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Which lighter is best for use in cold weather?
Jay ValenciaContributor - May 16, 2022 Many people (including The Prepared) say to carry a butane powered BIC lighter.
While I do agree that they are great because they are cheap ($1-1.50/each), pretty dumbyproof, don’t evaporate fluid, and just work, they do not work the best in cold weather. To test this I placed five lighters in my freezer for 30 minutes and noted the results.
The two lighters on the left in the picture above are regular Zippos that run off of lighter fluid. The three lighters on the right are two standard butane BIC lighters and a Zippo lighter with a butane torch insert.
The two lighter fluid Zippos work off of having a liquid fuel suspended in cotton that evaporates up the wick. When pulling these straight from the freezer they did not light on the first strike but required about 5 seconds to warm up just that little bit to start evaporating the fluid. It lit to a full strength flame and worked every strike there after.
The two BIC lighters had to be warmed up in my hand for about 20 seconds before the smallest of flames would be released. Even a couple minutes after being removed from the freezer they still had very small and weak flames. The Zippo with the butane torch insert was the worst of them all. It was very very cold and required many minutes in my hand to be able to light.
Summary – Butane does not function well in cold temperatures. If a butane lighter is part of your EDC or emergency bag these will need to be placed in a pocket close to your skin and warmed up before use.
The trouble with the lighter fluid fueled lighters are that they do evaporate unless they are sealed with an O ring like a peanut lighter. If you don’t EDC one of these and fuel them up weekly, then storing them dry in your bag and having a small 4oz bottle of fluid ($3 at Walmart) or storing fluid in a fluid canister are options in an emergency bag.
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Book Review: “The Drought-Resilient Farm”, by Dale Strickler
brownfox-ffContributor - May 16, 2022 (image credit: “drought” by dasroofless is licensed under Creative Commons – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
In May 2015 a tornado hit Dale Strickler’s hometown and delivered four and a half inches of rain in 20 minutes.
While all of the neighbouring farms had water pouring off the field in several-foot-wide streams – Strickler’s field absorbed every drop of water.
For him this was the proof that his several-decade quest to improve land management and be better able to prepare for, avoid, and weather drought was paying off.
His techniques worked.
This book is a summary and synthesis of collected wisdom.
History
Strickler grew up on a farm in Kansas. In his youth he often watched his father work frustratingly hard on the family farm, only to have their crop ruined by drought. Strickler became an agronomist to better understand how to prevent, avoid, and combat drought. Decades later – after years of experience, experiments, education, and interviewing many drought survivors – he has been able to prove his techniques work. In one example, during a massive, historical drought in 2012, his fields were retaining moisture and his crops produced normal yields, while across the fence neighbour farm crops were dying.
Recipe
“The Drought-Resilient Farm” is a short, easy read. But the techniques and attitude changes it contains are invaluable.
As Strickler puts it himself, the recipe to avoid drought is deceptively simple:
“Get water in”: Increase infiltration of rainfall into the soil, and decrease runoff. Capture the water you get. “Keep water in”: Increase the amount of water the soil can store. “Get water out”: Help the right plants use the water efficiently, when needed.“Like so many other worthwhile endeavors, however, the devil is in the details”.
Proactive Prevention
Strickler’s book is divided into three parts. The first part details the proactive steps you can take to capture water, retain water, and use it well. This includes a practice of no-till (not breaking up the land). Despite some belief – tilling soil actually decreases its ability to absorb moisture. It also destroys organic matter. Strickler advises not tilling.
Next on the list is employing mulch: “Perhaps no other practice improves water movement into the soil surface more effectively than creating and maintaining a mulch layer”. Mulch absorbs the energy from falling rain, and prevents the impact from destroying the soil surface. This allows water to continue down into the soil when pore spaces are intact.
Finally Strickler is an avid fan of cover crops – using these to retain soil moisture; create a layer of surface mulch; and have a backup source for feed when needed. He goes into detail about many other practices – from diagrams of landforming terraces, retention dams, and vertical mulching; to the benefits of mycorrhizal fungi.
Strickler points to a very visible experiment – the USDA Rainfall Simulator – that makes it easy to see the results of his techniques. In one jar with common corn-growing agriculture techniques almost no water reaches below the soil. In another jar that follows Strickler’s regimen of soil care, nearly all of the water is kept.
On the topic of keeping water inside the soil, Strickler has advice about removing weeds (so they don’t use or transpire the moisture); planting perennials for windbreaks; interseeding plant types; and more uses for cover crops. He has been able to expand his soil’s water supply from storing 16 days of water during the peak summer season to storing 53 days of water. As you can imagine this allows plants to go much longer without rain before getting stressed or needing irrigation.
Finally Strickler discusses growing good, deep roots and breaking up the soil. He discusses *not* tearing up the land with subsoilers or machines; for the main limit on root growth depth is actually oxygen penetration. He has a good discussion on growing crops like radishes with large taproots to help break up the soil and get oxygen down inside.
Using What You Have
Part 2 of the book discusses management strategies for livestock, water supply, and feed. Strickler has many useful techniques to make the most of your land, plant, and feed resources in the correct order to avoid overgrazing and lengthen your drought-tolerance window. Again this includes interseeding various crops. Strickler’s strategies are a solid demonstration of the possible beneficial partnerships between plants, animals, and human stewards where resources can be reused and recycled, and the whole is better than the sum of the parts.
Finally Strickler concludes his book with a practical checklist of actions to take before, during, and after a drought to minimize impact. He provides a high-level plan for future agriculture in drought-prone areas. Each of the chapters ends with a clear and useful chapter summary that makes it easy to recall and use the important tips.
