diy solar

diy solar

Using Roofing Tin as EMP shield

Lmao that's what safer means.
I’m not on that page

Think about brushing your teeth. Good daily hygiene in general eliminates a significant amount of dental decay and tooth loss. In general terms brushing your teeth is “safer.” Cavities are reduced or in many cases, eliminated.

Wearing a seatbelt is smart; wearing a seatbelt does not reduce your chances of having a cavity (accident).

What my point was awareness of risk and the actions / inactions that reduce or eliminate risk.

Not an argument against seat belts, merely an example of the mainstream thought processes that culturally are habitual and keep people from drawing wise conclusions. This behavior does carry over into other areas of people’s lives.

I know a number of serious preppers (Vermont is one of the unique places in the US where there are concentrations of extremes). A smaller section of that group are actually equipped to survive - but that is not due to their equipment, guns or supplies on hand. It’s their mindset. More than half are not ‘polishing their firearms’ because they don’t own any. Then there is the remainder that are well equipped munitions-wise but it’s neither obvious nor flaunted.
Then there is the majority, the visible preppers. Some have vast food-stores and many have…guns. No matter; in the unlikely event of a teotwaki moment they’ll implode. They’re not functioning intellectually well now; add a stressor and they’ll self-destruct or be part of the protests demanding action from the government- especially if they become victims of violence; get sick of rice, cake mixes, and salty broth; or actually discover their refrigerator and freezers won’t run on their jackery and portable 100W portable panels.
But they are a solid market for $149 EMP protection devices and cases of mountain house beef stew.
Seatbelts: a good idea but the protection offered is a warm blanky to those that want to ostrich out of the facts.

Funny fact: I’m ambivalent regarding EMP. If I did something would it be enough; if I do nothing will it ever really matter?

I wear a seatbelt most of the time. Driving my old jeep there are times I don’t wear a seatbelt. I don’t like laws compelling me to wear a seatbelt. I wear a seatbelt a lot of the time because it makes sense; sometimes I wear a seatbelt because I do not want to get a $250 ticket.
 
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Tell you what. You build a residential emp protection system for a few hundred dollars that most people who diy this stuff expect to spend and post test results.

I'll even accept a couple thousand dollars but it better be able to protect from a nuke or massive CME event, because that's all these preppers ever talk about being worried about shielding from.

And most of them these days buy a $400 "EMP Shield" device and run to Facebook groups to tell everyone what a great deal they got and how safe they are now.

And it's just very fast reacting surge protector that might protect them from the grid but won't really protect the individual devices if the emp is localized.


That's the context I'm referring to. Those people are in the "nobody" group mentioned above.


Obviously there are actual professionals and engineers who understand the problem. They're not the ones trying to protect a 3kva inverter and solar charge controller from the apocalypse.

I suppose that depends on the type of switch.


As far as preppers go, they don't. They just install whatever they think is going to protect them if the apocalypse event (nuke or Carrington Event cme) occurs and through the power of belief live happily ever after.

I suspect most will die of old age before ever seeing their equipment tested.
I vote that we all hope that they die of old age before they need those protection devices, because otherwise we will all have to come to grips with destruction and chaos on a global scale.

Being prepared is a good idea, because what is likely to happen, and does in fact happen a lot now, are events that in themselves are almost unprecendented in the last 100 years or so.
 
I think I could pull it off. Motor-generator with shaft passing through the wall of faraday cage. Mercury-wetted seal. Might lose a few percent efficiency ...

Actually, magnetic coupling through a non-magnetic (copper) wall would be better. Don't have to worry about Hg gradually evaporating into my living space and leaving me mad as a hatter.
Motors aren't harmed by nuclear EMP.. also, the wires powering the motor are the real problem as they act like antennas. When we talk about Faraday cages with functioning equipment, we're usually referring to radio equipment.. whether they be communication radios or radar systems.. And while the power supply and radio could all be housed within the cage, the antenna leads can not. For the antenna, they do make a device that will block EMP.. Unfortunately, it is highly specialized and for the life of me I can not remember what its called.. But its basically a fluorescent tube filled with a gas that flashes when the EMP hits. How the tube works on the physics level is something I'm not familiar with.


