Let’s say that you find that perfect chunk of dirt and you decide to build your modest dwelling there. It’s pretty much an ‘off grid’ situation so you’re on your own for power. The way I see it there are things that you’ll need to run:

• Generator
• Well Pump
• Lights
• Fridge/freezer
• Heat/Water heater
• Stove
• Assorted small devices (phone charging, table lamps, laptop, etc.
  (Not a complete list, I know)

So now, you’ve got a choice about how to run things..you can go with propane, gasoline, diesel,  or electric (from generator, hydro, PV, wind, etc.)

And, of course, you could do some combination of the various fuels/ systems….you could run your lights and accessories offa PV system, your well pump off a generator, and your generator, heat, water heater, etc. off propane.

Or you could try to do one fuel to cover all those needs…something like everything being electric and running off a generator.

So, my question is…how would you set things up? To my way of thinking, propane would cover all systems…propane to run the generator, freezer/fridge, heat, water heater, stove, and the electrical would have its needs met from the propane generator. Although, most likely, I’d just wire for DC and use 12v LED light fixtures and lamps. Laptops already charge from DC. Use propane for everything else.

There’s also nothing that says a household can’t be a multi-fuel affair. I’m thinking that for my anticipated needs, some sort of PV battery system (unless I’ve got running water for a turbine, or perhaps a windmill) to run the low-draw electric like lights, radios, etc, and then propane to do the heavy lifting of generator-driven electric well pump, propane stove, water heater, fridge/freezer, and furnace.

The drawback to propane is that you cant just walk down the road, borrow some from a neighbor, and carry it back to your home in a bucket like you could with diesel or gasoline. And theres the matter of getting a truck out to your location to refill your tank. I’m not sure of the regulations regarding transporting a large propane tank to get it refilled, but I wonder if a 250- or 500-gallon tank, permanently mounted to a trailer, hauled into town once a year to be filled, and then returned home and reconnected to the house system would work.

Yes, I’m sure I could live in a cabin with a woodstove that heats the place up and makes my hot water but I like to think that in a pre-apocalypse world I would strive for a bit more comfort and convenience than that.

So…if it were you…and you had to provide for lighting, heat, hot water, well pump. and device charging, what would be your fuel of choice? Keep in mind, we’re trying to keep as low a profile as possible…so a tanker truck of some flavor coming by twice a year is not optimum.

We had a couple very, very brief power outages here over the weekend. They didnt disturb my life too broadly because 1) they were of fairly short duration..only an hour or so, b) I’ve long reconciled myself to the notion of how to live with minimal or zero grid delivery, and III) I have some backup systems in place.

There’s been a bit of a Streisand Effect on infrastructure disruptions. Our electrical, water, gas, and other utility distribution networks have always been, for the most part, unguarded and completely vulnerable to even the mildest attack. But…such attacks, at least as reported, were few and far between. But when they do start getting reported, it gives someone somewhere the bright idea to go cause some mayhem and they wind up shooting up a power transformer, busting up a rail switching system, or punching a hole in a pipeline just because.

And, as we’ve made our infrastructure more connected and more complex…well…As the patron saint of engineering said:

The point being, in this world we live in…where everyone with a grudge, real or imagined, is just a .30-06 or a backhoe away from turning off the power and water…things like electricy, gas, and water are going to be less certain than they are now. Add in the age and inadequacy of many region’s infrastructure and you have a recipe for more frequent disruptions, not less.

As far as electricity goes, years ago I evaluated what I considered absolutely necessary for my security and safety in terms of power. I have kerosene and propane for heating, lighting, cooking, and that sort of thing. My critical must-have electrical needs are to keep my frozen food frozen and to keep me security cameras camming. Thats about it. And those needs are easily met with a little ol’ EU2000.

My smaller electrical needs are things like flashlights, radio batteries, cell phone charging, and that sort of thing. Those are met pretty easily by rechargeable batteries and a small solar panel..although I can recharge off the EU2000 if I really need to.