A Positive View For The Future
Strickler’s book is uplifting and encouraging: he views drought not as an unavoidable, entirely natural disaster; but as something mostly man-made. He lists the main causes of drought as destruction of vegetation and bad agricultural practice. This is encouraging – it suggests that we do indeed have the ability to improve our situation and reduce or avoid disaster ourselves, by planning smartly, and then working hard. It points to an opportunity for us to be good stewards of the earth. Indeed: it is telling that 95% of the book’s content deals with pre-planning and preparations to take *beforehand*, to mitigate drought and avoid it entirely. The remaining 5% of content is actions to take during the actual drought.
As someone who grew up on a farm – I highly recommend this book to anyone who has land, livestock, or access to a garden. All of the advice makes sense and is doable. Perhaps you can apply it in a community garden near you. I hope that by sharing the spirit and proven techniques of this book I can do a small part to raise awareness and help the whole planet improve resilience.
(edit: fix typo; add extra section header for easier reading)
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Publisher page – “The Drought-Resilient Farm” Author essay on mulch Read More
Helpful bugs in your garden – Don’t kill these!
Olly Wright - May 16, 2022 At least for me, when I see a bug inside my house I kill it or relocate it outside. But some bugs might be helpful in garden at eating other bugs that would otherwise take out your crop.
Here are some bugs that I learned about that can help in the garden, reduce the need for pesticides, and don’t look too creepy:
Ladybugs – Cute, usually left alone by other bugs so they won’t be eaten themselves, and they eat aphids, mealy worms, leafhoppers, and mites.
Tachinid fly – They lay their larvae in the backs of other bugs like caterpillars and moths. When the larvae hatch, they consume the host they have been planted in. SICK! But helpful…
Green Lacewings – They eat aphids, whiteflies, leafhoppers, and mealybugs
Fungus gnat predator – The only creepy looking one I’m adding on the list because of how helpful they are at eating fungus gnats, gnat larvae, and spider mites. I’ve had issues with fungus gnats before and they will destroy your plant, wish I had a few of these predators earlier.
Praying mantis – They eat moths, beetles, crickets, and caterpillars.
Spiders – I usually kill spiders because I don’t know the ones that could turn around and kill me. Self defense? But spiders are helpful in the garden at killing many various bugs so it’s best to leave them be.
Bees – You may be afraid of getting stung, but we need to save the bees. They bring fruit to your garden by pollinating the flowers.
Worms – If you find a worm, take it to your garden and they will aerate your soil and break down compost into rich fertilizer.
Toads – Not a bug, but a slug and bug killing machine. You may like one of these going around your garden than some of the creepy bugs.
Baby chicks – Baby and young chicks will clean up a garden of invading pests, but once they grow up they start to realize that they can eat the berries and other leaves of your plants.
You can buy many of these insects online, at your local nursery, or maybe a hardware store. For example, here are 1000 green lacewing larvae for $24
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Do you really need small portable solar power?
NewPrepper - May 15, 2022 Not trying to be controversial, just trying to think through the benefit of portable solar. Recently bought a 28W panel, which was damaged so I’m returning it but got me thinking that I’m not quite sure it’s place. To be fair, I have a 2200W inverter as well, and some way of generating more power is good. But I also have a couple battery packs, and tool batteries with a USB converter.
My current thinking is I have enough stored power for a short term disruption. I have fuel for on inverter to run it for maybe 40ish hours. And from past events it only needs run sporadically. We live in a hurricane zone so wouldn’t be my first round.
Anyway… I’m finally getting to my point (I think) small apartment, no storage, urban environment that you’d want to evacuate in SHTF scenario it makes more sense to get portable power generation. I’m more likely to bug in it seems, and if we get past my short term needs then being able to charge a mobile phone probably isnt gonna help. If we need to evacuate, the. It’s cause of a hurricane etc which is more localized and you can move to areas where power isn’t the issue.
So am I wrong? What am I missing or failing to consider? I know The Prepared advocates not fixating on a particular situation but also doesn’t advocate waste so I’m curious what people think.
On top of that I’m curious peoples thoughts on what common items for BOB/GHB etc maybe they don’t see as much use for. Just curious how people approach stuff.
Read MoreHow to prep for “slow collapse”
Rich DCContributor - May 14, 2022 In a sort of shout out to the blog post on ‘best preppier movies‘ the topic of “slow collapse” has been on my mind lately (while nervously looking around, wondering if it’s already too late?). Pardon if this has been covered already and I missed it.
The movie “Children of Men” is a great visual for this but it’s also a bit harder to wrap your head around – the sort of “frog won’t jump out water if its brought to a boil slowly” metaphor comes to mind. Bug out bags and off road cars are great in an emergency, but what are good strategies for like 10-20 year slow build up events? What sticks out to me in the movie is that the protagonist in that movie was still living their life, going to coffee shops in the morning, going to work, etc and would have been just fine for probably another decade if they’d kept their head down but their world was obviously, unequivocally falling apart (but then there is also that great subtle scene where the father figure kept his long driveway camouflaged to stay off the radar of people passing by, like thats some great world building and what I’m sort of driving at here).
By its very nature I think its hard to really predict this because you’ll have time to adapt and re-adjust your expectations as you go. You’ll get used to things and not see it as a building threat. I admit there is also the risk of a sort of “phase change” when the slow collapse passes a point of no return. Where the years of neglect eventually results in a quick catastrophic failure mode, but with such a failure mode “the pot boils over” and the usual “emergency plans” do become more relevant.
To be honest, I don’t think we’re *really* there yet, but I do feel like the last year and a half has been a great object lesson in what to expect: decreased availability, increased prices, lowered standards of living, deferment of “routine” health case and maintenance, a shrinking of tribes/social circles, and general increase in scarcity.
So, if you’ll humor a not totally pessimistic scenario – imagine if 2020-2021 is more like the warning shot and not the begging of the end, what would you do if you had 20-30 years of slow/gradual decline – before any sudden phase-change event?
