Comments (21)

• 6

  TraceContributor - November 24, 2020

  This is a great article about a topic that people spend way too much time fretting about. Thanks for demystifying it, and for really emphasizing the sane prepper angle. 

  Just to make sure I understand. A coronal mass ejection (CME) is the same thing as what you’re calling a solar EMP, right? 

   
  • 5

    Jon StokesStaff - November 24, 2020

    Yeah, sort of. A CME is a burst of energy that crashes into the earth’s magnetic field, flexing it and warping it and causing a solar EMP.

     
• 8

  PreppedIsra - February 8, 2021

  Hey, can you do me a favor, and give me your take on the EMP Shield (www.empshield.com). I had one given to me for a 2016 Ford F-350, the 12V system one. Their website says it’s beyond military grade and tested in Keystone Laboratories and suited for ALL the different types of EMP surges…special new technology. My wife thinks it’s legit. I’m skeptical because (1) how can we know whether it works until it’s too late, and (2) as mentioned here, after an EMP attack we’ll have so many other problems that a working vehicle will be less useful than a good mountain bike and a good pair of legs…especially once the roadways are impassable and/or your tank goes empty. Not to mention, if you’re the only guy with a working vehicle, there’ll be plenty of nut jobs out there ready to steal it or kill for it…and even a bunch who’d just destroy it because it isn’t theirs. 

  But seriously, how legit is this company and their technology?

   
  • 8

    Robert LarsonContributor - February 18, 2021

    Preppedisra – I looked into empshield.com before and had the same questions. In my opinion I think it will not protect your vehicle against an EMP. The thing with a company like this is that they can claim all they want, and if an EMP hits and takes out the grid and your vehicle is fried, you aren’t going to go complain and get a refund, because the whole country will be in a pretty bad scenario and we will be focusing mostly on just trying to survive. 

    An EMP is going to come at your vehicle, the electronics, and wiring from all directions and angles and isn’t selective to just conveniently route all energy safely through everything until it gets to the empshield where it will then safely cut off the power. It just doesn’t make logical sense.

    It saddens me that companies like this who make a flashy website and pay money for testing are able to sell products like this and give people a false sense of security. There’s really no way the average consumer is able to test these kinds of products. 

    Empshield has $25,000 in insurance protection for damaged electronics. I would rather just invest that $350 for the empshield unit into lowering my deductable for my auto insurance. If your car does get fried by lightening, file a claim and get a new car from a real insurance company that does this every day. And if an EMP hits and fries your car, agian, we will have bigger problems to deal with.

    You say you were given a empshield unit right? I’d use it if you have it. Don’t think it will hurt much besides a slight decrease in fuel economy of the extra weight (which is practically nothing). And giving your wife peace of mind is worth more than anything. And hey, if an EMP hits and all cars are fried except yours, come drive over to my house and let me know! I’ll be extremely happy for ya.

    Here’s another forum of people talking about empshield as well, and they are skeptical and don’t think it will work either. https://www.eevblog.com/forum/suggestions/emp-shield-scam/ 

    -Be Prepared-

     
  • 5

    Israel Aloia - June 20, 2021

    Thanks for the reply, Robert. I’m more skeptical after reading other comments and checking out the websites you included suggesting empshield is a scam.  Quick question for anyone who understands electricity better than I do, which is super basic knowledge.  We have been living in an RV since last September.  We’ve been at 2 different places and at this campground we are currently since Novemeber 2020.  I called the empshield people when we first got set up in the RV because my mother-in-law had already sent us the empshield and we needed to get something to protect our RV from electrical events at campgrounds.  I tested the RV Park’s 50, 30, and 20 AMP outlets with a multimeter before plugging in.  All appeared fine.  Empshield told me we WOULD NOT need any other surge protector at the outlet or within our RV to protect it from a power surge.  All we would have to do is plug the 110V empshield into any 110V outlet in the RV.  They said we would need a separate empshield for the 12V system of the RV…though they are wired together through an inverter/converter so that various lights and plugs work (regardless of whether the RV is plugged in) and batteries can stay charged when you are plugged in to city power.  

    Can anyone validate these claims of the empshield providing electrical surge protection merely by being plugged into an outlet within the storage bay of our RV??  We have a “residential”-type breaker box AND “automobile”-type fuse panel with another handful of breakers.  We almost bought one of those plugs that go in ahead of the 50AMP power cord into the campground hook-up…or one that hard mounts into your RV somewhere (so it can’t be stolen).  But then the empshield showed up from grandma!  Can I trust it to do the same job and protect my stuff from sketchy campgrounds and/or other electrical events that would otherwise require surge protection for your RV??!!  HELP! (THIS IS A DECENT CAMPGROUND …BUT I WANT TO HIT THE ROAD LATER THIS YEAR AND DON’T WANT TO RISK MY HOME TO BAD ELECTRICITY AT SKETCHY HOOK-UPS.)

