263,000 left Powerless from Hurricane Ernesto. What is your Power Backup Plan?...

Discussion in 'Off Grid Living' started by ricdoug, Sep 1, 2006.


  1. ricdoug

    ricdoug Monkey+++

    http://today.reuters.com/news/newsa...UTILITIES-DOMINION-OUTAGES.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

    Hand Crank Radios will keep you up to date with Weather and Emergency Instructions:

    [​IMG]

    A Solar Car Charger keeps your battery fresh for operation of basic Communications Devices:

    [​IMG]

    A Lawn Buddy keeps emergency and hunting items ready and on wheels:

    [​IMG]

    CB or GMRS Walkie Talkies. A Base Station using solar charged battery backup is useffull, too:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  2. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Some good ideas there. Nice.
     
  3. Bear

    Bear Monkey+++ Founding Member Iron Monkey

    What are the tripods for?... positioning the cells or the antenna?.... I've got that little one.... pretty handy... small and works.... not the best and most sturdy... but compact and functional.....:D
     
  4. ricdoug

    ricdoug Monkey+++

  5. E.L.

    E.L. Moderator of Lead Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Awesome. Do you have a link for the car charger panel? I have seen some on e-bay.
     
  6. ricdoug

    ricdoug Monkey+++

    Sure, E.L.. Go to...

    http://www.harborfreight.com and search for SOLAR and several will appear in the search choices. IIRC (If I Remember Correctly) they are as low as $9.99 bucks. Search for RADIO and the Handcrank Radio Flashlight is there for $7.99 bucks. Ric
     
  7. ~kev~

    ~kev~ Monkey+++

    my

    My battery backup is a colman generator for short term. I went 18 days without power after huricane rits hit this area last year, so I think I can speak from experience. I have a battery and hand crank powered radio, a hand crank flashlight, among many others.

    For fuel storage I use these - they hold 16 gallons each. the red level is just for scale, its four feet tall.

    [​IMG]

    My generator is for SHORT term ONLY. The only thing I need it for is to keep the freezer cold till we can eat most of the food out of it. So 4 days of generator time equals 4 days of extended food supply.


    [​IMG]
     
  8. E.L.

    E.L. Moderator of Lead Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    I was ready for Rita last year, and even ready for the extra 13 family and friends that showed up at my house after they evacuated Beaumont. We got lucky and didn't lose power as the tropical storm moved to the east. It was quite an experience and I was confident that my preps would have helped us out a lot.
     
  9. ridgerunner58

    ridgerunner58 Monkey+++

    I have a small Power Pony geenerator...enough for lights & a few other things. What ia in the freezer will be canned when the grid goes down.

    I have several handcrank/solar radios & lots of batteries on hand.Have several walkie talkies .The main reason I got the power pony was its light weight-I could set it up whereever I wanted & hook it up to CB/shortwave commo.
     
  10. Allen

    Allen Monkey+

    Re: 263,000 left Powerless from Hurricane Ernesto. What is y

    I have a Generac generator in the back that runs off the natural gas lines, as long as the city of Houston has gas. The hospitals use the same fuel for their primary back-ups. It run's the Air Co, TV, Computers & kitchen.
    I have a 12v pump & access the a 200 gallon gas tank at work, until they find out about it.
    If it gets worse, I'll move my family onto one of their million dollar yachts, the bosses stayed on them during Ike.
     
  11. tacmotusn

    tacmotusn RIP 1/13/21

    Re: 263,000 left Powerless from Hurricane Ernesto. What is y

    Well I buy fresh batteries around Christmas time each year on sale. Lots of them to last all year. I think the ones last year were dated to use before 2016. My flashlights are all Dorcy (very comparable to Maglights in construction - yes unfortunately they are made in China) 1 watt led, 3 C-cell units. I have 5 of them total. They are amazing in their run time and brightness compared to a standard incandescent maglight. You can turn one on, lay it down, come back 10 days later, and its still burning bright. That is with new batteries of course, but you get my point. I change my batteries in them once a year when I buy new batteries regardless of how well or bright they are still working. I have a hardwired to my house, fixed in place, one lung, China Diesel 8kw generator. It takes care of all the essentials while sipping fuel at 8 gallons every 24 hours, if I run it constantly. Lots of propane is available and I have a variety of heaters, grills, burners, etc that they burn. There are many other things I have done to prepare for the unthinkable for most. I was once a Boy Scout and believe in the Motto.
     
  12. fortunateson

    fortunateson I hate Illinois Nazis!

    Re: 263,000 left Powerless from Hurricane Ernesto. What is y

    Lighting - combination of kerosene and LED lanterns + my wife's homemade candles.
    Cooking - Gas grill with side burner and 2 extra propane tanks + single burner kerosene stove.
    Heat - Combination of gas logs, kerosene heater & wood.
    Electricity - Small cheap 2000 watt gas generator. I figure I'll only need to run it once or twice a day for a few hours. Smaller is more efficient. Need to buy a second gen. as a spare.
    Also, 1 deep cycle battery - working on getting a second + solar panels to re-charge.

    These may not be available after a hurricane either:
    Water - hot water heater, rain barrels, stream behind my house + Berkey filter.
    Sewage - septic with sewage pump. Probably have to power the pump a few times/week.


    My plan is to be able to survive a full year without ever leaving my property. I've got a bit to go with fuel and firewood, but I'm getting there. It really depends on how much you can do without. Most of our grandparents or great grandparents didn't even have power. When you frame it that way, and set yourself up like that you can live indefinitely. IMO, it is a better more sustainable and natural way of life. I feel that we're all headed that way eventually.
     
  13. Brokor

    Brokor Live Free or Cry Moderator Site Supporter+++ Founding Member

    Re: 263,000 left Powerless from Hurricane Ernesto. What is y

    Yup. [winkthumb]
     
  14. TnAndy

    TnAndy Senior Member Founding Member

    Here's my backup power......

    [​IMG]
     
  15. tacmotusn

    tacmotusn RIP 1/13/21

    I want to go solar, but don't have deep pockets. I would like to put something together that could be expanded on over time. Any info (details) about your system and how you put it together would be highly appreciated.
     
  16. Nadja

    Nadja RIP 3-11-2013 Forum Leader

    My backup and only power is 12 - 85 watt kyocera solar panels, 18- 6 volt batteries wired in series and parralel, trace 2412 invertor, 4- c60 trace charge controllers, 1 swea 500 watt wind generator , 1 kohlor 7kw twin gas generator and 1 small 3500 watt robin wisconsin gas generator for extreme emergancies. I live totally off the grid and have for the past 15 years. Love it
     
  17. Nadja

    Nadja RIP 3-11-2013 Forum Leader

    I started with one 85 watt solar panel, 2- 6 volt batteries and a used 1512 trace invertor and also a small cheap charge controller and just kept adding what I could each year. It works and of course it has grown to where it really runs entire house all the time
     
  18. bnmb

    bnmb On Hiatus Banned

    Solar panels prices here are totally insane! I'm not even considering it as an option...But I am thinking of windmill...
     
  19. Nadja

    Nadja RIP 3-11-2013 Forum Leader


    Hello Bane. I have a line on wind generators that really work, made entirely in the U.S.A. with no imported parts at all. Seperate series for your wind area and I mean they work. Go to this link and check out everything. Wind power at its best

    The Wind Generator Authority - Hurricane Wind Power
     
  20. bnmb

    bnmb On Hiatus Banned

    Very nice stuff...If I could import them without selling an arm and a leg for transport and customs...I'll just have to make my own windmill...it's simple enough...
     
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