Spend all your money before it’s purchasing power diminished? Invest more aggressively to adapt to cost of living increases and an uncertain future? learn to just do more with less and become more self reliant in general? Would you start stock piling items that you wouldn’t expect to fail for a decade, but might be much more scare/expensive but still technically available in decade? This one is really hard – is it better to save/invest money and pay a premium but have flexibility, or lock in now at a better deal but “guess” wrong on what you’ll need in the future? Look at an actuarial table, be glad if you don’t have kids, and live normally as long as you can? (I don’t mean that as a preferred strategy, just aware some might)I understand that most of the common advice still applies, and that self sufficiency is the name of the game for almost every scenario. I guess what I’m really asking is, in such a scenario is there a contrarian angle that might thrive, that might fly in the face of conventional wisdom, or even ‘conventional preppier’ wisdom?
Read MoreAR15 stock weight
grntrkguy1964 - May 12, 2022 I am considering getting a stock weight for a target match AR 15 rifle. Has anyone used/tried one? Is there any preceived difference in performance? Thanks!!
Read MoreInquiry: Spring sales on handheld ham radios
Colorado Jones - May 11, 2022 Good morning! I’m currently in process of studying for the Ham technician license and, in anticipation of actually passing the test, am shopping around for deals on new handhelds, most likely The Prepared’s “best for most” Yaesu pick or something similar. With that in mind, I was wondering if there are typically spring sales or Memorial Day sales that I should be keeping an eye out for or, if not, what the next best opportunity for a discount might be in the annual sales cycle. Thanks for your help!
Read MoreWhat are your 2022 prepping goals and plans?
Carlotta SusannaStaff - May 11, 2022 Even though time is a construct (ahem, indulge me) and new years resolutions are often moot, I find it useful to use the new year to take a step back, reflect, and see where I am with my needs and goals. Especially in prepping, where you are never finished preparing, it is easy to get overwhelmed and lost in the millions of things you need to do (at least that’s true for me). So these are the things I want to focus on this year:
CAR: Last year I moved my BOB permanently in my car and added a full level 3 IFAK kit that is separate from the BOB and easy to access (it’s redundant, but this way if I have to leave my car quickly I don’t have to worry about the IFAK as there’s already one in the BOB ). This year I’d be happy if I only added: traction pads, flares, and a triangle (yup, I’m still without a triangle). I’m also thinking of adding a wool blanket in case I get stuck in a wildfire and need to protect myself. The thought is terrifying but I live in CO and wildfires are a grim reality I have to deal with. The BOB already contains a half-face respirator and goggles, and because of Covid I also have a few N95 respirators laying around in my center console, which would help with smoke inhalation.
GARDENING: Last year I set up a very small raised garden bed and managed to grow only a few things (I started late in the season and didn’t know what I was doing). I still have a variety of seeds from last year and, even if I still don’t know what I’m doing, I want to be organized and start planting anything I can from the leftover seeds as soon as possible and on time. My goal is not to rely solely on this garden for fresh vegetables, but rather just to get in the habit of planning a garden, and learning new things. It’s also going to be a good test to see if those seeds still germinate.
MISC: I’m training to hike my first 14er this year and, apart from it being a good fitness challenge on its own, I want to take the occasion to learn how to find water in the wild by using a map and reading the environment. I’m not planning to rely solely on wild water during the hikes and will be always carrying the min. 2-3 liters of water that’s usually recommended, but it’s going to be a great opportunity to use those map skills often and become more confident in them. It’s also going to be a good way to start training to carry a BOB for a long time. Although the pack I’d be carrying on the hikes is not going to be as heavy as my BOB, it’s still going to be filled with basic survival supplies, water, etc and it might reach 15-20 lb. Once I get the confidence that I can carry a pack for hours in any type of environment and terrain, I can see challenging myself to carry a full-on BOB regularly on walks or hikes.
There are still bazillion things I want and need to do, but I’d be totally happy if I just got these things done. What are your plans for this year?
P.S. Check out this excellent forum post about prepping challenges and experiments.
Read MoreWater purification priorities
Russell - May 10, 2022 There’s a few methods to purify water but I was wondering how they should be prioritized if you have all of them. Say you’ve been a good prepper and have the following…
– Water filtration (HydroBlu inline + backup LifeStraw)
– Water purification tablets (chlorine)
– A clear bottle for solar disinfection (SODIS)
– A hard canteen you can boil in, plus lighter/matches
– Bandana
The day is young, the sun is out, and you’re staring at a puddle. After you’ve scooped up as much as you can, what item or combo of items do you reach for first? And second, third, etc. Of course, you have no idea how long this emergency will last.
I’m writing a short guide for myself / my partner on how to prioritize gear use for safety and longevity. For instance, boiling requires fuel, so it wouldn’t be my first pick.
Read MoreMakeover of a pre-assembled BOB in 1 week and $125
pnwsarahContributor - May 9, 2022 Last weekend I pulled my husband’s BOB out from its storage spot and did an inventory. He bought it pre-assembled when we first started dating (and I said, “You have an earthquake kit, right?”) and I remember going through it at one point, but I had forgotten how long ago that was and how crummy the kit was to begin with. (I don’t know what I thought about who was maintaining it during this period of time.)
At first, I thought it would take a lot of time and money to rectify the situation, but then I found a ton of extras and replacements in the house, spent $125 on new stuff, and one week later, the bag is SO much better. It’s not “done”, but I’m really pleasantly surprised at what a difference I was able to make. I thought I’d share it with you all to celebrate this small prepping win, and also because it might prompt some interesting discussion about where these pre-assembled kits fall down.