After the freezer and security cams, anything else is a luxury. But the important thing is that at some point you need to sit down and examine what exactly are your must-have’s that will require electricity. For most of us, its going to be freezers. For some it’ll also be well pumps and maybe pressure tanks. Some folks in particular situations will also need sewage pumps. Or perhaps you’ve got a medical situation that requires electricity for a treatment device. There’s no shortage of things that are ‘must have’s when it comes to electricity. You just need to figure out what yours are and then plan accordingly.

As I said, power outages are just a minor hiccup for me…I know exactly what my needs are (freezer and cams) and what my ‘I can get by with less’ things are (everything else). But you have to at least have an idea of what you do and don’t need before you start shopping around for things like generators and kerosene lamps.

I try to standardize on batteries for obvious reasons. Broadly, I lead a life of AA- and D-batteries. But as of late, it seems like more and more devices use rechargeable batts that are recharged through a USB connection of some kind. I’m kinda liking this from a survivalist stanpoint.

There are plenty of chargers out there to recharge AA and D batts from various sources, I recognize that. But it’s just so much easier to order up a small folding solar panel, plug in your USB cable, and start charging your device. The things that, most notably, come to mind are cellphones (which have tremendous utility even in a world without phone signal), flashlights, small radios, and that sort of thing.

I’ve also a few devices that can use either available batteries or use built-in rechargeable-through-USB. For example, the Fenix PD35 that I picked up a while back will run off a couple CR123 batts or can be run off its rechargeable battery. Thats pretty handy.

I had a small folding Goal 0 panel that, while handy, has a rather small footprint, and when it comes to solar charging the more panel area you have the better. There is, of course, a point of diminishing return…you want a panel thats large enough to get the job done but, at the same time, you want a level of portability and compactness to make transport and storage a bit easier. Seems like a reasonable idea, yes?

Goal Zero sometimes has ‘road shows’ at CostCo and they have some very interesting stuff. I have a bunch of their daisy-chainable LED 12v loights that I highly recommend. I decided I wanted to get a little package that wouuld charge AA (and AAA) batteries, charge a phone battery pack, and could charge other USB-connectable devices. By charging AA batts that gives me a lot more use to handheld GPS, AA flashlights, radios, weaponlights, weapon sights (for the ones that run on AA or AAA), my ICOM R6, and a host of other AA-batt compatible devices.

So, off to Amazon for:

• Goal Zero 21005 Guide 10 Plus 11Wh/2300mAh Power Bank, AA & AAA Battery Recharger, Solar Ready
• Goal Zero Venture 35 Portable Charger Power Bank 9600mAH 18W USB-C Power Delivery Port 2 USB Outputs IP67 Rating 50 Lumens Flashlight
• Goal Zero Nomad 20, Foldable Monocrystalline 20 Watt Solar Panel with 8mm + USB Port, Portable Solar Panel Charger. Lightweight 18-22V 20W Solar Panel Charger with Adjustable Kickstand

Hurricane Sandy left some folks with power, and they became very popular very quickly. I’m trying to avoid this sort of social clusterbomb.

A couple things to note… The Guide 10 battery charger has a USB port to allow you to use it to charge your USB devices. So far so good. However, it is 5v 1amp vs 5v 3amp of the Venture power bank. What this means is that while the battery charger, with a load of recharged batteries in it, will charge your phone or device…its gonna take a while.

The Venture is 5v 3amp so its gonna charge your toys a good bit faster.

Both devices can be charged from other sources, such as a wall outlet using a USB cord and plug-in. Both devices also incorporate a basic power level indicator and also have an LED flashlight feature. Handy, but shouldnt you already have a flashlight?

