looking for Portable Power devices to survive Martial Law

reply to post by admriker444


You could combine steam from a firebox heater/lo-pressure boiler with hydro power from the stream to generate electricity

From greensteamengine.com, an elegant solution to compact portable steam/DC power...





Flexible-rod steam engine demonstration




[edit on 11-1-2008 by citizen smith]

Originally posted by godservant
THE RIVER!!!!!

You said there is a river nearby.

Make your own hydro-electric generator.


www.canren.gc.ca...

www.re-energy.ca...

www.re-energy.ca...

www.stewardwood.org...


I might try this in the future myself.

a good idea, depending on volume, if you can get 1kW out of it, it'll be enough for the time being, but the real question is whether you need to have 115 or 230 volts (depending on location) or not. low volage DC is good enough for many applications (remember your PC is running on 5 and 12V, internally) and can be stored in every old car battery and, as a bonus, LED lighting could be used directly. the downside is that you'll be unable to use most power tools, but it's imho obvious that these are useless anyway, in situation X.

if you really want a solar power plant, i advise you to take a look at stirling engines

www.abovetopsecret.com...

the engine itself is rather small and could be carried without too much of a hassle, but if you go that route, you must be able to reliably assemble a reflector dish (using metal foil, for which you'll need spares in case of hail or storm damage).

either way, minimize your needs, use the smallest possible unit and be aware that a Stirling engine can be run off any source of heat as long as you keep the works clean.

with a hundred million things i want to do right now, including talking to certain people, writing, working on my sites, my art, starting a few money scraping endeavors to get by on since just about everyone in my family has lost their job, grow a garden... i have to break this cycle so i can do all the things I want to do without the man trying to make me his bitch instead. i also won't to help people understand that they can do this and that they can trust their own good intentions and they can have faith in god's creation if they pay attention and respect it rather than thinking they have to live by the crooked system of doing everything. people may be stuck doing it anyway so why not take stress off your back and learn how to simply survive.

people don't want to part with their gadgets and comforting devices... and neither do i but i will if i have to...but on top of all that i want to do, i must find some solar modifications. i must take a crash course on wiring up some electronics and understanding of circuitry. i wll be going over this thread later, adding to it and I'm hoping that someone who does modifications will come along and tell me of some neat tricks. i have already learned of some but I am still attached to the grid and burning money o run my fridge and pc and fan and tools. this is what i want to avoid completely but i am TIGHTLY budgeted. it seems EVERYBODY is. how will we ever go green if it takes money to do it? people have a hard enough time making the light bill one month, next month- same crap. i have instructions on how to build solar panels cheaper than what you would buy but haven't dug into those instructions yet and might get confused in the process. i mean how hard could it possibly be to hard wire a crude solar panel to some type of crude heater coil and pull air through it? that doesn't take exact science and doesn't even sound like you would need things like current controllers or whatever you call them to keep from blowing fuses and destroying the device... the device is just a hot coil. if it gets a lot of power it gets very hot if it gets a little power... not so hot. that's not complicated so why does heating our homes run our power bills into the ground every winter? i look up solar heaters and get instructionals on convection systems... ok, that's cool but what about when the sun goes down. these are no power convection systems that will not work at night. i don't want countless concvection heater systems crowding all the pages out. there is probably a simple and very good solar heater system that you could easily make but it's buried under things that will only work half ass or cost you half your ass... that's no good.

i know the perfect person to ask these things but he can't give me black and white answers right now for whatever reasons that want to drive me slap out of my mind and i don't want to think about... so, i will just have to take these runaway ideas and keep searching for someone who knows circuitry and devices.

i will be back to add some more and bump this again and explain more of my ideas.

ok...this isn't much and might go into another thread about survival tips but i think it can apply here.

I like coffee and one of my favorite coffees is an instant coffee believe it or not although i abhor most instant coffees. it is cafe' Vienna but general foods international coffee in the little rectangle tin. I also think the hazelnut cafe' is ok but the cappuccinos and all the other flavors are crap to me... even the french vanilla. anyway... i mirowave a cup of water and pour the instant coffee in. it gets cold, i renuke it as needed and i have noticed that this causes me to fire up that damn microwave maybe even a couple dozen times a day.

the start up power for many appliances is a lot of power and i'm sure it is for a microwave, but even the sustained power for a microwave is A LOT!... wanna save power?- throw out your microwave. God only knows how much money i have spent in electricity just to drink damn instant coffee. it's really a stupid habit... so I am breaking it.

now, i can effectively heat my coffee and keep it hot by sitting it on a simple tealight candle in a candle holder vented on the sides as well as the top. most people have something like this around.... the problem might be finding the right cup. you want to make sure that it's safe for flame and not so thick that your coffee takes too long to heat... i have been looking all over for a good stainless steel camping mug but haven't found one in any store yet... i might have to order the blue enamel coated types online even though you used to be able to find these things everywhere. you see, i tried fashioning a cup out of aluminum and it because doing strange things to my tongue at the corners. this is still a mystery to me but you don't want to mess around with alloys that weren't made for cooking.

so anyway... bought a blue enamel coated coffee pot (all i could found in the blue enamel except stock pots) and right by it was a good old citronella candle. have you looked at these things lately. you can sit a pot right on top of them. you might need to knock some extra vents out for more oxygen but for just heating a small amount of water for your daily coffee or tea... it's really great in my opinion. this onewas 6.40 or something like that and it has three wicks which is perfect for heating this thicker pot faster and they claim to burn up to 40 hours.... PLUS- serves a dual purpose of making your camp area smell better and run off bugs.

