It’s funny how electronics take over our lives. I just compiled a list of stuff I have that I either carry on me all the time or would consider taking with me in survival/camping/kayaking/outing situation.



1) Garmin Rino 120. It’s a GPS, no it’s a radio, no it’s an alarm clock, no it has games… It has everything I may need if I get lost. Power requirement: 3AA batteries.

2) Ipaq 5555. This handy PDA has medical programs, survival guides and all necessary info. Power requirement: 1 lithium polymer battery.

3) Arc LS. Flash light. I’m still amazed how thing so small can generate so much light. Power requirement: 1 cr123

4) Pelican M6 light. I raved about this light before. Very powerful for fraction of the price. Power requirement: 2 cr123.

5) Inova x5 light. Steady output of white light. Solid and reliable. Power requirement: 2 cr123.

6) Panasonic Portable DVD (LS70) player. I don’t have a TV at home but I love old movies. Plus when my girl comes along camping and she gets scared or bored there is nothing like a movie before she goes to sleep. Also 6 hour trips upstate in the car don’t seem so scary. I remember one cold night we are chilling out by the camp fire and we keep hearing broken words coming from the tent area. Than it started to sound like an argument. That I heard a weapon being cocked. I grabbed my shotgun and run back just to find out that my girl was watching a movie. Power requirement: 1 lithium ion.

7) Sony SW/FM/AM radio (Sony ICF-SW12 World Band Receiver). Great for rainy nights in the tent, weather/news updates, and entertainment.. Power requirement: 2 AA batteries

8) Proton 3 light in blue, red and rainbow. Small enough to be taken everyone, bright enough to come handy every time. Power requirement: 3 button batteries

9) Krill lights. I have about 4-5 of them. Never let me down. Strong, durable and saved me a bundle since I’m not buying regular snap sticks. Power requirement: 2 AA batteries each

10) Petzl Tikka/Zipka headlamp. Great for hiking, tasks around the camp and everything else you may do in the dark and need two hands (like fixing a broken pipe for example). Power requirement: 3 AAA batteries

11) Motorola Nextel I95 phone. Good phone and walkie talkie function makes it very easy to stay in touch with my crew and friends. Power requirement: Dedicated lithium Ion baterry.

12) Vertex VX-800 radio. With 200 channels I have all mayor frequencies programmed in for NYC. Power requirement: Dedicated lithium Ion baterry.

13) Various camera equipment. Just in case you haven’t figured out from my website I love photography. I have decent collection of cameras that I use on daily basis. Power requirement: dedicated lithium ion batteries, button batteries and cr123, cr2 batteries.

14) Digit BCI Pulse Oximiter. It’s more of the EMT gadget. It measures pulse and oxygen saturation in the blood. It gives me steady reading when I can concentrate on patient more and provides me with accurate data that shows me how patient responds to the treatment. Power requirement: 2 AAA batteries

Matt

Wow ... I have a suggestion for you - but a LOT of stock in Duracell or Eveready!

You have lot's of nice gear here!

With all those rechargeable batteries do you have a charger of anykind in your BOB / home kit / backpack / EDC?

Why have you made so little effort to standardize your equipment to a particular battery form-factor? There are power packs that you could use to drive these devices from a standard AAA formfactor through their external power ports if you don't want the battery to be the deciding factor in gear selection. Seems that you would have to be carrying a minimum of 2 C123's, 3 AAA's and 2 AA's and an assortement of smaller "watch" batteries to be able to replace all batteries in any 1 device should it run out. If all ran from the same form-factor then the most you would need to carry for that same level of backup would be the number of batteries taken by the largest device perhaps just 3 AAA's and if you chose to carry the same weight of batteries you now need you could carry 6 AAA's and be able to replace batteries in more than one device should two or more fail at the same time or during the same trip. As it stands now if your carrying minimum backup and your rino and your petzl went out at the same time you would have to choose which to power because you would have extra C123's and extra AA's but no more extra AAA's.

I have a rayovac rapid charger with 16 AA batteries and 6 AAA. I can connect it to any household outlet or in the car. I keep the charger in the car and at home. Cr123 (lithium batteries) are a problem because they cost buck and change each. I keep box of 20 at home and box of 20 in the car. I keep 16 pack of AAs and 8 pack of AAAs in the car and home. All my lithium battery chargers can be interchanged and will work of AC/DC current. Whenever I can I get battery adapters so I can use set of AAs instead of lithium I buy them. If necessary I can go to my dad storage room and have access to four Honda generators.

Also in survival situation all power gets to be conserved. GPS will not be on 24/7 but used only to establish position and get a bearing. I have radio channels assigned to my friends and we will communicate at specific times. I will also limit use of battery eating M6 to minimum and switch over to Inova X5 or a headlamp. Also if necessary batteries can be rewired AAA to accommodate AA and vice versa. The entire point again is conservation. I see people reading books for 4 hrs using flashlights. This is fine during camping trip but during survival is a no no.

