Need HELP assembling survival kit for constant power outages!!

[chimpymustgo]

I live in the DC area. We just lost electrical power for 2 days from fallen lines during the most recent snow event. We lose power in the summer when it rains. We probably have about 4 outages a year. I get by with a fireplace and wood in winter, plenty of candles, a battery powered fan in summer.

I am looking for a battery operated tv, and would appreciate any input on ones with good reception and staying power.

Also, does any one know whether you can some sort of battery operated charger for cell phones?

I would really appreciate any thoughts/ideas DU'ers have. Thanks in advance.

[Bonhomme Richard]

1. Get a generator. n/t

[chimpymustgo]

2. I meant to include in the post, "short of getting a generator..."

[Tesha]

30. Get an "inverter".

You can buy a gadget that will run from your car's
12V battery an produce a reasonable amount of ac
("house current"). From that, you can easily run
things like small TVs, cell phone chargers, and
the like. Just run your car from time-to-time to
keep the car battery charged.

Inverters range in power (and price) from about
100 watts to more than 1000 watts, but above
500-700 watts, they start to challenge your
car's electrical system.

Here in New Hampshire (where winter storm outages
sometimes last a week or more), we have two inverters.
One's rated 250 watts and the others 750. The big
one is hefty enough to run our house's gas heater
all by itself or (all together) the fridge, hot
water heater, and the house's backup gas heater.

Meanwhile, the little one can run the computers
and the network gear.

It's easier to buy one inverter than a bunch of
12 volt gadgets.

Tesha

[Edweird]

34. Use a deep cycle battery, not your car battery.

Your car battery is designed for short, high amp use. Deep cycles are designed for continuous lower current draw use.

[Tesha]

36. You use what you want, I'll use what I want. ;-)

When I'm drawing 700 watts (~60 Amps), I *RUN*
the car, set the idle higher than normal, and
it's the car's alternator that's supplying the
power, not the car's battery.

Plus, not everyone wants to keep a deep-cycle
battery around, but almost everyone has a car
(or two!).

Tesha

[Edweird]

37. Well. alrighty then. More power to ya.

:toast:

[Edweird]

33. Stationary bike with an automotive alternator attached so you can charge your batteries.

Hey, you don't want a generator....

[walldude]

3. Better off buying a small generator

You can get them as cheap as a couple hundred dollars. And they will run a lot more than just a TV...

[jody]

4. Hope you get good advice. Times have changed. We didn't have electricity until I was 12, phone

about 16.

Central heat was one fireplace and running water was "Jody run out to the well and get a bucket of water".

[cbayer]

5. If you get a couple of 6 volt batteries and keep them charged (which you can pretty

easily do with a small solar panel or 110 charger), you will have electricity when you need it.

You can get 12 volt chargers for phones and such - that's what the cigarette lighter in your car runs on. There are 12 volt tv's and lots of other things. Alternatively, you can buy a small inverter (available at Radio Shack and stores like that) that will convert the 12 volt into 110 AC, but they won't run much at a time and will eat up your batteries faster.

In some areas where there are lots of outages, people have small gas generators, but they are not cheap - about $1000 - and you need to keep gasoline around.

Hope that helps!

:hi:

[chimpymustgo]

13. Thank you!

[Cleita]

20. Also there are generators that run on bio-fuel

if you have access to it. I'm going to get one because we have power shortages here too most of the time when we have a weather event or earthquake. It isn't TV or lights I care about, but pumping water and the pumps are electric. With no water, there is no loo or other facilities.

[DURHAM D]

6. Do you have a car? Charge your cell in your car.

If not you can buy battery operated chargers at any office supply place and every airport.

I have a 5" battery operated colored tv (bought it almost 30 years ago) so it is now useless/obsolete.

[customerserviceguy]

7. I can't remember the brand name

But at one of the office supply stores, I did see a device that had a combination of a radio, flashlight, and emergency flasher, and the power was from a hand crank. It also had a USB port where you could charge up a cell phone, or any other USB-powered device.