     
  • 3

    Robert LarsonContributor - June 20, 2021

    Just plugging it into any ol’ outlet does seem a bit too good to be true at first glance for me. I would think it would have to be plugged in at the beginning of the circuit to protect everything down stream, but I really do not know much about electrical systems though to give you an educated guess of if that would work or not.

    Can I ask you a bit about the RV life? How do you like it? How do you prepare the best you can when in such a small area?

    My wife and I have been thinking of going full time RVing but not having my large food storage and other preps would certainly be something I would struggle with. 

     
  • 3

    Robert LarsonContributor - June 24, 2021

    Saw a reddit post the other day from another prepper trying to use a EMP shield that he won for free in a contest. Many in the comments say it is a scam as well.

     
• 3

  Brian King - May 1, 2021

  Two questions:

  1. If your vehicle (European late 80:s or early 90’s) was parked and turned off, would an EMP damage it?

  2. If it was parked and turned off and damaged, what spare parts ought one to keep on hand to rectify the damage?

  Thank you for considering these queries. 

   
  • 5

    Robert LarsonContributor - May 1, 2021

    Hey Brian, the article answers your questions let me highlight them for you:

    To your first question:

    • The newer the car, the more vulnerable it is to HEMP.
    • Pre-1970’s cars are best, but are probably still vulnerable, depending on various factors.
    • Any car of any make/model/year needs its critical electrical parts to be protected by a metal Faraday cage for best results.

    Here’s a brief, incomplete list of the factors that will determine how your car responds to a HEMP:

    • The size and elevation of the nuclear blast
    • Geographic and seasonal variations in the earth’s magnetic field at both the location of the blast and the location of the vehicle
    • The location and physical orientation of the vehicle with respect to the blast
    • The amount and position of the metal parts of the car
    • The number, locations, and designs of the critical electronic systems inside the car
    • The length of the wires and cables attached to the vehicle’s electronics

    So in summary, its almost impossible to say. There are so many factors to say if something will be safe or not.

    To answer your second question:

    You are going to have to be able to diagnose and test particular parts after your car is fried to figure out what the culprit is that was damaged. Could be the electronic fuel injector, engine control unit, or many other things. And unless you buy all these parts and place them in a faraday cage and swap them all out and know how to do everything, it just isn’t very likely a normal average joe will be able to fix their car and the sensitive electronics that can be damaged. At least I don’t feel comfortable in my car knowledge on how to fix computer units on a vehicle.

    If you really want to go down that rabbit  hole, something that might work is getting a paper repair manual like from Chiltons and learn how your car works. Maybe disconnect various fuses and unplug different things and see if the car will still start up and work. Only do this if you are very confident in your work though. Don’t take this lightly and disconnect an important part of your vehicle that will wreck it or make it unsafe to drive like disabling the ABS brake system. Again, don’t recommend this, but if you had a fun project car (not your daily driver) and had the time and knowledge, that might be a way to learn a bit more about what are the bare bones that your vehicle needs to operate.

    —————-

    And then to end, I just want to highlight a paragraph from the article. While an EMP proof vehicle would be fun and a good prep, make sure you have the basics down first.

    “An EMP-proof car that can survive outside a Faraday cage doesn’t meet the “sane prepping” criteria for a very long list of reasons we’ll get into in a moment. So unless you’ve got all your other preps squared away, and have a lot of time and money to dedicate to this obscure, complicated prep, the sane prepper case just cannot be made.”

    ————

    An EMP proof car isn’t something I’m going to be prepping for. I might one day get a bare bones dirt bike or go kart that doesn’t have any electronics, that can still get me around after SHTF, is cheap, and can be used during normal times. 

     
• 4

  jb - May 24, 2021

  Hi,

  I read your article (more than once!) and literally the next thing I read was interesting information at: 

  https://Disasterpreparer.com

  While I follow your logic about EMP likelihood, it seems to me that likelihood, however small has increased since you wrote this article.

  The principal behind the purported vehicular EMP-protective devices sold at that website is a Ph.D. scientist, literally a rocket scientist, current or former NASA employee. I have watched his YouTube videos and studied his website. I am NOT a rocket scientist or physicist, but I have a working knowledge of physics. His work and presentation are compelling.

  Putting aside the arguments about “sane” prepping, solely on the basis of the physics presented, what is you/your consultant’s opinion as to the merits of the EMP/CMP mitigation presented by Dr. Arthur Bradley?

  Thank you in advance for your help, and your thoughtful article.

  Kind regards!

   
  • 5

    Josh CentersContributor - May 24, 2021

    Dr. Bradley is legit. I wrote about his EMP trash can design a while back.

     
  • 5

    jb - May 25, 2021

    That is my impression also! Thanks so much for cofirmation. Also forwarding link of your article to my brothers. Kind regards, John

     
  • 4

    jb - May 25, 2021

    Hi again Josh!