citronella I guess could be toxic in large amounts and there is a warning on the label not to ingest it, so until i learn more about it, i will only use it to heat cover pots.... but, some people cook with lemon grass which is what it is made from, so how toxic can it be? any answers are welcome. now... i have seen sterno and little camping stoves and these look like great quick fixes but i am thinking the sterno would be much more expensive in the long run and should only be used to quickly prepare food, but it is a interesting little product as well... i also want to stay away from cooking gases because i want to not be carrying around flamable stuff like this in large amounts. of course some will be used more than likely but i would rather find solar solutions and get into inverters and deep cycle battery knowledge before getting into a lot of fuels.

i just got it so i don't know how long it will last but i am really thinking this is a good idea because i sometimes burn candles anyway for low light or stress relief and while i'm on the computer and having COFFEE, works out perfect.

only thing is... unless i find a little coffee cup, i will only be heating the water in the pot and using a thermos, but that also means i will get more life out of the candle. I only make a few cups at a time for that quick caffeine fix so it might take longer than you'd like if you are wanting to heat a full 8 cup pot... but for a little spot of coffee or tea... all i need to apply is the flame.

ok... next thing... i have been playing with little solar stake lights for your driveway... you can get them for a couple dollars a piece. they make neat little night lights for small spaces that use no power after the initial purchase... i have no idea how long those little batteries last inside them though. it's enough light to see to sit on a toilet... and anything is a help... more than one can produce more free light. they have sensors that make them come on at night only. you can take these apart and connect old pc fans to them for night time running fans unless you disable the sensor i guess... not sure how to do that and they make tiny solar fans that just run when the sun hits them but they more expensive.... but the little battery in it.... it's being charged daily. can this battery be used in other things? that might prove handy if you have some around and have run out of regular batteries but i need to learn more about them, they are essentially little chargers!

yes, i know they make solar chargers

but have you priced them? here's what i am thinking. if you try to make one energy system...what if it breaks? it's like my imac... i never should have bought an intergrated unit because now the lcd is screwed up and it's still attached to the computer and cost HUNDREDS more than a flat screen monitor. dumb... should have bought a mac mini.

beware of putting all your eggs in one basket is what i am thinking for my energy plan. spread it and give myself flexibility and options. when one little thing craps out, if it was cheap... it won't be hard to replace.

it just means you need to unerstand your basic needs and understand how to minimize them, know your items well and have just what you need and you can take better care of the things you have.

for example, if you are not spending time bending over for the man and turning over for the systems tricks like you are actually going to get that big bone... the fair way without learning how to screw over others in turn 9because that is how it seems to work most of the time) then you could be sitting reading a mechanic manual for your vehicle. why do you need to be a mechanic? you don't... but how long could it possibly take to understand at least ONE motor vehicle? ...and then take care of that vehicle like it's very important to you...

because you like paying crazy car payments or paying mechincs for your wheels uncertainties? that is your WHEELS!... if you can't get anywhere, WHAT THEN? i don't care who you are, if you can't get around... you're just a man without a horse... and we owe the horses a lot.
i'm going off on a tangent here but have you really really REALLY thought about what you need in life?

the system tells you to get a life and BE SOMEBODY... you already are. no one should be interrupting you from tending to just what you need. if we could all do this we would use so much less energy and there would be so many less loopholes in life that we do simply for convenience because we don't have time to spend tending to our own simple needs.... we have to get up and go when the man tells us to go.

Who decides when you need to go? i mean really.

yeah, now we are talking about bathroom politics because if you are paying attention... the system DOES tell you when to GO!!!!

where does it stop?

where the buck stop?

take back your life because you already are somebody!

i'm not saying that if you are successful and the system is working for you to just throw up your hands if you are hanging in there... because you can help others and you can provide for yourself the things you need in life in case you do get in that pinch... just don't think it will never happen... be prepared. for when the shtf or even if you get sick or tired and the system doesn't want to use you anymore... give yourself that chance to just walk away from all this crap... or drive away if your car is still running.


now then... anybody know the best deep cycle battery solar trickle charger or how to make one/ can you explain why i would wnt a deep cycle battery over a regular? how hard would it be to get one that is right for my van?...do they sell them at autozone... i' just go in and ask them but i am not at autozone right now and they are struggling to help people with cars, much less help them with cars with attached inverters, controllers for dc to ac power.

does energy systems that run off of batteries need to be charged by the alternator daily or can you use an invertor with a standing batter... YOU SEE? simple dumb question and i have been reading all kinds of crap on invertors and have not yet come across that answer. sure it's used with a battery... i know that, been told that repeatedly... so what happens if it's not connected to your cars own power generation because that is the standard application... don't know if i want to do that though. i'd rather leave the car battery alone to not run the risk of being somewhere and having to swap it out in the middle of the woods because knowing my luck... i'll break the battery cable or something stupid. if it's all the same... i'd rather have another battery with the invertor and use THAT as a car back up if i get stuck somewhere... and leave the car battery alone. does this not make sense? won't the car battery go dead faster if i am recharging and using up the energy daily with different types of power. ...plus i am believer that adding too much to your cars electrical system can give you more potential car problems... confuse the sensors and screw with the coding...all that crap... simple simple simple is what i prefer.