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By Root 690 0

technology and tactics. Since modern tactical electronics are “force multipliers,” the lack of them would reduce the effectiveness of our defensive measures. Making up for that loss would necessitate having a lot more manpower. And providing more manpower requires more retreat floor space and more food. That additional food means more land under cultivation, and more land under cultivation means a larger perimeter to defend, and so forth. You can see where this logic leads: Instead of owning a little two-family, twenty-acre, low-profile retreat, you’d need ten to twelve armed and trained adults and perhaps forty to one hundred acres, depending on rainfall and soil fertility. Being the local lord of the manor is not conducive to keeping a low profile.

I’ve resolved never to let my family run out of batteries, even if the “problem” lasts for a decade. For my mobile power system, I started with a small, five-watt solar photovoltaic panel from Northern Tool and Equipment (northerntool.com), which I rigged to charge batteries using an “automobile” (twelve-volt DC) charging tray. The tray looks like a regular home charger, but it has a twelve-volt input power cable with a cigarette-lighter plug. This gives me direct DC-to-DC charging, without an energy-hogging inverter in the middle of the equation.

Try to get rechargeable batteries for as many devices as possible. Compatibility with rechargeables should be a key determining factor when selecting any electrical or electronic equipment. My favorite source for batteries via mail order is All Battery.com. They have great prices and a huge selection. If space permits, you should store all of your small batteries in a sealed bag (to prevent condensation) in the back of your refrigerator. This will extend their life.

Batteries for Long-Term Storage

If stored “wet,” typical automobile and deep-cycle batteries will sulfate to the point that they won’t hold a charge after eight or nine years. The way to avoid this is to store batteries “dry,” sans battery acid. Some of the larger battery distributors, including Interstate Batteries, will indeed provide truly dry batteries on special order. You need to be sure that you are getting batteries than have never been filled with electrolyte. And of course you will also need to procure some carboys of battery acid. Many of the “dry-charged” lead acid batteries sold have actually been filled, charged, and then drained. Though they will not degrade nearly as quickly as wet batteries, they will not store as well as the harder-to-find never-filled batteries.

If you do things right, with enough cash you could potentially buy yourself a thirty-plus-year supply of spare batteries for your vehicles and for your alternative home power system. They would also be an awesome barter item.

For Want of a Battery: The Importance of Photovoltaic Systems

Without those battery-powered items you’ll be at huge disadvantage. So with that in mind, you should invest in a small photovoltaic solar panel for battery charging, and a boatload of nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries. If you can afford to, buy a triple or quadruple set for each piece of gear that takes batteries. Even if you don’t use them all yourself, the extra batteries will be ideal to keep on hand for barter and charity. The NiMH low self-discharge (LSD) is currently the most reliable rechargeable battery on the market.

If you cannot afford a large battery bank of deep-cycle batteries, then at least buy a “jump pack” twelve-volt DC gel-cell unit. These are available with either 110 VAC (U.S./Canada) or 220 VAC (UK) utility power charging cords. You can then plug in a twelve-VDC “smart” battery-charging tray using a DC power cord with cigarette-lighter plug. This is far more efficient than using an AC inverter and then a DC transformer (like those in most home battery chargers). That way you are just changing one DC voltage to another DC voltage, instead of a DC-inverted-to-AC-and-transformed-back-to-DC proposition, which is very inefficient.

Unless a standard connector is already