Tag Archives: power

Starlink

Posted on by
13

I’m not an Elon Musk fanboy but I don’t dislike him either…. I do respect him for coming up with some cool stuff and then having fun with it. The idea of a notebook-sized satellite dish to get you internet in literally any part of the world is something that was virtually unthinkable a decade or two ago.

For survivalists, one of the great headaches has always been finding a balance between living in the sticks, or even ‘off grid’, but still maintaining some type of communication with other humans…especially your fellow like-minded individuals. Most ‘bugout locations’ are short on things like powerlines and phone lines. The reliable standby has been ham radio, which has its ups and downs…there is no one perfect solution. I remember years ago that there were things like ‘packet radio’ and other radio/internet hybrids. Nowadays you just drop a Starlink on the ground in a clear area and start downloading porn. We’re living in the future.

My needs are quite simple. I’d like to have email and VoIP for voice communication. I’d also like to access Google Earth, get the news, and that sort of thing. Additionally, I’d like to have some internet-connected cameras for real-time viewing. While Starlink appears to be able to do that, the issue of powering the darn thing reliably over time is the new constraint. I need to have a battery system in place that would give me as much time as possible between  charges in case I need a few weeks to get up there. I suppose I could steal an RTG from the arctic somewhere but that seems like a lot of work.

I’ll be exploring solutions but before that I need numbers. So, after unpacking the box from FedEx, I have the Starlink setup in my yard running off a small lithium battery block. This particular power supply is Bluetoothed to my phone so I can track battery life as Starlink is out there doing its thing. Then, once I figure out average usage demands and whatnot I can start scaling a battery system. Yes, of course Im going to integrate some solar panels for charging…but I need some numbers so I can calculate needs and build in extra margins. In a perfect world I’d like to have enough panels up there to charge a battery that is capable of running the thing for a solid month.

And, as I am discovering, the internet is awash with all sorts of third-party items for this little piece of tech. Notably adaptors to let you run on Milwaukee and DeWalt power tool batteries. Thats rather convenient since I’ve got a bunch of them sitting around.

The subscription side of the StarLink equation got squared this week. You can put your subscription into a sleep mode when youre not going to be using it for a length of time and that drops your monthly sub to five or ten bucks. I went with their cheapest monthly plan which is about sixty bucks. I then dumped some money into a new brokerage account, bought a bunch of weekly dividend ETFs, set the brokerage to automatically move the dividends to a new checking account at the end of the month, and then StarLink bills the debit card attached to that account. Basically, a fire and forget arrangement.

My plan was to head up to the Beta Site this weekend and experiment with the StarLink but its raining pretty heavy and I really don’t feel like negotiating heavily rutted muddy roads. And…Im too lazy to go drag the SxS out of storage. So today will be spent on other Beta-Site-related projects. Most notably, I need to put together a secure container kit to put all the StarLink gear in for transit, I need to start calculating power needs, and another one or two projects I’ll post about in a few days.

 

Security cam planning

Posted on by
16

So, my plan is to have the gametrail cams (and for the sake of brevity we shall just call them trailcams from here on in) positioned at a few strategic points around the Beta Site for when I’m not there. Problem is, they rely on periodic battery swaps or recharging, and require a cell signal to send me updates and info. Now, I’m good with this for the time being. I picked up the solar panel and lithium battery pack to try out and I’ll be setting that up on my next trip up there. The ultimate plan, however, is, once something gets built, to put in a multicam DVR system like I have here in town. The drawback, of course, is going to be the power requirements. I currently run nine cameras here at the house. Each camera has its own 12v power requirement. Additionally, the DVR runs on AC power as does the computer monitor I use to watch the feeds. The ideal is to have a camera setup that goes to StarLink so I can monitor things remotely, including one camera pointed at a screen full of metrics like temperature, battery charge, etc, so I can make sure things are running smoothly when Im not there. Thing is, there is no power up there. Zero. So any system has to run on whatever power can be made available.

