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Inexpensive Alternatives to Emergency Generators

Thursday, December 21st, 2006 | Tech | Permalink | 12 Comments |

Phil at Random Nuclear Strikes offers his lessons learned from two winter days without power. It’s a great read all the way through, but I found one part especially interesting:

But the absolute star of the show was this item I call “The Jump Box”.

It is made by Husky and weighs around 15lbs. It has 3ft jumper cables and and an air compressor hose on the back. On the front, it has the air compressor controls, a light and, magically, a three-prong 110v plug with onboard inverter. This thing has, in the past, jump-started both Grimm and my 1998 F150 with nary a gripe. You just need to plug an extension cord into the back of it to charge up its super deep-cell battery. Takes about six to eight hours for a full charge.

I plugged a surge protector into the socket and charged my cell phone, ran two lamps, a portable CD Player, and a small space heater for 20 hours on a 4/5 charge (I had forgotten to fully charge it before the storm) and it still had over half a charge on it when the power came back on.

The user reviews here and here are mostly glowing, except for the person who noted that the air compressor part was wimpy in his experience.

That same user also mentioned that he used the device to power his CPAP. I use a CPAP to treat my sleep apnea and I’ve been meaning to get an interruptible power supply for it. As long as these sort of things are OK for extended indoor use, I could use something like this for both UPS duty and emergency power use. Guess I’ll have to call the company.

Husky isn’t the only game in town for this sort of thing. Lots more jump starters here. Xantrex has this backup power source with DC, AC that goes to 600 watts, car battery cables, and radio and alarm clock.

Or you could go with a bigger portable power system, like the 1500 watt Xantrex. At $250 it’s still much cheaper than a generator, and with no dangers related to carbon monoxide poisoning or handling gasoline, and unlike a generator it’s silent and won’t attract attention. They’re also handy for apartment and condo dwellers who can’t keep gasoline around. Unlike a generator, though, portable power sources are limited to whatever charge it has when the lights go out, rather than to your gasoline supply. (UPDATE: Though come to think of it you can re-charge it off of your car’s cigarette lighter.) That’s probably OK by me. I don’t anticipate more than a couple of days without power where I am even with the worst winter storm, so this is probably a good tradeoff.

All of those systems are basically a car battery and inverter. An inverter by itself is smaller and costs less for the same wattage. Most inverters plug into the car’s cigarette lighter and convert the DC to AC. Used that way, they’re limited to 300 watts or so, but that may be all you need to charge a cell phone or laptop. I have this 400 watt model, which is only $24. A 700 watt model is $52. To use wattages above 300 you connect the inverter directly to the car battery’s terminals. Xantrex includes the necessary cables. The tradeoff is that inverters produce power in your car, rather than in your house, but that may be sufficient. As a bonus, you may find them useful for road trips.

Phil used the 400 watt Husky jumper to power an extremely tiny electric heater. I checked and the little space heater under my desk at work draws 1500 watts. In general, anything that produces heat - space heaters, microwave ovens, coffeemakers - will have a high wattage requirement. When in doubt, check the wattage rating printed on the electrical appliance. Note that many appliances draw more watts when they first start. Buying more inverter than you need never hurts, except in the wallet.

For heat, you’ll probably be happier with a wood fireplace or stove, or chemically-powered heater (kerosene, propane, etc.). For heat I’ve got a Mr. Heater that runs on either the one pound propane cylinders used for camping or 20 pound cylinders like the ones for BBQ grills.

Power Inverters

Monday, October 10th, 2005 | Tech | Permalink | 2 Comments |

One of the things on my emergency supplies list is a power inverter. Here’s a little info I’ve found in a first pass online.

Quick summary:

Inverters that plug into a cigarette lighter are good up to about 300 watts.
For any device that draws more than about 300 watts you’ll need an inverter that connects directly to the battery.
Don Rowe recommends 1750 watts as a good size for powering household appliances. Price is around $200.

Tags: inverter, preparedness

Emergency Supplies

Thursday, September 8th, 2005 | Home Life | Permalink | 14 Comments |

In light of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans I’ve been thinking about emergency plans for the Jones family. My main concern is being caught in a blizzard like the one we had in 1994, with the potential loss of power, heat, and telephones. There’s also a remote potential for an earthquake. East Tennessee is on a large, but largely inactive, fault line. This should also encompass even more common occurences such as medical emergencies, fire, car breakdowns, power outages, etc.