There's an underground transformer in my front yard, 50' run of wire to it. Care to estimate what voltage I can expect out of my 120/240V service?
No, because I would only be guessing.. It would also depend on what kind of EMP..

Simply opening a switch, high voltage surge would arc over.
Better to have a transfer switch, transfer your house wiring from <connected to grid> over to <shorted to ground>
I would open all the switches and unplug everything.. But even so, as you say, that wouldn't guarantee it couldn't arc. This is why we have nine commercial rated fire extinguishers in our home.. Not the consumer type you buy at Home Depot, but serviceable commerical fire extinguishers. We also keep a few stainless units with water in them so we don't nuke the house with that white stuff for a small fire that's easily handled.

Our family has instructions for a solar event.. Turn off main breaker, turn off all other breakers, open all switches, unplug everything, then pull the utility meter. Of course, we've never had to do it yet, even for a false alarm, as the Sun has been quiet for the past 5 years.

I wouldn't worry about a nuclear EMP.. I don't think anyone is going to be stupid enough to do that.. but the Sun is another issue.
 
HEMP is a reasonable enough concern. Someone who has mastered nuclear and rockets (but not necessarily re-entry) could presumably do that pretty easily.
The distribution lines could pick up enough to take out un-fused transformers. Short AC and DC runs on my side of the transformer are probably OK.

Radio operates on a narrower frequency range, so band-pass filter would block other frequencies. Air-core inductors would avoid saturation. Parts would have to be large enough to not arc over at high voltage, probably have spark gaps or gas tubes to clamp to ground. Maybe magnetic transformer coupling through a copper shield (same as my idea for power).

Food should be readily available, for a time, for anyone prepared to protect what they've got. So long as they don't mind eating like the Donner party. But have to be concerned with chemical and radiological contamination of the food.
 
HEMP is a reasonable enough concern. Someone who has mastered nuclear and rockets (but not necessarily re-entry) could presumably do that pretty easily.
The distribution lines could pick up enough to take out un-fused transformers. Short AC and DC runs on my side of the transformer are probably OK.

Radio operates on a narrower frequency range, so band-pass filter would block other frequencies. Air-core inductors would avoid saturation. Parts would have to be large enough to not arc over at high voltage, probably have spark gaps or gas tubes to clamp to ground. Maybe magnetic transformer coupling through a copper shield (same as my idea for power).

Food should be readily available, for a time, for anyone prepared to protect what they've got. So long as they don't mind eating like the Donner party. But have to be concerned with chemical and radiological contamination of the food.
I'm not knowledgeable enough on the radio protection.. I just avoid it all together by housing things in a Faraday cage for now.

Food won't last 3 to 5 days for most people, then panic and chaos will set in and get worse as time goes by. Nuclear fallout from power plants is a serious concern.. luckily for me, I'm upwind of the closest plant 70 miles away, and several hundred miles from the one upwind of me..

We do keep an AN/UDR-13 meter.. I should get an alpha detector though..
 
It appears decent emp shielding of sensitive electronics can be had rather affordably, and at a diy level, using roofing tin. Spare equipment would be kept offline and wrapped.

IIRC, as I have long ago lost the link, pv panels are somewhat hardy when it comes to emp strikes. Anyone up on this?
 
I use a metal garbage can , lined with cardboard ... then a smaller metal can inside with , again, lined with cardboard. With what I want to protect inside ... so it's a storage box essentially.
 
Tell you what. You build a residential emp protection system for a few hundred dollars that most people who diy this stuff expect to spend and post test results.

I'll even accept a couple thousand dollars but it better be able to protect from a nuke or massive CME event, because that's all these preppers ever talk about being worried about shielding from.

And most of them these days buy a $400 "EMP Shield" device and run to Facebook groups to tell everyone what a great deal they got and how safe they are now.