My understanding is that things will be more efficient if I can run everything natively on DC. (“Natively”, in this context, means that the devices were originally made to run on DC rather than AC devices that are running on AC that is coming from a DC transformer. Such arrangements, as I understand it, are not efficient.)

The cameras are DC, which means they can be run off of a battery system. And I can run a laptop monitor off of DC as well. (More on that in a few paragraphs.) StarLink, also, can be run on DC. So that leaves the one holdout being the DVR itself. I have to go hunt down if such things are available. But I also need to do some math and calculate what kind of power draw running, say, nine cameras 24/7, a DVR, a monitor, and StarLink will accrue. Then I need to imagine a battery system capable of running that type of thing and factoring how long it can run before the  batteries get to , say, 50% charge. And then its a matter of calculating what kind of power input from a solar panel system is required and than scaling that to the anticipated need.

Perusing the internet has shown that many people are using PoE (power over ethernet) systems. It appears, though, that these require 48v and since power will be at a bit of a premium it may mean that a less modern 12v system of cameras and DVR will have to be the way to go.

On the bright side, I think I may have figured out one part of the equation. I was wondering about powering a computer monitor and I remembered that portable laptop monitors were a thing. I picked one up and and figured that since they were designed for use with a laptop, which is a portable DC device, perhaps I could have it simply run off a laptop-type battery.

Turns out, the particular one I picked up, runs off USB-C and mini-HDMI. Googled the specs on it and it says that it uses 9.4 watts of power. Asking Google what size battery would be required to run a 9.4 watt device for 24 hours gave me the answer that “To run a 9.4-watt device for 24 hours, you need a battery with at least 225.6 watt-hours (Wh) of capacity ( ). For practical usage, accounting for efficiency losses, you should use a 12V 20Ah Lithium (LiFePO4) battery or a 12V 40Ah Lead-Acid battery.”

Hmm. Well, a while back I picked up a large lithium power pack to charge my phones and radios. Specifically, this guy. The listing says 288watt-hours. So, in theory, one 24-hour cycle of use would reduce the battery by about 78%. Thats fine, I’ll worry about capacity later, right now I want to see if this will work as-is without any weird messing around with things.

Well, yeah, of course I dithered out the images from the security cams. What are you, new here?

So, I unplugged the HDMI-HDMI cable from my DVR and plugged in the HDMI-miniHDMI cable that came with the laptop monitor. Then I grabbed a USB-C-to-USB-C cable and plugged one end into the monitor and one end into the battery pack. And it worked.So thats one part of the equation that I at least have a handle on.

1am outage

Posted on by

Its summer, so theres always something burning somewhere. Therefore, I didnt think anything unusual about the slight tinge of smoke in the air last night. When I finally trundled off to bed, I noticed that there was some unusually bright lights outside. I peered at the security cams and, surprisingly, theres a fire truck next door. Hmmm. I step outside and ask a basement flooding, hose-dragging, ladder monkey whats going on. Turns out a power pole down the alley was on fire. He said the power company was on its way.

I asked him, should I expect the power to go out? He said he didnt know. Alright, fine. Head back in the house, climb into bed, and about three minutes later theres a sound like a shotgun going off as, I’m guessing, the transformer or junction at the top of the pole explodes. This is followed a few seconds later by the cacophony of UPS alert sounds going off in my house as my computer and security system power supplies start letting me know theyre running on batteries.

Now, really, I could have just turned off the alarms and gone to sleep secure in the knowledge that Northwestern Energy would have the issue resolved in an hour or so. Or….I could see how my preparations for such an event were working.

