Night Vision, Camcorders, LED flashlights, etc. Useless after EMP.

The book One Second After covers it pretty much but they exaggerate the effect.

A mustang survives. And a VW van, so its only delicate circuitry that they say will be affected.

But tests in 1962 put out a few street lights in Hawaii etc.

But the main point of that book, is that after the EMP attack, even without knowing who was responsible, the US forces overseas that were unaffected, turned every suspected country to a glowing radioactive smudge on the ground.

So the message is abundantly clear. Use EMP on us, and we will nuke half the world. Thats a pretty good deterrent.

But I spoke to someone who hardens planes and he was in this forum, and all you need is a plastic box, like a tool box, with a tin foil lining. Thats it. Thats all you need. And the tests he does with planes, a human could not stand the EM pulse that he uses to test tolerance.
They would be fried.

I think if you store your electronic equipment in a plastic case tin foil lined, you won't have a problem. Including harddrives. lap tops, ereaders etc. Not only that but its not going to go through much concrete so anything inside a mall or parked in a parkade will be unaffected. Its just not going to go through several concrete floors with rebar in them and metalic hardener in the cement. Not to mention floor leveling compounds are liquid steel.
And every mall probably uses that to level floors before tile goes down.

Originally posted by Rocketman7
The book One Second After covers it pretty much but they exaggerate the effect.

A mustang survives. And a VW van, so its only delicate circuitry that they say will be affected.

But tests in 1962 put out a few street lights in Hawaii etc.

But the main point of that book, is that after the EMP attack, even without knowing who was responsible, the US forces overseas that were unaffected, turned every suspected country to a glowing radioactive smudge on the ground.

So the message is abundantly clear. Use EMP on us, and we will nuke half the world. Thats a pretty good deterrent.

But I spoke to someone who hardens planes and he was in this forum, and all you need is a plastic box, like a tool box, with a tin foil lining. Thats it. Thats all you need. And the tests he does with planes, a human could not stand the EM pulse that he uses to test tolerance.
They would be fried.

I think if you store your electronic equipment in a plastic case tin foil lined, you won't have a problem. Including harddrives. lap tops, ereaders etc. Not only that but its not going to go through much concrete so anything inside a mall or parked in a parkade will be unaffected. Its just not going to go through several concrete floors with rebar in them and metalic hardener in the cement. Not to mention floor leveling compounds are liquid steel.
And every mall probably uses that to level floors before tile goes down.

With the military purchasing COTS because of budget constraints, there could be a problem. (Commercial Off The Shelf) The shielding MUST be TEMPEST certified to Earth ground or it will be lost. Been doing this since August 1971. Ferric shielding is best although copper Faraday will work IF (big IF) they are bonded well to Earth ground. (Like #8 no more than 10 meters), silver soldered, or brazed, everywhere.

reply to post by Rocketman7


Interesting, I haven't had a chance yet to read "One Second After". Guess I need to get after it, and check it out. Also, going to look into the "The Colony" show.

So this is what you need to make is it will def be looking into this now I know of this www.youtube.com...

For an easy to make Faraday cage, I like to use Peel & Seal rubberized asphalt with aluminum backing. It's sticky once you peel off the paper side and makes for an easy enclosure (say, using a wooden or cardboard box for your cage. Note that you have to be careful in the corners, to ensure that the aluminum contacts aluminum and not the rubber backing, and of course, make sure that it is completely sealed.

When we installed our solar pv system, I built a locker on the side of our shed to hold the charge controllers, dc disconnect, inverter, batteries, etc. Before I installed anything, I did the entire interior of the locker -- including doors -- with Peel & Seal. My electrician thought I was nuts. No guarantee that the stuff would be protected in the event of EMP, but three hours labor and $75 in materials was worth the piece of mind. The cage is grounded in two places and conntects to both a grounding rod and a length of bare 00 wire. When we switched from a modified sinewave inverter to a pure sinewave, we wrapped the old one in aluminum and stored it away with some other electronic goodies in a plastic dive box coated with P&S.

disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Peel & Seal, and I'm sure there are other similar products that do the same thing. Good stuff. Good for emergency roof repairs also.

Regarding LED flashlights, most of ours are simple. I tend toward headlamps and they are merely a battery, lamp, switch and housing. The switch on most of them is a simple mechanical connection. Thanks, OP, for pointing that out -- and for reminding us to look at things in terms of protecting things that might be far more necessary after an EMP than they are now.

reply to post by argentus


No problem Argentus. I just recently purchased a new flashlight that uses one of the newest Cree LED's. While reading over the specs the thought crossed my mind about how many of the newer LED lights, especially those with multiple modes have electronic "driver" circuitry in them that would be susceptible to some degree im sure in the event of EMP. However after giving that thought, i realized there were many other items that I hadn't though of potentially protecting from damage as well.

Originally posted by imtheweasel
I somewhat wonder about the usefulness of camcorders, night vision, etc. Electronics in general...

