Survival Power Doesn’t Have To Be Hard – Here Are 3 Tips

Addiction to electricity is everywhere. And I know you’ve heard it a thousand times that our electronic society is vulnerable to attack. If EMP isn’t a threat, then our antique grid stations are at risk of attack with the most low tech methods. Having some kind of survival power plan in place is essential. That’s because one hit could cause a chain of events to unfold. Then you’re plunged into darkness for an indefinite amount of time.

So the solution that I’m sharing will have three parts or tips. Each has its own specifics. I’ll touch on each one in this article. It’s not a “bug in” plan. It’s more suited for a bugging out situation. So when you’re done, you’ll have a framework to build on to get your own survival power plan in place.

We’re going to cover three tips

1. Monitoring the Grid and dealing with EMP
2. Survival Solar
3. Emergency Batteries

So first things first.

SURVIVAL POWER TIP #1: MONITORING THE GRID AND EMP

Every day the grid shows itsself to be a fragile, archaic system. I remember my grandmother living in NYC in the 1960’s when the big blackout occurred. Another one of my family members was in NYC during hurricane Sandy.

Half of Manhattan suddenly turned off. Everything came without warning. And now, about every 30 days there is a report of someone pulling off a stunt with a transformer or local grid site. So how do you know when a grid down event is coming? Well, to start, you won’t be able to predict power grids going down. There’s just no way to know for sure. But, there are signs that can tell you what might lie up ahead. Let me share.

One idea is to follow “brown outs”. A “brown out” is where power cut backs happen. Electrical overloads cause lights to dim. You’ll see it when the lights start dimming because there are low levels of voltage in that area. If you see a brownout, then that’s your signal for a grid down. The second thing to be aware of is EMP or Electro Magnetic Pulse protection. EMPs can come from natural sources like a solar flare or man made sources like EMP weapons. Although humans aren’t affected by EMP, electronic devices are. And an EMP would most likely destroy any electronics within its range.

This means computer electronics are gone. It also includes cell phones, network routers, banking systems, communications systems and distribution systems. But monitoring brown outs isn’t enough. How do you restore any power at all?

SURVIVAL POWER TIP #2: SOLAR AND FIRE AS POWER SOURCES

Having any alternatives from a socket in the wall are essential. But what alternatives exist? There are 2. Sun and Fire. For power from the sun, here’s what I mean. We use solar panels. But not those rigid things encased in glass and aluminum. Nope. We’re going to opt in to the flexible roll up solar panels. What’s nice is that with it, you can generate 5, 10 or 20 watts with these things at a reasonable price.

One example is the Anker 14w dual port folding panel. But once you have a solar panel, you are only good if the sun is out. Otherwise there’s no power. Something to think about will be a battery to capture the sun’s power. Then you can use it on cloudy days or in the evenings. That’s where the Anker 2nd Gen Astro Pro 2 battery pack comes in. It’s about 5″ x 7″ and weights around a pound. Some of the interesting ones to me are military grade higher wattage folding panels. Also you might want to chain panels together. But let’s say you have a cloudy day and no battery. What then? No problem! Just use FIRE as a power source. And here’s how you do it.

With a thing called the BioLite Stove. It’s a camping stove that generates power. It’s got an orange unit with a USB port built onto the side of the stove. All you do is start a small fire and keep feeding twigs into the fire at the bottom of the stove. The heat from the fire is captured by the orange unit and transformed into power, which is then accessible from the USB port. So you can power iPhones, battery chargers and tablets. When you include folding solar panels and a BioLite stove into your survival kit master plan, it can take the edge off of things in a big way.

Flexible solar panels and fire based power generators like the BioLite stove are unique. That’s because they can easily provide power after the grid goes down. Once everyone’s generators die from running out of gas, you’ll be going strong. But that’s just one piece of the survival power puzzle. Batteries are next.

SURVIVAL POWER TIP #3: BATTERIES, RECHARGERS AND DYNAMOS

It’s one thing to have gas for generators. It’s quite another to run out. That’s why things like batteries and dynamos or wind up devices are so essential. So what alternatives do you have for your phones, ham radios, weather radios and flashlights? Here are 5 ideas for finding batteries if you are bugging out.

1. car battery
2. forklifts/floor sweepers
3. boats
4. golf carts
5. RV’s

Once you have the battery, you need to convert it to useable power. This means converting to AC (alternating current – which is in homes) from DC (which is in these batteries just listed). You’ll need an inverter which converts the DC to AC.

A good example is the BesTek 1000w/1200w 12v to 110v inverter. It’s a little over $60 and weighs a tad bit over 3 pounds. But it comes with connectors for cigarette lighter and battery cables. Another idea is to go with wind up or Dynamo powered items. This means wind up radios and wind up flashlights. If you go on eBay, there are bicycle pedal dynamo generators and bicycle chain chargers.

For instance, the KTor Pedal Generator – puts out 120 volt at 20 watts, is portable, and folds up into a shoe box sized package. As a backup, a dynamo device like a windup weather radio or a dynamo flashlight can be a lifesaver. They are easy to find at most WalMarts or Target stores. So how do you get started? Go to Walmart or Target and pick up a cheap wind up flashlight/radio combo. Play with it for a while and figure out the weak points and strengths of the device.

Once you get comfortable with it, spend a little more money on a more durable piece of gear. Batteries can get a little heavy to drag around though.

CONCLUSION

With bugging out, everyone talks about food and shelter, but no one talks about survival power. With these tips, you’ll be ahead of the pack. Who knows, maybe everyone will be coming to your house for light and heat and power.

Source by Kurt H Petrich