Are you prepared? Trying to be more self sufficient

This is one of the reasons I look at old hand tools like hand drills. They take longer but no power needed. I can recharge cordless tools from a solar generator but that’s also power that could be used else where

 

POWER GENERATION, LIGHTING, and SECURITy:

I want to start different posts about certain topics which th my thoughts and what I’m trying. Lord knows I’m no experienced person on a lot of these topics but hopefully some of my considerations make sense.
I will never expect anybody to be forthcoming on here about all their preps just share ideas.
POWER GENERATION:
I’ve had a gas generator for years because we get some bad storms and periodic power loss just like most folks so I thought it was prudent to have a back up. The more I started looking in to all this though I quickly realized in a grid down situation the availability of fuel could be finite. So, we began researching solar power generation. While not perfect it should provide a renewable power source as long as the sun shines.
We have one source with our tiny camper as it is self sufficient and can power the small fridge we use with it but what about the house? I wanted something reliable and simple I’m not a tech person. We did hours upon hours of research and YouTube reviews. Finally the smarter half of us just asked our Son in law, an electrical engineer, for a recommendation.
So what we looked at was a Anker 757, 1229 WH generator. Very simple with the lifepo4 battery big enough to run a mini fridge and my cpap unit. It will charge in 4 1/2 hours off 3 100 watt panels so we checked out their panels to keep it all same brand my thoughts were it would just be easier.
Ok so that would help with a small amount of house power I have to run a fridge for medical reasons. BUT! What about if we have extended cloudy days or it needs to recharge? I believe in redundancies so we then looked at a smaller generator. Same brand and would charge off 1 of the same panels the other one uses. Hopefully this will cover us. She did get me a small solar charger for Christmas about the size of a cell phone that she put in a Pelican case so it can easily be mobile.


LIGHTING:
Everybody keeps telling me be careful with lighting in a bad situation because people will see we have lights. I thought this odd. One of the first things I did was buy some of the solar walkway lights, and we can use those to light the house at night. Just charge them the next day. We already have quite a few solar lanterns for camping all this can easily be stored in a small amount of space and used when needed. Candels are another good option I’d like to learn how to make them.
Rechargeable batteries for weapon lights and stuff are also a good option and can be charged from the solar devices.
SECURITY:
This can be a deep rabbit hole but at this time I am only referring to the topic of electricity. Have some radios, am/fm type, to try and listen to what may be going on if there is even a signal. They don’t have to be big or expensive just useable. Battery operated, hand crank, or solar should work if there’s anything broadcast.


so if the power is down so will be security cameras and motion sensing lights outside. How to over come this? I found, and there are many, solar powered motion sensing flood lights! Yay this should help. My idea is to go around outside and pre-place screws where I want them mounted it can be anywhere not just on your house. Power goes down you can take the lights out and hang them and something gets near the house they light up and alert you. You then know something is out there and can see what it is. Not perfect but none of this will be but I’ll have extras of those. I’ve been testing these I mounted one in my wife’s green house and it works great so far


y’all have a great day sorry so long but some of these topics will be unless they need to be more segmented

 

I would suggest reading author A. American's Going Home book to understand how people will react. This book scared the crap out of me, because I realized I was not delusional. The author has been a prepper for more than 20 years. The book while fiction is so very close to how bad things will get should the SHTF and how people will react (negatively) to it.

I based this on being a solider for 20 years, a civilian LEO for 14 years, a IPTF officer and lastly a government contractor. Most people have no idea how we as people can be so cruel to one another. Throw in starving and/or watching your children starving to death and it gets worse.

Not being negative, just sharing what my careers have shown me over the years. While I am not a prepper, I wish I was. I have taken enough steps to ensure I am better set than 99 percent of Americans.

 

I live near one of the hottest cities in the US. Last summer a strong monsoon storm knocked down multiple power transmission lines and poles. With 115+ degree temps, relatively high humidity and no AC, thousands without power all tried to leave at once. Yup, total gridlock. No traffic signals led to collisions at main intersections.

Bugout bag or no, unless you are one of the first to go you might not be going anywhere. And this is not a major metro, just a small city of 40 or 50k. Opened my eyes for sure.