Please do understand that a lot of the equipment that I listed is used as household items as well. I don’t have tv or good radio system or vcr or anything. So my portable dvd player and my radio work both as a household entertainment system and information source in case I need to keep up with the world. DVD player is not even on my list of items I grab when leaving the house. Same goes for camera gear. Even if it would fit I rather take 2 extra MRE meals. I don’t even bother with button batteries. I wrote off photon as a disposable item in survival situation. I keep spare batteries at home but if one gives out in critical situation it gets dropped.

I was thinking about getting a small solar power cell just in case.


Matt

Your list of carried power is certainly adequate. Having the generators to fall back on is probably overkill. Conservation is key as you say. My thoughts were more focused on the "walking evac" scenario where you will be carrying whatever you need for a potentially long evac / shelter situation. This is probably not something you prepare for since, as an EMT, you will be stuck in the thick of things and your gear will be supported by whatever support that there is. I am also an EMT and involved in ARES locally so one way or the other I will be working from whatever public supplies are available and it is more important that I have the needed tools than that I worry about carrying backup power for everything since I will probably be able to plug into the rig's power supply if I am doing Comm's or the Ambulance if I am operating as EMT. OTOH, I do have a "walk out" BOB for the occasion when I may be in a situation that is not my area of operation and the locals don't consider me part of the team. (somewhere out of state). In such a situation I become one of the dependant PHRASECENSOREDPOSTERSHOULDKNOWBETTER. with a few extra skills and a bit of gear. In those scenarios I want the BOB to contain only 1 type of battery so that I can cannibalize between the electronics easily to get the needed piece of gear working. If I had to pack out all the batteries you mentioned I wouldn't have much room for the other gear nor would I want to be carrying all that much weight in power.

Just some thoughts.

Yes I do understand you. And it is my long time worry as well. But... It is hard to get everythign in the size I want that would have one common battery source. I could have gotten a headlamp that uses AAs but it wouldn't be as small as ZIpka or Tikka. For now I keep AAs, AAAs and cr123s as primary source of power. At that's what is in my BOB. I'm pretty confident I can get my hands on AAs and AAAs; CR123 are my bigger worry. As my next to buy item on my list is a AA adapter for LS flashlight. Also you see a lot of things I have were gifts or items required by my corp. I had no saying in what I can get. A lot of times space we save on item size is gone when we need to carry parts for it. I agree that generators are over kill especially here in NYC but I have access to them and maintain them for my father so I may as well include them in the worst case scenario.

Matt

With all those appliances you might do with a 6 AH Sealed Lead Acid or Gell Cell in the BOB and a small power port device that would supply the required voltage / amp for each device through a set of anderson power-poles for the devices that have utility while stationary like the radios, DVD player - etc. That is what I do to power my Emergency comms rig. The SLA / Gel Cell battery is a bit heavy but I can get by with one battery, one charger (for the SLA Gel Cell) and one power panel and everycomponent, radio, amp, swrm, antenna tuner, Desk lamp will run on it. Heck I can even plug in my espresso machine for 1 brew but that just about kills the battery. (It was fun including that requirement in the power panel). This provides a decent couple of days of radio operations. I can't wait till I can exchange the SLA GelCell with an alcohol based fuel-cell! That will be a revolution in my carried electronics!

Here is a site with solar power solutions. They seem to offer a range of solutions. They have an "inverter" I think, and some other stuff so you can charge your batteries in the field.

I was thinking of something like this for backpacking with amateur radio. Finances says thats a long way off... but.. nice package.

http://www.ctsolar.com/

Note: There are probably more sites like this, I'm not endorsing it, as I've never bought anything from them.

Yeah it seem interesting. As suggested along the post I should really change/convert my multiple battery devices into single battery type. I looked into solar solution and like with everything size/weight and price is everything. So far i was thinking about this:

http://www.tadgear.com/x-treme%20gear/electronics/brunton_solar_port.htm

with this:

http://www.tadgear.com/x-treme%20gear/electronics/brunton_battpack.htm

This setup can charge 10 AAs in 7 hours. Also it can be serial linked which would cut the about time a bit as well.

Link that you provided has very nice transformed and flat panels even if big, fold flat and would make great addition to BOB kit for my car. But they are little steep on the price.

Thanks for the heads up. Maybe we can rob a bank together <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Matt

ps.
This also looks like a great idea.

Speaking of electronics invading our lives, I would think physical robbing of backs would be, so passe. <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I would really like to try solar, as it seems to be a great system. It will produce electricy whenever you have "adequate" sunlight. You can make the system standalone to charge batteries, or use it as a direct power source. From what I understand, you usually don't us it as a direct power source, as cloud cover will change the amount of power produced. Most radios operate off of 12V single battery, or AA's. If they normally come with a wall adapter, you can make your own "pigtail" (Using RACES style connector is probably best) to go between the device and the battery pack. You may need to find a way to convert voltage and amperage. I'm not sure how you do that. There is probably a neat little device for that.

Definately best to consolidate your batteries into a single type. Watch style batteries are probably so small, that you can take spares with you. It's the bigger styles I'd be more worried about.