On that point, I feel like the biggest gaps between what we got in the pre-assembled kit and my husband’s actual needs were in the following areas:
IFAK. I give the kit maker credit for including a triangle bandage and safety pins in the FAK, but the rest of it was basically bandaids, and I don’t see the point of including trauma shears if you include none of the other materials one would need in the scenarios in which one needs shears. The “improved” kit still needs a lot of work, but my husband doesn’t have a lot of first aid knowledge, so I think training should be the priority for him here. In the meantime, I was able to improve the kit a lot by adding a lot of basic OTC medicines in small Ziplock bags that I already had on-hand, as well as useful things like oral rehydration solution. Toiletries. His had a lot of cheap stuff that he didn’t actually need and wouldn’t make him comfortable. Power/charging. It makes sense that the pre-assembled kits don’t include charging cords, since that has to be customized to one’s own electronics, but this was a major hole in the kit, and a power bank, wall plug, and charging cable set me back $40.The “survive outdoors” stuff in the kit was also pretty bad, but given our particular circumstances, that doesn’t bother me too much: I’m against buying BOB duplicates of our better-quality backpacking and camping gear that we use regularly, so I’m fine with a cheap tube tent and mylar sleeping bag as lightweight, low-volume insurance in case we don’t have time to grab the better stuff on our way out the door.
The thing that bugs me most about his BOB right now is the quantity of cotton clothing, but we have some pretty good used outdoor gear stores here that I plan to hit for synthetic replacements and a fleece.
Here is a list of the CURRENT contents of his BOB, broken down by categories. Everything with an asterisk (*) is a new addition, (†) indicates new purchases. Aside from power, most of the $$$ were spent on a better food and water setup.
FOOD & WATER
Lifestraw* 27 oz. Klean Kanteen, single-walled, filled* 30-pack Katadyn Micropur Purification Tablets*† 2 Coast Guard-style ration blocks*† (1 replaced from home supplies, 1 ordered) 5 tea bags of his favorite tea* (Note: I have a stove to heat the water.) 1 collapsible mug*†SHELTER, WARMTH, & LIGHT
plastic tube tent 1 mylar sleeping bag 2 single-use hand warmers (almost certain they are expired, but they’re light) 1 rechargeable headlamp 2 lighters* (had 1, added 1) an unknown, but volumetrically large quantity of very cheap cordage 1 “5-in-1” survival tool consisting of a whistle, a tiny compass, a tiny signal mirror, a very tiny and questionable “flint”, and a compartment for matches (came without matches) 12 stormproof matches* packet of dryer lint “tinder”*CLOTHING
1 cotton t-shirt 1 pair jeans 1 pair long underwear bottoms* 1 warm hat 2 pair of socks* (had 1, added 1) 2 pair of boxers* (had 1, added 1) 1 old down jacket 1 old rain jacket 1 plastic poncho 1 bandana*TOILETRIES
1 travel toothbrush 1 travel toothpaste 2 oz. Dr. Bronner’s*† 2 oz. hand sanitizer* 1 compact roll of toilet paper (i.e., no cardboard tube)*† 1 Paper Shower* 3 pair ear plugs* 1 eye cover*† 1 chapstick* 1 pair nail clippers*INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION
1 walkie talkie and charging cord 1 very crappy hand-crank radio evacuation list* (things to grab in addition to the bag if we have a few minutes) photos of us together and with our dog* names, addresses, and phone numbers for various friends and relatives emergency information specific to our city the “critical information sheet” I made with all of our insurance policy numbers, claims department phone numbers, the dog’s vaccine info and microchip numbers, regular and emergency vet contact info, our most recent vaccines and doctor and dentist numbers, etc. detailed street maps for 3 West Coast cities small Rite in the Rain notebook*† pen, mechanical pencil, sharpieTOOLS
1 off-brand Swiss Army Knife-style multitools (the big kind with a scissors) 1 credit card-size Fresnel lens*IFAK
8 cleansing wipes 5 Q-tips, sterile 4 gauze pads (2 sizes) 1 pair trauma sheers 6 pair nitrile gloves* (kit came with 1 pair, which I put in an exterior pocket for ease of access; other 5 are in the kit) 1 CPR mask 1 triangle bandage 4 safety pins 1 pair tweezers 1 teeny tiny roll of medical tape 65 bandaids in varying sizes Coban roll* 3 packets oral rehydration solution* 20 Benadryl* 11 Acetaminophen* 6 Naproxen sodium* 20 Ibuprofen* 6 Loperamide* 5 mini-Ziplock bags for storing medications (dosage info written on these)*POWER
1 Novoo Explorer power bank*† 1 USB wall plug*† 1 USB A to USB C charging cable*†MISC.
1 KN95 mask* 1 cloth mask* 1 reusable half-face respirator* 1 packet of respirator filters* swim goggles* 1 deck of cards heavy gloves cash extra Ziplock and trash bags, varying sizes*And here is what I removed from the pre-assembled kit:
12 packets of emergency drinking water, expired 2 Coast Guard-style ration blocks, expired 1 very flimsy “can opener” that looks far more likely to open one’s hand than one’s can 1 mylar sleeping bag 2 glow sticks 2 plastic ponchos 1 vinyl bag for toiletries, so stiff and sharp-edged that I nearly cut myself trying to open it 1 travel toothbrush 1 tiny hotel soap wrapped in paper 1 wash cloth 4 single-use shampoo packets (my husband shaves his head; it would take a long time for him to really need any shampoo, let alone three packets’ worth) 2 menstrual pads (my husband does not menstruate) 1 large plastic comb (as long as he has trauma shears, he won’t have hair long enough to need this 😀 ) 1 disposable plastic razor 1 travel-size shaving gel 1 roll of toilet paper (like a giant normal one from the bathroom, with the cardboard inside) 1 off-brand Swiss Army Knife-style multitool (there were two) 4 cleansing wipes 5 cotton balls, packaged to be sterile approximately 2 million-minus-65 bandaids Read MoreReview: Xtar 100W semi-portable solar panels and 678W battery pack
Gideon ParkerStaff - May 9, 2022 The Prepared was sent over a sample power station and solar panel by the company Xtar Direct. After a few weeks of testing I have to say that it is a pretty good off-grid power solution for medium draw devices.