 

Like I said, if everything really goes to hell good luck. It's going to be a shit show and only the most ruthless might have a chance. Will you kill your neighbor? Will you kill your neighbor's daughter? Will you send your daughter into a situation where they may have sympathy for her only to have her kill them? It will go back to kill or be killed, you know, the rule every living thing on this plant lives by but us.

Well I guess excluding our pets, unless they happen to venture into the great outdoors, or the animals we keep as food, which don't have a chance... but you get my point.

 

I am under no illusion that if the grid goes down or some other catastrophic event happens that this will be like a big camping trip/ block party. This is why I mentioned in earlier posts that my neighbors concerned me. Hopefully this is all for nought anyway but I can’t believe that trying to be prepared for something is a bad idea. Nobody here has been negative about it. We all have our opinions and how we think we will handle situations. I’m not going to act like a tough guy saying I’ll do anything as I just don’t really know until it happens.

 

My strongest suggestion here is that whatever electrical gizmos get bought, make sure they get tested and used. There’s a lot of shitty people selling worthless gear in this market segment and it can be hard to ferret out what’s good.


For my part here I have a eco flow river pro, a 200 watt renogy portable panel, and a smaller panel in the go box. I’m not looking to run much with this setup … a small freezer for making ice for my cooler is probably the main use, but it’ll run all kinds of other stuff to. Also, charging radios up.

 

So what do you suggest people do? This is all non actionable FUD to me.

 

A women I worked with said this. "If they drop the bomb I hope it lands on my roof, because I have no desire to live through the aftermath".

 

Before what, 1950, that's what every human dealt with every day. It does seem like that's coming back around.

 

The movie The Road, or TWD season 5-7,8 are good examples. The girl who killed her sister because she was obsessed with zombies, then they took her into the back yard and killed her because she was bat shit crazy and there's no institution to put her in.

 

While I can understand people with this outlook I guess I’m just stubborn and refuse to go down without a fight

 

It would be silly not to recognize that preparedness has limits, but I don’t see the point in spinning yarns and quoting fiction about how truly awfully everything could be if it really comes apart at the seams. Like, no shit, People are horrible. But what do I do if the power is out for a week and it’s cold out? That’s what I’m interested in.

 

I get that, but people romance this. "I've got my six week supply, etc". You'll be killed, they will eat your six week supply, then they will eat you. Maybe unless you're will to do the same.

 

I know a lot of people with that outlook. Let's be realistic. A large portion of society can't make decisions, solve problems or think critically. Many of them are well aware of this and they will probably just tap out. Survival of the fittest.

 

I don’t wish ill for anyone. But these folks will either be some of the first to go or first to resort to violence before they go. After that there will be less competition for resources.

 

Wife & I live in a secluded cabin on a mountain far from society. She gardens and we are currently researching canning. We have a large old Fisher woodstove that has kept us fed & warm during power outages. I keep plenty of seasoned firewood stacked & covered. I have 2 large rivers nearby for fishing and plenty of deer, squirrels & turkeys on my property for hunting. I have a stockpile of ammo. I also keep roughly 40gals of ethanol free gas stored here on my property. I plan to buy a large storage tank with a dispenser so I can store more.

 

You should think about medical. And mountain bikes. Extra tires for mountain bikes. Literature. Arts and crafts. Plenty of knives and stones for sharpening. Lube for the bikes.

If you’re going to be chilling, might as well learn some stuff and bike a bit.

(These are fantasies, anyway. A 2p tent and my winter alpine 85 bag has everything I need for years (sans food and the water I will filter. But my family needs hospital-grade medical support and more to survive.)

Definitely sell the Tacoma and buy mountain bike shit if you’re worried about the apocalypse. No one will have gas in short order.

 

Tbh. Be nice to each other, make a group (or share a group), and share what ya can, in knowledge and mentality. Not gonna talk about service history, though that's usually self expanatory. I won't argue any percentiles of 'better or worse'. But I'll bet on the neighborhood kids in our scout group to know how to do what's right, and do their best. If they weren't before, your group is now cadre and can train others. No one is an island and whatever comes, we get through it together.

 

The Rav will work in EV mode, even if it takes 300wh/mile. Or the ebikes at (muscle power) or about 15wh/mile if you don't pedal. The rest is 'can you wind copper wire and trap rain/wind' or 'do you have PV you can put in offgrid mode'.