I drained all the batteries in the Guide to 0% and did the same with the Venture. I set up the panel in the sun, tucked the Venture or Guide behind the panel in the shade to keep it from cooking, and left it while I went to work. When I got back in the afternoon, the devices indicated a full charge. (Note: they were not charged at the same time. The panel has one USB port, so I alternated.)

The panels themselves seem fairly durable. I’d try to avoid bending or flexing them (although there are flexible panels out there). In terms of compactness, the panels, when folded up, are about an inch or so thick, and takes up a footprint slightly smaller than a sheet of paper.

You can, of course, plug whatever device you are trying to recharge directly into the panel’s USB port but then your device is subject to the vagaries of uneven charging as the sun may or may not experience some transitory cloud cover. (And, wow, my brain parses ‘vagaries’ completely different than what it means when it see it on screen. Gotta check that word twice.)

Really, the best option, it seems to me, is to use the panel to charge your storage device..batteries or power bank….and then charge your device from those. And, of course, you can charge your other devices from that power bank as well.

So..I’ll play with this stuff and see how it goes but so far it seems like an acceptable way to keep my small devices topped off when grid power just isnt in the cards.

Today was Generator Day. Interestingly, it is also apparently Generator Day in a large part of the southeast US.

The purpose of Generator Day is to, periodically, run the generator under load for an hour or so in order to make sure everything functions and doesn’t get stagnant or stale. Usually I fire up the EU2000, plug in an electric leaf blower, and do some yardwork.

It’s been a while since I started this thing up. (Bad survivalist!) I had actually forgotten the startup procedure. Fortunately, part of my generator prep plan includes copying the startup/shutdown instructions from the .pdf, printing them out, putting them in a sealed page protector, and attaching them to the generator. As a result, I quickly had my memory refreshed. Started on pull #9.

This is, I believe, year nine for this particular EU2000. According to the run meter I put on this thing when I bought it, I’ve run it for about a total of 30 hours. Thats some pretty low miles.

The EU2000, when I purchased it, was the big thing in portable generators. Since then, upgraded versions have come out and when I get another spare or two, I’ll get the upgraded version. But, so far, for nine years this thing has been sitting quietly in it’s Hardigg case awaiting the infrequent power outage. Been quite pleased with it so far.

Of course, no man is an island and not piece of expensive gear is without support materials. The Hardigg case that houses the generator also contains a cable lock, spare air filters, printed directions, heavy duty extension cords, spare fuel cans, PRI-G, etc, etc.

In the nine years I’ve had this thing I’ve only needed to genuinely use it twice. Both times for only a few hours. And both times I felt pretty darn smug as I sat there with cable and internet as my neighbors suddenly became involuntary Luddites.

So, if you haven’t gotten one yet….thumbs up on the Honda EU series.

As the year comes to a close, I’m wandering around the house checking batteries in various devices. About a year ago I had a MagLite self-destruct when the batteries crapped out. The usual scenario….flashlight doesn’t work, you unscrew the tailcap, and when you finally get it open the guts of the thing are full of the corroded guts of a battery. Freakin’ hate that.

So, I decided I’d keep a list of what devices I kept around in a state of readiness with batteries already in them, and I would periodically inspect those devices so that if the batteries started to go Tango Uniform I might catch them before the device was irrevocably damaged. As it turned out, thus far, no batteries have gone south this year. BUT….that doesn’t mean they won’t and it doesn’t mean that periodic inspections are a bad idea.

So, I’ll update the little sticker I have on the devices to reflect the periodic inspection and tuck the devices away in their usual spots.

My experience has been that I have had absolutely no problems with lithium batteries. I’ve yet to have one leak and ruin a device…for what those stupid things cost, I should hope they’d be more stable than the current crop of Duracells. It’s at the point where, for mission critical or expensive devices, I won’t use anything but lithiums. I’d rather ten bucks for a pack of lithium batteries than $175 for a new GPS unit, y’know?

So, while your swapping batteries for all the kids toys this holiday season go check your own toys and make sure the batteries didn’t crap the bed.