I appeared that only mine and about four other houses were directly affected. Most people would have slept through it if not for that gunshot-like explosion earlier. First thing I did was turn on the floor lamp in the living room. I had bought it years ago, rewired it to DC, stuck in a 12v LED light bulb, and stuffed a large AGM battery in its base. With my living lit with a ‘normal’ looking amount of illumination, it was time to check the UPS’s. I had replaced the security camera ones about two years ago. The security camera UPS’s did fine and lasted through the duration of the event. The UPS for my router and modem, however, did not. It gave up the ghost after about forty minutes and it should have lasted much longer than that. That particular UPS is due for replacement, it seems. I need to start noting dates of purchase on my UPS’s as I replace them. I’ve just been buying them at Costco for about $125 ea. In fact, maybe I should just return the weak one for an exchange…Costco is ususally pretty good about refunds.

I had no intention of dragging out the generator unless things went on until daybreak. The freezers were full enough of frozen bottled water that I wasnt worried about their contents for at least several hours.

The various flashlights I had around the house were handy and the glow-in-the-dark tape that I had applied to things like door handles and light switchplates were also handy. Only thing I’d have done differently is perhaps just build my own UPS from scratch with a couple more durable AGM batteries.

But, always eye-opening and reaffirming to have moments like this to test out theories and systems.

ConSci twenty years on

Posted on by

As I may have mentioned before, I’ve been doing some major cleaning and re-organization in my basement. Since I’ve been squirreling away stuff down there for the last thirt years, there’s gonna be a rather interesting collection of stuff down there. And some of it is goes back those full thirty years. Thing is, things change over thirty years… Technology, manufacturing, etc, all changes to some degree. So, what artifact from the the pre-Y2K days do we have today? Why, it’s the ConSci Power Pack:

Very simply and succinctly, this is a manufactured version of the classic battery-in-a-box

The ConSci power pack is a 12v battery (and associated electronics) encased in a .50-cal ammo can to keep everything protected and water tight. It featured a pair of female 12v ‘cigarette lighter’ sockets to allow use of common 12v items of the era. Here’s what it looks like:

This thing has been sitting in my basement, plugged in and charging, for over twenty years. So, I decided to see how well it would work. Remember this lamp from my how-long-will-it-run experiment? The answer to the question of how long the ConSci would run the lamp is two-and-a-half-days of continuous use. Thats about a week of use if you used it for eight hours per day. This is less than what results were when I performed this experiment with the battery jump pack I purchased at CostCo.

The battery in the ConSci is smaller and less capacious than the one in the battery jump pack, so I suppose it isnt a truly fair comparison. And thats fine. What is important is that after twenty years this thing will still perform admirably for most emergencies.

The ConSci was discontinued a long time ago. But the whole battery-in-a-box concept has been done to death on the internet. There are all sorts of websites that give you an Amazin shopping list of everything you need to build your own version. Or, as I’ve done, pick up one (or two) of those battery jump packs and leave them plugged in and ready to go. The newer ones have built in inverters and USB ports. I’d take one of those over the ConSci for its capacity and greater versatility.

Nice to see, though, that this thing still work and the battery hasnt cooked itself after being left on the charger for twenty years.

What to power a house with

Posted on by

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.

Outage musings

Posted on by

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.

 

Saturday outage

Posted on by

An interesting day. Was on the computer this morning, going through emails, when without warning I hear the noise of the computer backup power supply kick in and start beeping. A moment or two later it was joined by the UPS for the security system. That’s pretty much the song of a power failure.

Ok, not a big deal. Its the beginning of the day, so lighting isn’t really an issue. What is an issue is determining how big and widespread this thing is. There’s a big difference between a squirrel tap dancing on a transformer plunging my little neighborhood into a blackout and someone EMP’ing my local power generation facility.

Pulled my Icom R6 out of my Bag O’ Tricks and dialed up the local police/fire scene. No chatter indicating a town-wide outage but lets go take a look ourselves. Slipped the Glock into its holster, grabbed an MP5 ‘just in case’ and headed to the truck. A quick drive around the neighborhood showed that, indeed, the power was out. However, when I got to the busy main street I could see far enough down the street in either direction to see active traffic signals. SO..its a localized outage, not the opening act for something more sinister.