TV takes a lot of energy to power a screen, you're not going to get very long reception from something that a hand crank could recharge. I don't know if they're still making the Watchman now that all TV broadcasting is digital.

[Fumesucker]

8. An inverter with a deep cycle battery would be a good way to go..

I have a model similar to this, it's powerful enough to run a TV set or some fluorescent bulbs off a 12V trolling battery.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200422352_200422352



You can get a trolling battery (for boats) at most auto parts stores, you'll need a charger to keep the battery topped up, the bigger the battery the longer you can run your lights/tv and so on.

[Pab Sungenis]

9. Battery powered TV's are useless today.

There are no battery-powered digital TV's yet. When the power goes out odds are the cable will be out, too, so you'd need to rely on over-the-air, which can't be battery-powered any more.

Better stick with a radio, especially something like a C-Crane that you can crank.

[Vickers]

11. Huh? I have a 7" Haier that gets over-the-air digital reception.

It only goes about 2 hours on battery, but used sparingly (weather updates) that can be a long time.

Amazon link to the one I have

Coupled with a few fully charged UPSs I can last for a couple of weeks.

I also have a generator, but that's a whole nuther ballgame.

[Pab Sungenis]

16. Wasn't aware of that one.

Thanks for the link.

[Vickers]

19. That's about 50 bucks less than I paid for it two years ago.

Almost makes me want to get another one.

:spank:

[Tesha]

31. Actually, in our neighborhood, in the last week-long outage, Comcast hauled out a bunch of...

... Honda generators, chained one to each utility
pole where they had a Cable TV power box, and had
cable TV and internet up and running long before
our local phone company managed to get our neigh-
borhood's wireline phone concentrator (serving
>2000 customers) up and running.

Then, thanks to our WiFi, we became the ISP for
our neighborhood. ;)

Tesha

[JBoy]

10. If you have a car, you can recharge your cell phone from that

Check out this link, you can the type of stuff in this niche that's available: http://www.hurricanestore.com/index.html

[nenagh]

12. After an ice storm here in Ontario, I bought a lamp

that contains 2 fluorescent tubes about 8 -9 inches high that runs on D batteries.. probably a camping type light..

I also keep spare D batteries which run the radio if needed..

Now there are much better technologies, I'm sure...

[social_critic]

14. I live in Venezuela, where power cuts are frequent.

When it comes to preparing for a power cut, I guess it's all a cultural issue, and where you are located.

I'm going to outline what I would do if I were living in a cold area. Evidently in Venezuela we don't have to worry about the cold weather, so the Venezuelan solution doesn't apply to you.

1. battery powered short wave radio with an AM and FM option.
2. small generator - real small, so you can hook up your cell phone and computer, and also have some lights. If you don't want to spend the money, get chargers so you can hook them up to your car.
3. Kerosene lamps, kerosene stove (or propane stove).
4. Propane heater. Have two large bottles handy, make sure you know how to change them.
5. Telescope. You'll be able to see the stars for the first time if the whole city goes dark.

Forget TV. Why would you want to watch it anyway?

[Codeine]

15. the heck do you need a tv for?

Radios are far more efficient in terms of power use.

Get a car charger and a spare battery for your phone.

LED camping lanterns have great staying power (like 200 hours on 4 AAs!) and are more comfortable for reading than the older fluorescent models. You can get them for about $20 online.

[elleng]

17. Car w gas, credit/debit card, map/GPS!

:rofl:

Just returned to Silver Spring after 2 nights in Laurel motel; power out Wed p.m., left S.S. Thurs around noon, power resumed this a.m.

:hi:

[BeFree]

18. UPS

You should have one that your computer is hooked to. It has a 12v battery that produces 110v ac current.

$40 bucks +. I have one and when the power went out I wired it to my car battery and had plenty of juice for 4 days.