The solar panel
The 100W solar panel surprised me with its build quality and efficiency. In direct sunlight it produced a steady 110 watts and even when it was overcast and cloudy it could still ink out 20-25 watts. The panel is slightly flexible, is able to fold in half during transport, and is held together using strong magnets. It features a pouch on the back that houses the generous 10 foot cable with extra room to spare. The cable has a DC7909 (8mm) port, so you will need an adapter if your power station doesn’t use this type of connector. Two adjustable kickstands are attached to maximize the output from the sun.
One of the downsides of having a lightweight panel is that it is easily blown in the wind. After two days of use, I noted that the wind was scooting it forward against the asphalt and was starting to wear down the points of contact. To protect it from wearing down further, I placed some binder clips where it comes in contact with the ground. I would have liked to have the edges dipped in rubber to be more durable and prevent sliding.
To prevent the panel from blowing away, tipping over, or sliding and wearing against the ground, I took various measures to keep it stable. I laid out an old pair of jeans along the front edge of the panel to protect it from the asphalt. A smaller piece of denim was placed on the back kickstands as those are just made of fabric as well. I made two sand bags and tied the top edges to it with some scrap paracord. The sandbags prevent the panel from blowing forwards, and the power station nestled under the panel keeps it from blowing backwards. Another benefit to placing the power station under the panel when charging is that it keeps it cooler in the shade of the panel to prevent the batteries from overheating, and shelters it from any rain that might come down.
Overall, I am very happy with this panel. I love how lightweight it is, easy to transport, the magnets holding it closed are nice, and it pumps out more electricity than advertised. My one recommendation to Xtar is to dip the edges in rubber to prevent slipping and wear.
The power station
This is a well built power station that will hold up to moderate use. I liked the very thick and grippy rubber bumpers on the bottom, easy to grab handle, and 11 pound lightweight build. It packs in 568Wh of lithium ion batteries that will retain 80% of their original charge after 800 discharge cycles. There is a 500W pure sine wave inverter which can handle a 1000W surge load. Packed with two full sized AC wall outlets, three USB-A ports, a DC cigarette lighter port, and two additional DC outlet ports you don’t need much more than this.
The user manual was poorly translated and led to some confusion. And maybe it is just me, but I could not figure out what the giant ‘678W’ stood for on the front of the unit. It didn’t mention this number in the manual or on their website, so I had to contact their customer service team to find out and they said that the 678W is the output of all the ports combined. 678w= AC(500W)+ DC(140W)+ USB(10W+10W+18W).
When testing the USB ports, I was only ever able to pull 6W out of any of them. When all three USB ports were loaded I was drawing 26W. I don’t have a USB multimeter, and was just going off the display of the unit of what it says it was drawing.
The display tells all the info you need such as how many watts are coming into the unit when charging, how many are going out during use, the remaining percentage of battery capacity, and which outlets are being powered. The display is great indoors, but difficult to read outside in the bright sun.
For many days I put this unit through some real world tests and it handled things excellently! I ran a giant old TV and video game console, Dremel rotary tool, lamp, computer, and monitor. Not all at once, but one or two together at the same time and it all worked well.
When running my desk setup off of it (laptop, monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard, USB hub) I was able to start with 98% at 10am and run till 6:40pm and still have 37% left over. This desk setup only drew between 40-50W, so not too draining. I did run into a weird quirk however when powering my work desk devices. If I was powering everything at the same time, just the monitor, or even just the laptop I would experience constant turning off and on randomly with my keyboard and mouse in the USB hub. So weird that the power station would influence that even if it was just my monitor being powered by it and the monitor is only connected to my laptop through an HDMI cable.
The included 100W wall charging brick comes in a nice pouch and works flawlessly, but I did run into an issue when charging the power station with the solar panel. I would set everything up and leave it out to charge in the sun only to find out later that it wasn’t charging. Xtar had a very responsive and personalized customer support team, so A+ for that, and they informed me that there was a charge procedure issue with the power station and that I would not run into this issue if I depleted the unit below 40% and started charging from there. So I drained the unit to 5%, plugged it in and it charged the entire day without issue. But whenever I start the solar panel charging at say 55%, it will only charge like 6% and then stop. If I unplugged the charging cable, waited 30 seconds, and then plugged it back in, it would start charging at the full 110W again for a couple more minutes.
Unfortunately, this power station seems to be a Chinese white label product from what I’ve seen. That means that a company in China makes a ton of these with no branding, sells them to various companies who just put their sticker on them and say that it is their product. This model can be bought in bulk on Alibaba.com for $252, then one sticker later they turn around and sell it for $370.
How does it compare to other power stations?
At $370 for the power station, $270 for the solar panel, or $600 for the combination when bought using that link for the power station, this is a very economical way to get into powering medium sized devices.
Quick comparison to more “name brand” power stations:
Xtar power station – $370 – 568Wh battery capacity – 2 AC ports
Jackery explorer 500 – $500 – 518Wh battery capacity – 1 AC port
Goal Zero Yeti 500X – $700 – 505Wh battery capacity – 2 AC ports
Summary
With the issue of the unit charging for only a few minutes while powered by a solar panel, it is a major irritation to constantly be sitting by it and unplugging and plugging it back in. But if you are just going to buy the power station and use the AC charger, then I highly recommend the Xtar power station as a cheap source of emergency power or as a unit you could bring camping.
