Mar112010
16 Comments
Survival Survey: Favorite Solar Gadget?
Question submitted by Elizabeth Long
There are lots of gadgets out there now that operate on solar power. My new favorite is the Everlite Solar Headlamp with the optional USB Charger. Those are going in our car bags. This will let us each have a headlamp and a way to recharge our cell phones so we can continue to access all our survival apps, as well as text and make calls. We also have some new solar lanterns, but I haven’t had a chance to try those yet.
So, what’s YOUR favorite solar powered gadget?
© 2010, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.
(16) Readers Comments
Leave a Reply
Why Getting in Shape Should be Part of Your Apocalypse Preparations
Not only should endurance and strength be of concern but if one needs
Why Getting in Shape Should be Part of Your Apocalypse Preparations
I want/need to lose about 35 pounds want to get to or under 200 for my
Why Getting in Shape Should be Part of Your Apocalypse Preparations
I only noticed a handfull of truly obese "characters" on the show. Man
How-to: Storing food in buckets
I've been stockpiling Idahoan potatoes and such, and wonder how to bes
Why Getting in Shape Should be Part of Your Apocalypse Preparations
This article really hits home for me. I started doing some cardio work
TheSurvivalMom
My favorite is my Sun Oven. It really is a miracle worker. Soon, I want to add a solar battery charger to our supplies. We have so many important gadgets that require batteries that it makes sense to use rechargeables and then solar powered on top of that.
Red Icculus
My favorite solar gadget is the 80 Watt solar energy panel with Xantrex 1500 battery and Sunkeeper charge controller.
http://www.solarhome.org/80wattsolarenergysystemw…
I use it for light in the shop and can pull it easily in an emergency situation for portable use. It can power a 12v fridge all day, or a hairdryer for about an hour.
LizLong
Thanks – I'm going to look into that more. We really need to get a generator of some sort and solar is FAR more appealing than anything else.
rightwingmom
We've used our solar shower bags, for mountain camping, for years. We fill them in the morning and leave them in the sun. By evening you have a hot shower. (Sometimes too hot!)
http://www.amazon.com/Stearns-SunShower-showers-C…
LizLong
I'm glad to know that. I finally bought a couple. One is in with camping things, the other is in the NBC kit.
Regular Patriot
Curious how well the solar oven works?
TheSurvivalMom
Patriot, the Sun Oven I use works great. If you intend to use it often, a solar oven really needs to get up to 350 degrees and higher. Otherwise, the cooking time is incredibly slow. When I bake brownies in my Sun Oven, they come out beautifully. Roasts and chicken are moist, veggies are moist and tender. I can't recommend this particular brand highly enough.
marie
hi! i want to know if anyone in the valley in AZ has installed a sunrise solar attic fan for emergency cooling. In my discussion with local experts, most homes, like enclosed cars, can overheat to lethal levels within an hour at the hottest time of year when power outages are most likely to occur. This was not the purpose it is designed for, but someone has to try it. some switching would need revision, maybe thats been developed since I first heard of them.
TheSurvivalMom
Marie, this is my biggest concern. A long-term power outage in the Phoenix, and Southwest, during the summer would bring the city to a standstill with an enormous number of casualties. My husband has been getting into the solar business and has heard of a solar attic fan but not much more than that. He's an electrical contractor so it would probably be easy for him to figure out the installation.
Now, years ago I spent a summer in Israel and during most of that time had very little access to anything air conditioned. Their climate is similar, perhaps a bit cooler, but when I returned home to Arizona, the heat didn't bother me nearly as much as before my trip. Over time, my body had acclimated to the heat. Maybe we should all spend more time in the heat this summer to get our bodies used to it. Who wants to go first?? LOL
maries3
hi survivalmom! thanks for the response. I could talk all day about ways to meet this overheating concern. Other arid parts of the world have many fascinating climate responses. Acclimatization is a huge factor to be aware of, but not the whole picture. Before there was a/c, humans, besides being acclimatized, made many specific efforts to not die of heat. There is a broad and varied host of culturally held knowledge thats been lost at a flip of a switch. As your site so wonderfully expresses, not being acclimatized is analogous to depending on all kinds of unsustainable life support systems for ourselves and our families. But especially as a mom, its not enough to plan to just tough it out doing without. I like it how you go on to think of alternatives. I had a great time visiting Isreal once, too. Also Tunisia…did you kow Luke Skywalker's house is a non-airconditioned hotel near a town called Tatooine? (the film site is in Matmata) Boy, I'd love to share more…!