[barbiegeek]

21. Solar lanterns, ask cell phone company

[sofa king]

22. One of those hand-crank flashlight/radio/phone chargers would be cool.

http://www.amazon.com/Highgear-SmartDynamo-Flashlight-Emergency-Charging/dp/B000FYZQMS

Also, since you live near DC, next time you're at the Air and Space, pick up some of those Mylar "space blankets" (they're probably a lot cheaper everywhere else). I spend a lot of time in places that would take me two days to walk back from, and the peace of mind having one of those blankets under the moped seat is invaluable.

[Obamanaut]

23. A good can opener. nt

[Mariana]

24. We used to have a small TV that would run off a car or marine battery.

There are a few like it on ebay even as I type this, and they're CHEAP. Some of them will run on D-cells or C-cells (but you'll need A LOT) if you don't want to use a car or marine battery.

My driveway gate runs on 12V marine battery that charges with a small solar panel, so if you rig up something like that, you can recharge your battery even if you have no power, if you decide to use that type of battery.

[Tesha]

35. The problem is that since the digital TV transition, there's nothing to watch...

...on any of the old TV sets unless you also
can battery power your Digital TV converter.

Tesha

[HopeHoops]

25. Well first of all, get a good sized APC UPS like a 1300 or larger.

Hook an incandescent lamp, a clock radio, and the power supply for your cordless phone into it. You can charge your cell phone from it as well.

If you don't use it for running a computer, you can get a SHITLOAD of time out of it for those purposes.

I've got 350's and 500's all over the house. My main computer zone has a 1300 for my primary workstation and two 500's to handle other devices.

It will NOT run a TV, but if you use a laptop and keep it charged you can run your router and modem from the UPS and stay online for a very long time.

[Xithras]

32. Why an incandescent lamp?

A flourescent will give you a longer battery life, and as long as you're using a True Sine Wave and not a stepped inverter (or simulated sine wave) UPS, it will light just fine.

During my last power outage, I hooked my SmartUPS to a CFL in my living room. When the lights came back on four hours later, the light was still burning brightly.

[HopeHoops]

38. Any of those will do. And yes, the flourescent bulbs will give you a much longer burn time.

[eShirl]

26. emergency crank (dynamo) radio/flashlight/cellphone chargers need no batteries

Radio Shack sells them, also Amazon.com if you can wait for them to mail it to you

Here is the one RS sells in their stores (don't know if you have one nearby you) http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2807555

[CabalPowered]

27. I good UPS device / batter backup would be advisable

I've had mixed experiences with all of the manufacturers but I think Tripp-Lite is making the best ones right now. You could keep your modem/router and laptop going. Real Goods has some neat items too..

http://s7d4.scene7.com/s7/brochure/flash_brochure.jsp?company=Gaiam&sku=RGHOL09%5FD1V1&config=Scene7SharedAssets/eCatalog1&locale=en

I had their solar lantern for about 10 years and it was invaluable. I don't see it listed any more but they can be a real lifesaver. I'd look for one with a wired solar panel, not integrated into the body.

[lumberjack_jeff]

28. If all you want is tv and cellphone get a UPS

A medium sized LCD tv requires 60 watts. A $100 ups should be able to run it for several hours.

Or maybe something like this?

If you want a meaningful amount of power for a significant period of time, get a generator.

[The Green Manalishi]

29. If you can get a propane generator

propane is easier to store than gasoline.
A decent shortwave radio is a comfort. I have a little Grundig that is quite good.
One really good book, overkill in some ways but full of good advise is "When All Hell Breaks Loose" by Cody Lundin.
There are several chargers for cell phones, some that use solar, some hand crank; Energizer makes one that uses AA batteries.
I have a huge stash of rechargeable AA and AAA batteries, Costco has some excellent cheap flashlights, 3 for about $20. And Coleman makes very nice battery powered 'camp' lights, that look much like the old style lamps but are quite efficient.
Beware of candles; many, many fires are started by them.