Read More
Faucet for 55 gallon water drum
jaybee - May 7, 2022 I’m thinking about laying my barrels on the side and installing a faucet in the bung hole. I’m looking at this on Amazon:
I know that the threaded bungholes in the top of the drum are National Pipe Thread. The big one is 2″ NPT. The small one is 3/4″ NPT. This faucet could go in the 2″, but will I need to vent also (went I want to use the water?) I’ve been looking online and I’m stuck – help?
Read MoreStraw bale gardening – Turn last fall’s decorations into this spring’s raised garden bed
Olly Wright - May 6, 2022 Has anyone tried straw bale gardening? I have to say it is a creative and resourceful way to have raised garden beds.
The idea is that you take a straw bale, sprinkle a bit of potting soil on the top to start out the seeds, and the plants will then grow into and live off of the decomposing straw bales. This technique is nice because it doesn’t grow weeds, easy to care for, is raised up, and can even be placed down on concrete.
Some tips I read about:
Hay contains seeds, you need to use straw which is just the leftover stalks. You can wrap the straw bales in black plastic and have the sun cook and kill any remaining seeds that were left behind in the straw. Shorter plants work better than tall plants like corn which may tip over Read More
Let’s say there is recession Q3/Q4 ’22?
John Grayman - May 4, 2022 We have seen two inverted bond yield-indexes since the pandemic began; the first one was alleviated /avoided statistically (and perhaps part of why we have inflation). When the the GR hit around ’08, I was penniless and single. Now, as a middle of the road ‘Merican with a mortgage and some kiddos, I am very intrigued as to what I can do to prepare if a recession does come, beyond common sense/general family financial planning (hat tip ethics/advice from The Prepared)…
To a sharper point-what businesses and incomes did well during the Great Recession? Handymen and self-repair auto parts/service seems to survive when there isn’t enough money for something ‘new’ but rather needing a fix. Is lumber and building materials something viable/smart to stockpile?
Thank you all in advance for your experience and/or feedback shared!
Read MorePreps for people with physical disabilities and limitations or who aren’t in great physical shape
Jonnie PekelnyContributor - May 4, 2022 I’d like to start a thread where we can discuss how to best get prepared if you or a loved one is dealing with physical disabilities or limitations or isn’t in the best physical shape. I’m particularly interested in discussing scenarios where we have to bug out. I know it’s desirable that person be in good shape for physically strenuous activity in case of the need to evacuate, but let’s get real. Some people just aren’t. Life happens; age happens; disability happens. We all do our best. I see physical fitness as an important goal to have in mind for health and safety reasons, but not something we should feel bad about falling short of.
I have very personal reasons for starting this thread. I am in my 50s, not in great fitness shape, although not horrible. I have some repetitive usage disabilities and long standing foot problems and now some knee problems. Nothing extreme, but I’m pretty keenly aware that hiking out of Dodge with 25 or 30 lbs on my back would wear me out pretty darned fast. Honestly, I don’t know if I’d even make it a mile on foot. I also have a mother who is much MORE disabled, living part time alone after having a stroke two years ago.
I want to be practical so am looking for ideas of what I can do at my current size and shape and fitness level to prepare.
Read MoreHam radio for local communication
Greg Ustaszewski - May 4, 2022 Hi all. New here. Just found this site today. I’m hoping some of the more experienced preppers might be able to help me out. I earned my Ham Radio Tech license last August. My hope was that I would be able to communicate with my brother in law (25 miles east of me) and my nephew (20 miles southeast of me). We all purchased HTs. Unfortunately, I live on the wrong side of the hills and we can’t find a repeater that all three of us can reach reliably. We tried new HT antennas, mag mounts for our cars and even roof mounted antennas. No luck. My next thought was to get a mobile HF radio. Maybe one that works on six or ten meters, which our tech licenses allow us to use. I did try contacting our local ham club, but that was a dead end. They suggested I use Echolink (which worked) but it defeats the purpose of having an emergency backup when the internet/cell communications are down.
Any suggestions?
Read MoreNeed advice about BOB organization
Horror Coder - April 30, 2022 Hi, I’m fairly new to prepping excuse me in advance if maybe is a trivial topic I’m gradually making my 72hr BOB, it’s a general purpose one but with some gears userful in a countryside/wilderness settings. I’ve some trouble to organize all the stuff in a way that is easy to identify, retrieve and put away At the moment I’m working with what I have and small budget but open to spend some bucks if I find a decent solution. I prefer to use tech backpacks since I already have a couple of them (30 and 65lt) and the single big storage compartment make me wonder what could be the best approach to keep all your gears well separated in their specific categories (first aid, food, water, electronics, tools, warmth, hygiene, ect, ect) To organize my stuff I’ve used what I already had: a cheap roll bag a and some molle pouch (from my old softair playtimes), and at first I thought to build a sort of taylor made insert ( I don’t mind go into diy and do a bit of sewing) that fold like a book and fit into the backpack (something similar to the commercial Seventy2 pro system) but now I realize that probably all this contraption is adding too much weight (all molle pouches + a heavy fabric that keep them together) and probably is not so practical.
A photo of what I was doing so it’s easier to understand
So I’m a bit of stuck…should I ditch this idea and maybe simply use a collection of small and lightweight drysack with different colors (for identify the content) and put them inside the backpack in the most logical way based on weight and needs?
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The sun ☀️ is our greatest survival ally
Molly N. 😆 - April 29, 2022 During some morning meditation and reflecting, I thought about what an incredible resource the sun is to the survivalist. Here are some of my thoughts on how the sun helps us and if we study each method and learn how to capitalize on it’s ability, then we can become better prepared to survive. Feel free to add to the list if you have any thoughts.
