedesigns that use traditional brushes. The AC waveform can be made by the alternator or byan inverter/converter. The AC frequency can be created by the engine/alternator or by the inverter converter. The AC voltage can be controlled by a voltage regulator, the inverter/converter or by a circuit in the alternator. They can be pull-start or electric start. The generator manufacturing industry combines all these to create generator sets with different performance characteristics at different price points.

All the alternators rotate a magnetic field inside a set of wires (windings) to convert the rotating energy of the engine into electricity. The rotor is spun by the motor, and the stator is the stationary copper windings that produce the electricity. The best alternators are brushless with four sets of windings, the exciter stator, exciter rotor, and the rotor and stator windings. The voltage regulator (VR) sends a DC voltage to exciter stator which passes the energy electromagnetically to the rotor to create the rotating magnetic field. These alternators can produce high quality power, they can handle the stress of motor starting surges, and can last for tens of thousands of hours with simple bearing and diode replacement. They tend to be found in commercial generators.

A brush alternator still uses a voltage regulator, but passes the VR DC energy to the rotor via brushes. Brushes wear out, but power quality is still fairly good and brushes can be replaced. Inverter generators typically use an alternator that spins a permanent magnet as the rotor to create the voltage for the inverter. No brushes to wear. PMAs are typically smaller than other alternators, but require the inverter. Power quality is as good as the inverter. Consumer household generators may also contain a simple brushless alternator that uses an extra winding and capacitor in the rotor to somehow energize the rotor. They are reliable, inexpensive, but don’t regulate the voltage very well. My brushless consumer generator produces 129 VAC at zero load and steadily drops down to below 120 VAC by teh time it reaches 2/3 load.

I also have a generator with brushes and a voltage regulator. It produces 128-129 VAC all the time from zero to as much load as I could pull from it. The manufacturer told me they set the voltage high to allow for extension cord voltage line loss. The voltage regulator can be adjusted to a lower voltage, if that is what is wanted. I plan to order a spare pair of brushes. Voltage variability on the inverter will depend on the design of the inverters. I checked the two I own and one dropped about 4 Volts in the transition from zero load to ¾ load and the other dropped less than 2 Volts in the transition from zero load to ½ load.Continue reading“Generators for Family Readiness – Part 1, by Greg X.”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

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To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. Note that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

My darling wife gets all the glory this week. Since I’ve been out of state helping an elderly relative, I haven’t accomplished a lot of prepping. Granted, I’ve placed a few re-stocking and “top off” orders–mainly for food and food prep items. I also completed a couple of deferred vehicle repairs and cleaning.

Oh, while here, I found a seller with several “ex-rental” refurbished 5-liter Invacare Platinum O2 Concentrators on Craigslist. I dickered that gent down to just $250 each. With those, I helped out three relatives with gifts or “at my cost” sales of those oxygen concentrators. (With new HEPA inlet filters, new outlet filters, new air humidifiers, and sets of five soft cannulas, for each.  That added just $17 to the cost of each machine.)  Downloading the Operator’s Manual cost nothing, and printing several copies on our ink tank type printer will cost just pennies.

My only other prepping this past week has been getting plenty of daily exercise. I’m just praying that I return home healthy. I will certainly take all of the requisite precautions!

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

7

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them; This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, saying,

What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp,

And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people:

To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the Lord, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the Lord.

And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the Lord.

And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations.

And thou shalt say unto them, Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice,

And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the Lord; even that man shall be cut off from among his people.

And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” – Leviticus 17:1-11 (KJV)