    I went to your page and noticed you are a HAM radio operator. Not sure how to email you or correct place to pose this question. I am working on my technical and general licenses and hope to take the exams the same day. Beyond local comms my goal is to be able to be in touch with family on the far side of the US from me in a SHTF scenario with repeaters down. Is that possible via SW with general license and right equipment, or am I dreaming? Have looked but haven’t found the answer to this specific question, although haven’t started studying for general license yet. If you have an article on this, please let me know. I promise I’m not gonna bug you again! ATB! John

     
  • 5

    Josh CentersContributor - May 26, 2021

    Hi John, I answered a similar question recently in the forums. Yes, HF can easily reach across the United States, depending on your radio, antenna, and solar activity, but your loved one(s) will also need a license and the right equipment. I’d look at a 100-watt HF radio like the Icom IC-7300. If you can figure out Winlink, you can send email through HF so they don’t need special equipment if they’re online. Or you could get a satphone.

     
• 6

  johnny - June 2, 2021

  hello, i’ve follow some solutions, like dr. Bradley suggest but every solutions fails to modern cars, modern cars have so many gaps and electronics, for example almost any car from 15 years ago have a key module fo security reasons, the key have a code (chip) that if the key module of the car do not recognise i can’t start up my car, so finally i gave up to use my car as bug out vehicle, i’ve used my motorcycle in other emergency situations like earthquake in 2017 in mexico city and somentimes is the only vehicle that can move around streets with fallen buildings, and i can push it over a car, since its a lightweight just 140kg, hope my recomendation works for someone else and just have some peace of mind, by the way the motorcycle has to be carburated and use cdi ignition , just keep 2 or 3 cdi units and ignition coils in a faraday cage, my 150cc motorcycle give a good fuel mileage in my case around 70mpg and i’ve done long trips on it, maybe its not the best option but its better than been stranded…. see ya!

  if someone need a recomendation of some motorcycle, feel free to text me 🙂

   
  • 5

    Sir Henry - June 4, 2021

    After reading this article, it seems to me that while my car may possibly be alright after an EMP, I don’t want to rely entirely on that maybe. Your suggestion of the simple and lightweight motorcycle is a good one.

     
• 1

  Chris - September 8, 2021

  Excellent article, however one thing that most people forget about. And have it in the kitchen draw , good old fashioned cooking foil. 
  As with the emergency sleeping bag or blanket of which is made of foil to reflect your body heat to protect you from hypothermia (freezing to death)

  This stuff would work in reflecting the EMP plus.

   You watch if you put a small foil into your Mircowave over 

  it sparks (Y) because the EMP waves generated by the electron can not penetrate the foil. 
  So you basically wrap up the electronic stuff in your car and any wires leading from or to it . 

   
  • 1

    Gideon ParkerStaff - September 8, 2021

    Glad you enjoyed the article Chris. I have made some smaller faraday cages from aluminum foil before, but that wouldn’t it be a bit hard to locate all the electronics in your car and wrap them properly with how much of a computer cars are today? 

    There’s wires going to all corners of the car and it’s pretty hard to locate them all and wrap them properly because they are inside of panels, under carpet, or even in the roof lining. 

    Definitely a good solution for some smaller objects like a laptop or radio though.

     
• 2

  bison 2.0 - January 2, 2022

  Would a emp fry a 1980’s snowmobile ignition coil and spark plug? Does it matter if the electrical system on the machine is grounded to the frame?

   
  • 1

    Paulino Martin - January 2, 2022

    I am not an expert by any means but I reckon that the ignition coil and spark plug would be safe. EMP’s are mostly detrimental to the small transistors and other small sensitive electronics. 

    Now I do question if having the electrical system grounded to the frame is the best thing though. You would think that it being grounded would be good to dissipate the current but you also have to consider that if an EMP hits, that entire frame will take that charge like a giant antenna and funnel that directly into the electrical system.

    Something to think about…

     
• 2

  Ray - March 5, 2023

  So Jon I had a thought. Like the cautionary at the gas station telling you to discharge the static from yourself before pumping gas to in order to avoid a spark and ignition. Static charge is around us 24/7 like mini lightning. Like mini emps. I remember in the 60s and 70s commercial vehicles like buses had some sort of dangly on the back of their rigs touching the ground in order to discharge any Sparks that may be admitted during fill up to avoid explosion. So here’s my aha moment, an extremely cheap if it would work. Could you use the roof rack or any other attachment on your rooftop of your car truck etc as a collection point for the EMP and route that collector down to ground literally the asphalt in order to discharge that EMP? I know some people that had access to lead paint would paint their rooftops of their trucks buses RVs etc when crossing border crossings because of the high amplitude x-ray machines they use at border crossings to avoid getting fried. Let me know your thoughts on this and the possibility of it working because you could use rolls of tin foil or some alloy cheaply and avoid these costly scams and snake oil salesman selling you thousands of dollars of equipment that may or may not work. And thank you for your input and enlightenment

   
• 1

  Carl Eberling - May 22, 2023

  Any thoughts on people separately inventorying electronic parts for their vehicles inside a safe faraday storage facility?  So they would get dirty replacing parts after the fact.  Know of any easy way to get the target inventory for different models, different years of vehicles?