Generating electricity through the use of a solar panel Cooking food with a solar oven Heating up a house by opening the blinds Disinfecting water that is placed in a clear bottle Providing vitamin D through our skin to keep us healthy Telling time by using a sun dial or just looking up in the sky for a general sense according to it’s position Helping us navigate. Rises in the East and sets in the West Brings life to our gardensThank you sun!
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Solar blanket (panels) by Off Grid Trek
JBinAZ - April 29, 2022 Do any of you own or tried the “28.5W Solar Panel, 23.8% Efficiency Rating, 1.1lbs” by Off Grid Trek?
I own two Ryno Tuff 21W Foldable Solar Panels, based on The Prepared’s extensive testing and recommendation. I am wanting to get one more, and want to diversify, as I believe in redundancy that is partially diversified in the scenario that one brand decides to crap out.
At $280, it is considerably more expensive than Ryno Tuff’s $50 offering. I am willing to pay more for a better product that will last longer (years). It also has a DC port.
As I’ve mentioned before, I live in the Arizona desert with temps upwards of 120F in the height of summer. We also have dust, wind and monsoon rains (oh, joy).
Your thoughts and input are appreciated 🙂
28.5W Solar Panel 23.8% Efficiency Rating 1.1lbs NO US SALES TAX!
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It can’t be said too many times…do your estate planning
July LewisContributor - April 27, 2022 I’ve posted this before but it really can’t be said enough. Get your affairs in order. EMPs are a possibility, but death is a certainty and unlikely, sudden, too young, too healthy, “But he worked out every day!”, “But I always thought I would go first!” deaths happen all the time. We just had one in our family.
Lots of good articles out there, I’m linking to one below. I would say the very FIRST thing everyone should do is check the beneficiaries on your accounts. Any bank account, retirement account, HSA, anything should have the person you intend listed as a death beneficiary and then have alternates. That way the assets go directly to your beneficiary on your death instead of going through probate – they have access to the funds right away. This is easy to do and doesn’t cost anything. After that you can get into your will, power of attorney, medical power of attorney, life insurance etc.
Finally, talk to your family. Make sure someone trusted knows what accounts you have, where to find your will, what your intentions are. possibly even share passwords with them if you trust them. If not, consider subscribing to a password manager service that can allow someone to have emergency access in the event of your death (e.g. LastPass).
Honestly, don’t spend another dime on ammo or #10 cans until you have dealt with this. It causes so much pain, stress, and heartbreak on top of an already heartbreaking situation when someone dies unprepared.
Sample article here – and there are lots more out there. https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/estate-planning
Read MoreTips for pets? – Pet Preparedness
Scott P - April 26, 2022 What are peoples plans and more importantly tips to dealing with pets in a situation where bugging out is prudent? We have two cats, both are leash trained and very easy to get into their crates. Travel by car is a non issue for them. We also have a gallon bag of food for them in my bag. I am worried about having to ditch the car though. Any hints on supplies we should have, training we should do, or any other things?
Read MoreChanges for/life in a world with reduced oil accessibility?
RS - April 26, 2022 I’ve been trying to find (or create?) a big list of approaches/technologies/products/ideas that someone could consider to a) reduce their oil dependence in the present, or b) live life in a future with reduced/nonexistent oil/fossil fuel accessibility.
I want to look at these ideas to consider adopting some now or supporting my community to develop some of the ideas. Below, I’ve given examples.
Also, to be frank, I want a list of ideas to look at when I find myself doomscrolling through peak oil and oil dependence articles. Those articles describe the stakes and the scale of the problem, but at the end of them, I’m usually left thinking “what could I do to address the issue?” That uncertainty about what to do (for me at least) often results in more doomscrolling about the general topic. I want to break a spiral by pulling up a nice big list of concrete ideas for myself and/or my community. (Then once I’ve broken the spiral, I can actually evaluate which ideas are truly useful for me personally. But first, the list to break the spiral.)
So if you’ve got a recommendation for what to learn about or where to go to learn how to be less oil-dependent (whether through traditional approaches, or modern ones, or a mix) I’d be very happy to hear your ideas and resources.
Here’s some of my examples…
Food preservation: Create a root cellar (attached or detached to the home) to help preserve food without spending energy on active cooling/refrigeration. Food preservation: learn about fermenting (sauerkraut, kimchi, sourdough…) Food supply/production: Look up local farmers and figure out what products I could potentially purchase without relying on long distance trucking to bring it to my area (and identify what I can’t acquire locally) Food supply/production: Learn about household-level gardening techniques that don’t rely heavily on synthetic fertilizers, and make efficient use of hand tools vs power tools (like a scythe) Transportation: Live within an e-bike’s range for commuting to most places, and combine that with setting a back-yard solar system for charging the bike (these ideas don’t have to work for everyone, just pass along the ideas that might work for someone) Housing: Assess a home’s structure for retrofitting (insulation, passive solar) to reduce the energy inputs needed for heating/cooling. Housing: Learn about rocket mass heaters, modern/traditional woodstoves/wood boilers to supply heating energy via a resource that can be grown locally. (learn what it takes to grow a healthy “wood lot”) Clothing: Identify local resources and expertise for making and maintaining clothing (knitting and sewing hobbyists, local seamstresses/tailors, sources of fiber to make fabric, potential trade options if there’s no enough ) General energy: learn about household-level power generation like photovoltaic solar panels and evacuated tube-based solar hot water systems General energy: learn about community microgrids to generate (electric) power locally/in a distributed manner Societal structure: discuss my concerns with family, friends, community members, and elected representatives(And if you have website/book recommendations instead of individual ideas, happy to hear that, too!)
Read MoreWhat shortages/price hikes are you all anticipating?