maries3
back to the topic of solar gadgets, but still on a cooling shelter notion (EM people I had the chance to speak with were more concerned with this than food or water)…if you could switch and install and size something like a /surise solar fan (lok on website costs less than 300 bux) over a proper sized secure area with reasonable sheilds from heat gains,(not expecting to uniformly cool a 300 foot monster house) you could hang wet sheets and be totally within even typical comfort levels, which is necessary for small children, pregnant nursing moms, the ill, etc. Remember the Superdome in New Orleans, heat killed people. Body heat from crowding killed people. NOT Sheltering in place in a heat emergency is a hazard. the dryness of our Arid enviroment is a huge asset over humid climates. I would rather be in an arid climate off the grid than a humid one. There are things to know, though, and yet ( with our basic knowledge level EM has to speak to) we have to be told not to leave kids in cars in the summer. We can do better.
maries3
My focus is home SIP, realizing anything you store in your home SIP will be tough to get to or stay good shape if it's in a nonventilated heat trapping solar oven of a home. I don't have solar-powered ventilation figured out, but my home is small. I will be getting things out of storage at night when its a little cooler with no power. Unless you figure out passive cooling (boosted by active solar where you need it most, perhaps) on your site, you will sleep outdoors without power. Doorlocks wont help, then. Local Historical accounts describe frontier military typically sleeping outside within fortifications in high summer. In the middle east, they sleep on rooftops. Your perimeter may not be your house itself. Ask: Can I see and get to stored emergency stuff at night with a solar yard lamp? So this is my plug for prepping for a heat emergency in place. Justifies a pool? In contrast: the worst place to shelter in place for a heat emergency is on the side of a road in a car stuck in traffic, but even there, principles apply. Which brings to mind a last point: check out old military desert survival videos from the library. They're kind of funny, too, and my kids loved them.
maries3
Am I going on too long on just this one emergency cooling aspect of the solar gadget topic? I'd love to see what would happen if you opened a discussion on emergency cooling in our area. Some people out there have passive cooling setups in their home I would love to hear firsthand feedback on. I still think a solar fan would provide the needed boost to make passive home cooling reliable.
Whatever we try simply has to be tested in the high summer, so prepping for making and testing a shelter on one's own idividual homesite this summer, IMO, is critical.
Every on-grid summer here is a gift to prepare for sheltering in place. (SIP)
SIP I think will apply to almost anything short of nuclear blast or big airborne contaminant. (If that happens, know your prevailing winds, which, in the valley, is almost totally east west morning night. Find a "wind rose" chart, from NOAA for specific prevailing winds. Cool research project to put a child up to.), In this less likey case, I'd find a route for myself out of the valley going north or south, and then the car bug-out bag get use!) Otherwise, to me, its all about home SIP.
Urban Man
I have my post collapse immediate portable power needs are centered around a portable, folding 62w solar panel (Maxa-Vision is the manufacturer) from which I can charge AA and AAA rechargeable batteries for my flashlights, radios, lanterns, etc. Add some CR2590 Lithium batteries to the kit with a 12v adaptor and you have alot of portable power. I wrote a post about it, which can be viewed here: http://get-urban-survival-skills.blogspot.com/201…
Soon I will be installing a small wind driven generator to power rechargers and small lights as well. Alot of good solar and wind information on this site: http://www.solarpowerharness.com
I also have several 12v to 110/115v converters. I saw a post on building a portable 12v deep cycle Marine battery in combination with a converter some time ago onhttp://www.AR15.com
I have solar powered motion detecting lights on the four sides of my house, which can be easily removed if case I have to Bug Out.
TheSurvivalMom
Great information! Thanks! Solar power for a home is horribly expensive, and I don't know when it will ever become truly affordable. Your system of having a way to harness solar energy in small ways is very practical and smart. I'll check out those websites.
Ginny
We live in Florida and last year installed a solar powered freezer (Sundanzer) in our garage. The single solar panel is on a deck over our garage. This thing works beautifully. We have a couple of golf kart batteries and are not connected to the grid. When the power goes out after a hurricane or whatever, we take frozen chunks of ice out of our freezer and put them into a cooler for things you wouldn't want frozen, such as milk and salad foods. I have a solar oven also, but this freezer is my all-time very favorite appliance!