Tag: solar

The power outages I wrote about last week never materialized. The weather has cooled down a few degrees, too, and that has taken the edge off the power discussion. Still, the whole episode took me back to capturing sunlight for emergency power – via a portable solar system.

A couple of years ago I bought a small fold-open solar panel, advertised as a source of emergency power for my cellphone. I put it together then, but it has sat on the shelf for a while now, unused.

Time to get back to being ready!

Since then, there have been improvements on this basic set-up. Panels have become more efficient. Power controllers connect the panels to more types of devices. Handy fasteners have been added on all sides.

The purpose remains the same, however. And I still really like it! Set it up in the sunshine, strap it to your backpack on a hike – let it charge your phone “for free!”

Over this same period, I’ve also become more aware of just what solar can do, and what it can’t. If you haven’t really had the chance to learn about solar (yet),

Here are some very basic solar basics.

1. Solar panels capture photons of light and convert them to electric power.
2. The power coming from a solar panel is Direct Current (DC). If a gadget uses battery power, it can use the current from a solar panel. (If a gadget needs to be plugged into an electric socket, it is using Alternating Current (AC). Solar panels can’t directly power your AC appliances.)
3. When the sun stops shining on the panels, the electricity stops.

To summarize so far, if your emergency takes place during the day, your solar panels may be useful. If it continues into the night, the panels will be useless.

What do you do for power when the sun isn’t shining?

Since real emergencies are not conveniently scheduled, you may want to add a way to STORE some of the electricity that is created during the day. And that’s where solar batteries come in.

The manufacturer of my own mini solar-system also offers batteries to extend the usefulness of the system. I have a small battery pack that is charged with the solar panels. This small storage unit is called a “power bank.” (I have other power banks, too, made by other manufacturers. You can read more about power banks here.)

I charge the power bank using the panels, then, at night, I can use the stored power to charge my phone and its flashlight, etc.

If you’ve thought about how you would manage after days without power, when your phone and your computer’s batteries are dead, having the ability to recharge them using solar may sound attractive!  It certainly does to me.

Another short summary about this technology . . .

1. Solar panels are one thing. Solar-powered storage batteries are a separate item. Each has its own capacity, requires its own connectors depending on what equipment you want to run, and each has its own cost.
2. It takes a lot of solar power to drive big appliances.
3. If you are considering solar for emergency communications needs, you need to start with only the essentials, and then buy sufficient panel and battery capacity to meet your needs.

Here’s the current kit at Amazon – the panels plus the power bank, exactly as I have it. As you can imagine, there are other larger versions – take a close look to be sure the portable solar kit will charge the devices YOU have.

Click on the image to get current pricing. (Remember, I am an affiliate at Amazon and may get a commission if you buy through this link. Thanks for supporting my work and helping spread the word about preparedness!)

This technology makes a great Christmas present, by the way. It’s never too early to start making your list!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

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Day 31 of Summer Vacation. The last day of this special effort to provide you with some shorter and lighter Advisories as a change of pace. Hope you have enjoyed them — and welcome to some of my new Summer Vacation readers!

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Radios — The Most Popular Piece of Emergency Gear

More of our readers “invest” in emergency radios than in any other one piece of emergency equipment. (Makes sense, of course. Without a reliable emergency radio, when disaster hits you could be completely cut off. Without a good emergency radio, you may not even know that a disaster is COMING!)

Because of this interest, we continually comment on what to look for when you’re shopping for a radio. And we regularly update our Best Emergency Radios review page to be sure the radios listed there are still available.

So it’s time for yet another radio update.

Status of our long-time favorite emergency radio

The Ambient Weather Adventurer, original cost around $30, has been our favorite for a while. We own more than one, and many of our readers have them, too. It’s a great radio to tuck into your pack or simply have on the kitchen counter.

Bad news! This model seems to have been discontinued. Here and there online you can find one for sale, but their prices make no sense! I saw one yesterday at $281!

So we aren’t recommending this model anymore. (Maybe you want to try to sell yours for a profit???)

New favorite, the Eton FRX5

Eton makes several different radios, and the brand carries a number of labels including one from the American Red Cross.

The FRX3 costs about $10 more than the original Ambient Weather, and has most of the very same features.

The one we’re recommending today, though, is the Model FRX5.  It costs nearly twice as much, but for that you get double the power, more lighting options, the ability to charge a smart phone, capture localized emergency alerts, etc.

Here’s a link to the radio: Eton FRX5 Hand Crank Emergency Weather Radio with SAME Alerts

And here’s what it looks like:

This is a very compact radio, just over 7 inches tall and a couple of inches wide. It operates on battery, AC, solar and crank. In fact, this radio earned the best score in a recent test measuring how much listen time was created by 2 minutes of cranking. (In this case, something like 10-12 minutes.)

What I like is the SAME Alert feature — stands for Specific Area Message Encoding. You enter in your county and the radio will automatically send alerts for that area.  (Seems to me this would be essential in Tornado Alley of the U.S.!)

When you click the link above, you’ll go directly to Amazon. Scroll down to the bottom of the Amazon page for a full description of this radio, with several more photos.

First time radio purchaser? Get answers to 7 important questions.