CamilleContributor - April 26, 2022 I feel like I’ve seen a lot of news about higher fuel prices and an expectation that wheat will be in short supply and higher in price, but I was reading this article and found that Russia is one of the leading exporters of fertilizer. Fertilizer shortages could ultimately really impact agricultural yields globally. What shortages/price hikes are you all anticipating and prepping for?
Read MoreDisaster Burnout – How to recognize it and what to do about it if it happens to you or the people in your group
UbiqueContributor - April 26, 2022 Life in a state of global pandemic has taught us all a thing or two about stress, boredom, frustration, fear, anger, and grief.
In the early stages of the pandemic, people mounted shopping campaigns to secure as much toilet paper as possible. Frenzied shoppers scrambled to buy the last 20 pounds of flour and hoped there was still yeast left at the end of the grocery aisle.
Job hours were cut back or entire days trimmed from schedules until finally people were laid off for lack of work.
As the year wore on, people used credit to pay for expenses. Savings accounts were raided and left empty. Some countries offered financial assistance, but that assistance was finite. Those at the end of the pandemic financial programs stood on the precipice of a big, black void. What next?
When would this pandemic finally end and life would go back to normal?
Stress set in as the financial pressures mounted. Domestic relationships imploded under the weight of pandemic stress. Was it financial? Was it from spending just a little too much time together?
Or, were relationships failing because the pandemic had changed people? Partnerships are hard to maintain when the people in them turn inward and away from the other.
People had lost loved ones and were unable to even visit in the hospital as their family member lay dying. Proper funerals weren’t allowed and the associated community support for grief that comes with the ritual of a funeral.
The preppers who were better prepared at the onset of the pandemic still had to cope with many of the issues non-preppers faced, like job loss and grief.
I was prepared for pandemic and increased my preps before it was declared. It was nice to have PPE’s and a very well stocked pantry including non food items and I am grateful for that preparation.
But, today I am as weary of the pandemic as everyone else. When the pandemic was declared, we were all given a new set of rules about how to live. Masks and social distancing became the equivalent of little bubbles around us, invisible boundaries never to be crossed. We lost the ability to connect with each other in a spontaneous and joyful way.
When was the last time you were truly, spontaneously happy and carefree?
Even a visit with a generous supply of preps doesn’t perk me up.
I feel like the kid in the back of the car: “Are we there yet?”
Burnout is present when you go to sleep knowing that the next morning will probably not be much different.
Burnout is knowing that other people feel the same way and they are as powerless to change the pandemic as you are.
If the pandemic were a bus, I want to get off now, please.
One definition of burnout is physical and mental collapse.
Whenever I peer over the edge into these dark corners of prepping that are easier to ignore, I learn something that makes me a stronger, wiser prepper.
I don’t hide from the mental and emotional aspects of disaster because if I did, then how could I recognize burnout and the need to address it?
I feel my emotions and ride through the difficult ones so I can learn to manage them better when unpleasant situations provoke them.
So, here’s what I’ve figured out about burnout during this journey through a pandemic.
Any prolonged disaster is going to eventually provoke burnout. We are human and there is no point pretending that it won’t happen to us. Everyone will arrive at burnout sooner or later and want off the bus, too.
Remember the footage of the end of World War II from various countries? People were hugging and kissing and jumping into each other’s arms. Some were dancing in the streets. People were ecstatic because the war was over.
If all those people hadn’t been burned out, then their reactions would have been much different. “Oh, really, it’s over. *Yawn* How nice.”
We need to plan for burn out in ourselves or in our group. Burnout looks like depression, hopelessness, and fatigue. A person who is burned out is a jaded person who has had enough of the circus and just wants to go home.
Burnout can cause us or members of our group to make mistakes and errors in judgement that can have dire consequences.
Burnout if not addressed can affect the morale of the person’s group. It adds to their stress.
Every person has a different way of coping with burnout. If it happened to me in a high stress job, I changed jobs, fields and went off in an entirely different direction in order to challenge my brain and skills. It became a way to learn new things in a new environment and shake off the heaviness of burnout.
If the burnout wasn’t from a job, I took up new hobbies and taught myself new things from college level books that I put aside in my library.
If it was a relationship, it got better or I got out. Life is too short to live in a state of burnout, disaster or no disaster.
Burnout comes from working our brains the same way day in and day out. The remedy is to do something different. Change one big thing or a bunch of little things. Get creative.
Take the negative things that happen during a disaster and turn them into opportunities for learning.
Don’t ever completely grow up. Reserve a part of yourself that is free to be a child. This will help you remember how to play and not take yourself too seriously. It is invaluable in a disaster to be able to build a fort in your living room or dissolve into hysterics over a silly joke.
Laughter displaces burnout and drives it away.
My Mom, who survived the long occupation of The Netherlands in WWII, told me how they would laugh and make silly jokes, even during the really bad times. Sometimes, they sang or played games or talked about “some day” when it was over, what would be the first thing that they would like to do.
But mostly, they laughed because when they laughed they felt stronger, in their spirits, an intangible untouchable part of them that no one could steal from them.
Until she died at 86, my Mom was often mistaken for a woman much younger than her years. She still sang and her giggle was infectious. Her spirit was as strong as ever and no one could ever steal it from her.
When the going gets really tough in a long term disaster, I will deal with burnout by remembering her example.
Read MoreWhat’s worth canning?
Watermelon Samurai - April 22, 2022 I’d like to ask a question (ok, 2 questions) to the folks who are experienced with canning fruits and veggies:1) What fruits & vegetables do you prefer to can and what do you prefer to freeze? (Set aside the issue of the power going out and the freezer defrosting…)2) What fruits & vegetables have you canned that you won’t can again – because of the effort involved, change in color/texture, shift in taste, equipment needed, etc.
Thanks in advance!
-WS (a canning newbie)
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