Questions and Answers
When we watch the nightly news, we see protesters being gassed by police because the protecters had over stepped their 1st amendment rights of free speech by throwing rocks and lighting fires. We are supported to feel bad about them getting hurt and I don't believe main stream Americans feel anything but a little pissed off by the protesters. Hundreds of thousands of city dollars are going into repairing the damage and cleaning up the mess, tax payer dollars that are badly needed for police and fire support which is busy babysitting these lazy adults. First get a life and then get a job!
Getting down off soapbox!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Questions and Answers
Many preppers feel that depending on electric devices are a mistake if things go south of us and they do have some good points. But for devices like the Kindle and the IPad, I feel we are not thinking far enough ahead. My retreat already has a fully charged + 700 amp battery pack with 400 watts running into it daily. While not a big load is on it yet, it is there 24/7 for me to charge things without having to worry about losing the mains. Currently my Kindle DX (b/w) has over 700 books and manual on board it at all times and its battery is good for about 6-8 WEEKS on standby and about 3 weeks on daily usage. Recharging it using a USB port uses about 5 volts- 10 volts depending and about 5-10 watts total. So even a very small solar panel will charge it for years of use.
My IPad is the first generation one but has all the features of the IPad 2 except the cameras and works really well for everything that I do online plus it is my main Kindle reader because of the color screen and ease of use. Again it charges at 5 to 10 volts and about 10 watts but does have to be re-charged every day or so because of heavy use.
I have a new laptop and a desktop as well for everything else, mainly school work as I am a doctoral student in Psychology, and I have mostly written this blog on the laptop. But, even so I feel that in an emergency I can run a small refrigerator, my laptop and IPad, and lights on a daily basis without running low on electric power. And while I have already planned in 2-4 more 200 watt solar panels, it is the battery backup I am most concerned about long term because they are normal 12 volt deep cycle batteries and not good solar ones. This I do hope to correct this spring as we spend more time at the retreat.
Many preppers feel that depending on electric devices are a mistake if things go south of us and they do have some good points. But for devices like the Kindle and the IPad, I feel we are not thinking far enough ahead. My retreat already has a fully charged + 700 amp battery pack with 400 watts running into it daily. While not a big load is on it yet, it is there 24/7 for me to charge things without having to worry about losing the mains. Currently my Kindle DX (b/w) has over 700 books and manual on board it at all times and its battery is good for about 6-8 WEEKS on standby and about 3 weeks on daily usage. Recharging it using a USB port uses about 5 volts- 10 volts depending and about 5-10 watts total. So even a very small solar panel will charge it for years of use.
My IPad is the first generation one but has all the features of the IPad 2 except the cameras and works really well for everything that I do online plus it is my main Kindle reader because of the color screen and ease of use. Again it charges at 5 to 10 volts and about 10 watts but does have to be re-charged every day or so because of heavy use.
I have a new laptop and a desktop as well for everything else, mainly school work as I am a doctoral student in Psychology, and I have mostly written this blog on the laptop. But, even so I feel that in an emergency I can run a small refrigerator, my laptop and IPad, and lights on a daily basis without running low on electric power. And while I have already planned in 2-4 more 200 watt solar panels, it is the battery backup I am most concerned about long term because they are normal 12 volt deep cycle batteries and not good solar ones. This I do hope to correct this spring as we spend more time at the retreat.
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