This is me thinking out loud. Any advice appreciated.

What we have now

Propane grill, 1 cylinder, propane heating attachment bought two winters ago UPDATE: replaced the radiant heater with a Mr. Heater Buddy from Lowe’s as a Christmas present
Lots of candles and flashlights (mostly StreamLight TwinTasks) and lots of batteries bought in bulk at Home Depot or Lowe’s
Battery-powered radio for AM/FM/UHF/Weather Band (the UHF TV is actually more useful than the FM/AM - local TV news has great reporting during bad weather)
Cell phones
First aid kits in backpack and house, though both need re-thinking/replenishing UPDATE: added all-new OSHA-approved kits from Beprepared.com.
Plenty of guns, ammo, holsters, etc. if the SHTF. Plan is to take a couple of concealable hanguns and a long gun for basic self-defense.
Pocket knives, sheath knives, and Swiss army knives and multi-tools on person, in car, and in house, compact shovel in car
Tarps and ropes UPDATE: added ratcheting tie-down straps (4 for $15 at Home Depot) which make it easier to tie down loads tightly
Tools and gardening tools
Arkansas credit card (gas siphon hose) UPDATE: it turns out the cheapie model I had didn’t work well at all when one of our cars ran out of gas because the hose was too wimpy to force into a gas tank; I’m going to get a better model with a more substantial hose and handpump)
Fire extinguishers in cars, house, bedrooms
New FirstAlert OneLink smoke and CO2 detectors with wireless links and voice alerts
Computer backups &important documents offsite in bank safe deposit box (cheap at $38/year)
Car emergency kits (road flares, booster cables, tow cables, blankets, tire inflator, etc.)
Lots of backpacking equipment (tents, sleeping gear, water treatment, packs, lightweight stoves and mess kits, flashlights and LED headlamps)

What I know we need off the top of my head

Emergency baby food supply
Emergency pet food supply
Hurricane lanterns UPDATE: got them in the camping section at Wal-Mart for $4.50 each; they burn lamp oil, kerosene, and tiki torch fuel, which is handy since we always have a few gallons around for the patio torches
Multiband crank radio (and I’m not talking about Art Bell) UPDATE: got the Coleman Outrider model, which works very well with minimal cranking, and also runs for 20 hours on the internal rechargeable battery
Propane-powered stove burner and spare propane cylinders UPDATE: got the spare propane cylinder as a birthday present, and got a propane turkey fryer (which is basically an outdoor burner) at an after-Thanksgiving sale for 50% off
Spare butane cylinders for the backpacking stoves UPDATE: got them
Power inverter (for running small AC electrical equipment off of car’s DC cigarette lighter - also handy for car camping and other things) UPDATE: we got this Xantrex model from Amazon; it isn’t clear in the Amazon photo, but it can connect to either a cigarette lighter adapter, or directly to the car’s battery posts (which is necessary for higher wattage appliances); both cables are included Also got this Husky power box which contains a car battery, inverter, a compressor to inflate tires, and cables for jump-starting a car.
Information for bank and insurance accounts and other important info.
Gasoline containers UPDATE: got three five-gallon cans ($6 each at Wal-Mart) and a spare spout
Utility trailer for evacuating (I want one anyway for moving furniture and such) UPDATE: I may ditch the utility trailer idea and get a receiver hitch rack which is less expensive, takes less space when not in use, and is easier to maneuver; we now have a mini-van, which makes for a better bug-out vehicle; it has a GPS nav system, roof rack, trailer hitch, and much more room and seating capacity; we keep a state atlas in the van
UPDATE: we now have an appliance dolly (”hand truck”); along with ratcheting tie-down straps this is a great way to stay mobile if we run out of gas
Pair of hand-held ham radios; will need to get trained and licensed; also useful for hiking, backpacking. UPDATE: Bought a set of inexpensive FRS/GMRS radios for $10 each, and a Cobra Road Trip CB radio.
Water storage and treatment strategy (have iodine and household bleach, may get one of these MSR units - also useful for backpacking) UPDATE: got extra iodine tablets ($3 a bottle in Wal-Mart camping section), three seven-gallon potable water containers ($7 each at Wal-Mart), and two flats of bottled water ($4 each at Home Depot)
Decide on a place to keep emergency supplies for easy access in a hurry UPDATE: using overnight backpacks we use for camping
Create a supply check list