If you haven’t yet added a radio to your survival supplies, check out the Eton model above. Just click on the blue link to get started.

If you have NEVER shopped for an emergency radio before, go first to our Best Emergency Radio Reviews page because you’ll find there the 7 questions you need to consider before adding a radio to your pack, or to the survival kit of any of your family members. And you’ll see a number of other radios that we have reviewed and recommend.

The radio we would upgrade to if we were flush

I’ve mentioned before that we have an old Panasonic shortwave radio. (Joe’s had it ever since we’ve been together, and that’s over 33 years now, so its age is something older than that!) That’s the radio in the picture at the top of this page. Joe was changing the batteries, which explains the red ribbons at the bottom.

We have hauled this radio from coast to coast and back again, and Joe loves it.

Yesterday Joe handed me a spec sheet for the radio he would LIKE to have. It’s also available at Amazon, and also made by Eton. As far as I am concerned, it certainly looks a lot like the old Panasonic (!), but . . .Joe assures me that it’s “the ultimate” in radio receivers. It gets AM, FM, Aircraft, Longwave and Shortwave bands, has a rotating antenna plus you can tune-in stations by keying them in or searching for them. You can actually store 1000 stations!

If you’re really serious about emergency radios, check this one out.

Alert – Prices for the SAME RADIO vary considerably. Shop carefully to get the best deal!

Eton Grundig Satellit 750 Ultimate AM/FM Stereo also Receives Shortwave, Longwave and Aircraft Bands – Black (NGSAT750B)

And doesn’t it look a LOT like the Panasonic collector item above?

You need at least one emergency radio, and probably several. The good thing about radios is you can select the features you need (for each use or each person) and not have to buy features you don’t want, and you’ll save by choosing carefully.

Do you already have an emergency radio? Would you recommend it?  Let us know in the comments!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

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A wide-spread emergency can result in a power outage that lasts for days or even weeks. Over that entire time, if you’re on your own, you’ll need an emergency radio — or perhaps more than one — to know what is happening outside your immediate area.

What’s the best radio for emergency purposes?

The photo below shows five radios that we have purchased and tested; find our comparison of these five emergency radios here. (Guess which one of the radios is a dud!)

What follows are the basics for any radio you decide to put in your emergency supply kit.

A portable AM radio will be your lifeline.

Local emergency services and radio stations will be broadcasting news that you will want. Be sure you know what channel they’ll be using!  (Put a label on each radio.)

 — Evacuation plans: schedules, staging areas, different routes, location and status of available shelters

 — Weather reports: temperatures, anticipated rain and/or winds

 — Location of areas to avoid: “hotspots,” traffic jams, roadblocks

—  Announcements from Police, Fire or other emergency services

Generally, all the above notifications will be broadcast over the AM band. FM and television signals are “line of sight,” so they can get blocked by tall buildings, mountains, etc., and usually dissipate after about 50-75 miles. AM signals, on the other hand, can bounce off the ionosphere and travel much further (even all the way around the earth!). So, in an emergency situation, you want a strong AM radio so you can tune in to local emergency transmissions.

Your radio needs to work for days or even weeks.

In a power outage, your radio won’t work by being plugged into the wall. It will need an additional source of power – typically batteries. When they wear out, how will they be re-charged?

1. Replace the batteries with new ones from your supplies. Obviously, you have to have plenty of the right size: AAA, AA, D, C, etc.
2. Recharge “rechargeable” batteries using a hand crank and generator, built into the radio.
3. Recharge the batteries using solar power, either built into the radio or attached as a separate panel.

What combination of features will work best for you?

Check out our Emergency Radio Review. It has a series of questions that will help you select exactly what you need.  It also identifies the one radio in the group above that you should NOT buy!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

 

 

 

Building Structures and Safety

If you live in a single family home, there are a number of things you can do to make your home safer. Of course, each home is different. The risks associated with YOUR home will depend, in part, on its age (which may determine what building codes were in effect when it was built), style (one or two story, big windows, overhangs, etc.) and quality of construction.

However, the safety of nearly every home can be improved.

Let’s start with a study of windows.

Large panes of glass can be the “weak point” of the home. If you have the chance, stay away from them!! during an earthquake, windstorm or tornado.

Improving your chances with windows.

When windows break, shards may all or be thrown across the room. You can mitigate flying shards by:

a. Installing tempered safety glass. It breaks or crumbles into small pieces. They may cut but probably won’t kill. Since 1977 Federal law has required that tub and shower enclosures be made of safety glass.

b. Installing solar/safety film (“window tinting”). When properly installed, this film is invisible and has double benefits: it saves energy AND keeps the windows from shattering. If you sleep under a window, installing solar film is the easiest and safest preventive measure.

c. Pulling drapes or shades. If you know danger is coming, pull down and close shutters or draw drapes. They will offer some protection against flying glass.

Look up from your computer right now.

Are you seated near a window that could blow out or break?  Is there a safer place in this room?  Action item:   take a tour of your whole house to identify the safest place in each room, away from breakable windows — and preferably under a sturdy piece of furniture.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S.  Windows are only one danger point. In an earthquake nearly every movable item could become a missile! For more ideas about improving the safety of your home, check out this recent Advisory: Secure Your Space.