I've seen a few threads lately discussing what folks would be using in a SHTF scenario, and given the threat of an EMP attack it is of course a very real concern.

If in fact an EMP attack were to occur, all electronics such Night Vision units, Camcorders, and most of the newer LED based flashlights even wouldn't be functional due to the electronics in them. (yes, the newer l.e.d based flashlights do have L.E.D driver boards that contain EMP sensitive components). Really seems like some folks are relying solely on these battery powered gadgets to get them through, but leaving out essentials like candles, matches, etc.

Just a passing thought, after seeing a few threads on here as well as SurvivalistBoards...

Curious have you read "One Second After"? A great read in my opinion, but highly unrealalistic. It misses one major point, or thing. If we get hit by an EMP it's over, period in my opinion. America could not survive the taking down of power infrastructure.

What happens when the nuclear plants get zapped in a emp? They never go into that aspect in books and movies. Is there a physical/manual override to pull the rods out when the generators no longer work? Would people have to sacrifice themselves to do it?

Originally posted by Moshpet
Buy/find a dead microwave. Store your must have electrical goodies in it.
Take some grounding wire and attach it to a screw on the case, run the wire to a solid earth ground.

Problem solved.

M.

You took my idea. I was thinking the same thing. If it keeps the microwave energy in it should keep the EMP energy out.

Originally posted by ludshed
What happens when the nuclear plants get zapped in a emp? They never go into that aspect in books and movies. Is there a physical/manual override to pull the rods out when the generators no longer work? Would people have to sacrifice themselves to do it?

That was my point above.

Even with the rods pulled, and the generators no longer working, the rods give off heat. Enough heat that after 8 hours with no cooling (as in no external power) they begin to melt down, and we have what Japan has got in Fukushima. That is exactly what happen in Japan they lost all power, and Japan has more battery backup time than we have!

reply to post by Dav1d


I missed your post. But yes, and japan only has a small fraction of what we have. It would be pretty bad having dozens if not hundreds over each continent all melting down simultaneously. Probably a ELE event, albeit a slower one than a comet impact.

Well it took me 8 hours to get my orders and shipping straightened out and payments and all that crap.
Unbelievable.
One order I made for a scanner the Home Patrol 9 days ago to Universal radio they hadn't even processed the order yet, so I canceled it and went somewhere else.

Then I bought some stuff in China, and then they put a hold on my credit card, for security reasons so I had to get that lifted.

Then FINALLY I got it straightened out and bought all my Christmas presents.

So I guess you are dieing to know what sort of helicopter I bought. Would you believe, a range of 1000 meters, and can stay in the air for over half an hour?

And I bought two cameras for it, one color/ir flashlight camera, and I bought a color wireless so that I can see through the cockpit while it is flying wearing my Glasstrons, and film while it is flying.

How cool is that?

You know for 45 bucks you can get one like this...




Here is the link

You can buy a used microwave and put all your electronics in there and they will be protected by the EMP.

One thing most people don't know about EMP is that most small portable gadgets will still work, but most stuff containing cmos chips that is plugged in or has an antenna more than 3 inches will be fried. If you are close enough to kill these small items then you will probably be fried as well. Keep any small electronics you want to keep in an ammo can to be safe.

Unfortunately "antenna" can include wires like those inside a car. Your Ipod will probably still work fine if it didn't have the headphones attached. Stuff that needs service like your cellphones will be useless too.

I find it funny how so many people have the arrogance of leaving out "I think" on things that have never been proven. It's your opinion, be man/woman enough to admit as much; "It's never happened, but this is what will happen because I'm an ATS member and I know, and you should listen to me in cyberspace because nobody in the real world will."

First EMP damage depends on antenna area of the target and the strength of the pulse.

Even the book One Second After is describing a special tuned nuclear device to create the maximum pulse.

Night Vision, Camcorders, LED flashlights have little to no antenna area for the pulse to affect.

Its equipment that is hooked to power. phone lines, or antennas that will be the most damaged.
this is because if the surface area that can pick up the pulse.

The smaller the antenna surface area the less likely the damage.
www.fas.org...

The other thing i want to get into is military ammo boxes after 1960 are all faraday cages.

This is because many types of military ordnance have electric/electronic detonators.

Even 20mm gun ammo has electric primers.
If even one round went off the whole ammo storage site would go up in a massive blast

Originally posted by mrwupy
An EMP only fries a device that has an electrical charge going through it at the time of the EMP discharge. If the battery is out of your camera then after the discharge, you can place the battery back in and it will work fine. If you have a hand cranking device, such as a Swiss-Tech (Which costs less than 20 US dollars at your local wally world) you can recharge batteries all day long, As long as they're rechargeable batteries.

Just a little knowledge can go a long way.

I've spoken to others who would disagree with you on that.
They claim it's the microchips inside that get fried, not just batterys etc...