Returned back to the house and listened to the scanner some more. Cops reported various traffic signals as inoperative and were directing traffic where necessary. All in all, it was something that didn’t require any real escalation of alert status. So, since we have an actual-but-well-in-hand ’emergency’ going on lets see how ready we are.

Biggest issue: the UPS for my security cameras faded almost instantly. After a couple minutes the cameras all went dark. This was a bit surprising. While there are about a dozen cameras, their draw shouldnt have been enough to wipe out a constantly-charged battery in less than a few minutes. However, this UPS is close to ten years old so perhaps it’s simply time to replace it. Replaced it with two UPS’ later that day.

The Icom R6 performed quite well within its design parameters…and those parameters are for a compact radio scanner. Since I was not constrained by size requirements, due to being at the house, I really should have had a larger, more eay-to-use unit available. I have a few handheld Bearcats of varying vintage laying around but this reinforced that I need to have a more modern full-size unit around. So, there’ll be some research on that and then a quick trip to Amazon.

As has been typical in 90% of the blackouts I’ve experienced here, power was restored within an hour or so. No need to break out the Honda EU2000 to top off the freezer or anything like that. But, of course, it’s there if I need it.

Of all the systems here in the house, the security cams are the ones that have the least amount of reasonable alternatives for a period of power disruption. I have alternatives for heating, cooking, and lighting, but there is only one option for keeping a video security camera system operational and that’s electricity..either stored or generated.

In practice, the UPS for the security system only has to run the system long enough for me to get the generator up and the system plugged into it. Setting up the generator from storage and getting it running is, at most, a fifteen minute job. Closer to ten in the warmer months. Any UPS only really has to last long enough for that period of time. But, no one ever really complained that their batteries had too much capacity. I suppose it might be worth investigating just building a larger capacity backup system with a few AGM batts, a charger, and inverter dedicated to just the security cams.

That was, thus far, the most interesting thing to happen here today. A learning experience for sure. If it had gone on more than a few hours it would have been a bit more interesting but those kinds of failures a few and far between here in town. But, of course, that doesnt mean they won’t happen or that I shouldnt be prepared for them.

Goal Zero stuff

Posted on by

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:

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

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.

 

Generator Day

Posted on by

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.

Black Start

Posted on by

An article from Yahoo about a state-sponsored data breach that may have handed over some interesting info to the Chinese/Russians.

“For example, it’s reportedly possible the hackers accessed Black Start, the detailed technical blueprints for how the U.S. would restore power if there was a major blackout. If that was indeed the case, Russia would theoretically have a list of systems it could target to keep power from turning back on.”

A government plan for restarting power generation? Interesting. Makes sense when you think about it…but I’d never thought about it before. Shades of “One Second After“. (WOrth reading, btw.)

As the saying goes, “it takes money to make money”. Apparently the same is true, to some degree, in power generation. As I read it, previous plans for restarting an offline power plant assume you’ll be able to have power from elsewhere where the grid is up. But, if the entire grid is down…well…you can’t start up your power plant if you can’t even turn on the lights in the control room.

The solution, it seems, is to either have enough capacity in your onsite generators to get the plant up and running, or get your electricity from a source that will continue to provide..such as hydropower.

What I find interesting here is that .gov had a planned response in place for a grid-down power plant restart procedure..and now that the playbook for that has fallen into enemy (and make no mistake about it, thats what the Chinese are) hands they know how to create that grid-down situation and disable our ability to get past it. All in all, to my unstrategic way of thinking, that seems to have just made the possibility of an attack of some kind on the national power system more likely.

Very cursory googling shows that apparently the current plan (or one of them) is RADICS.. Apparently the .gov has, in the last two years, stepped up it’s research into preparing against cyberattacks that target energy infrastructure. Interesting, that.

Remember the old days when targeting a nations energy infrastructure involved a B-52 instead of a laptop?