And it's just very fast reacting surge protector that might protect them from the grid but won't really protect the individual devices if the emp is localized.


That's the context I'm referring to. Those people are in the "nobody" group mentioned above.


Obviously there are actual professionals and engineers who understand the problem. They're not the ones trying to protect a 3kva inverter and solar charge controller from the apocalypse.
I know old thread...Guess you haven't read about Sol Ark inverters, You make bombastic statements, then add "context"
Good resource with testing is Dr. Arthur Bradley, empdoctor on YouTube.
 
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I know old thread...Guess you haven't read about Sol Ark inverters, You make bombastic statements, then add "context"
Good resource with testing is Dr. Arthur Bradley, empdoctor on YouTube.
K.
And yes I have, thanks.

Kind of funny how a major feature and primary component of what their system does is what I described by providing grid surge suppression.
Hardening against direct, local EMP (not a solar flare) is another matter entirely (which they also offer) and you still wont be doing that with a tin roof.
 
EMP could take out the grid wires and transformers.
It's unlikely it would damage anything not connected directly to those wires.
Cars and domestic appliances would still work.

Your domestic fuse box would save your domestic appliances.
An off grid solar system would probably not be damaged.
Cars and computers would not be damaged either.
 
If that vehicle has a points based ignition it would still run but if it's electronic, very doubtful.
if it's strong enough it can energize items sitting on a shelf. They could send telegraphs with no power connected to the line when the carrington event hit. fusebox's I doubt would save anything.
 
Telstar 1 was a communications satellite launched by NASA on July 10, 1962, it was the satellite that allowed the first live broadcast of television images between the United States and Europe. It remained active for only 7 months before it prematurely failed due to EMP from Starfish Prime, a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States.

Defense Dept response: 'Woopsy, sorry about that'.
 
If that vehicle has a points based ignition it would still run but if it's electronic, very doubtful.
if it's strong enough it can energize items sitting on a shelf. They could send telegraphs with no power connected to the line when the carrington event hit. fusebox's I doubt would save anything.
telegraphs were connected to long wires.
cars are Faraday cages in themselves ....... even a direct lightning strike doesn't damage a car engine, or people sitting in it.

If it isn't connected to a long wire, it'll probably be OK.
Science fiction EOTW novels are not reality.
 
Extremely low frequencies are picked up by transmission lines. Only takes a couple amps to saturate a power transformer, and that doesn't cause any damage (not enough power) but the grid dumps so much current into the transformer (winding and wire resistance only, near zero inductance), that is what burns it up.

Telstar 1 was a communications satellite launched by NASA on July 10, 1962, it was the satellite that allowed the first live broadcast of television images between the United States and Europe. It remained active for only 7 months before it prematurely failed due to EMP from Starfish Prime, a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States.

Defense Dept response: 'Woopsy, sorry about that'.

Likely killed by radiation, not EMP. If I recall correctly, lots of satellites died in a short time afterwards.
 
telegraphs were connected to long wires.
cars are Faraday cages in themselves ....... even a direct lightning strike doesn't damage a car engine, or people sitting in it.

If it isn't connected to a long wire, it'll probably be OK.
If we had an ‘event’ today like the pre-electronics EMP that walloped the telegraphs I suspect there would be a lot of automobile failures.

For one thing, the lightning/faraday cage situation is not the same thing as a solar flare or nuclear bomb designed for EMP as a weapon.

I find it fascinating to think that pre-telegraph there were EMP events but nobody noticed… yet even today certain sun ‘activity’ plays havoc with radio transmission reception at certain periods.

Because one cannot anticipate the power or duration of a future event it’s really not possible to make claims of big damage or minimal damage with any hope for comparison to reality. Imho
 
Likely killed by radiation, not EMP. If I recall correctly, lots of satellites died in a short time afterwards.
Yes, originally debated but it was agreed its orbit was too far away. Believe the final conclusion was radiation aftermath.

Solar flares create large amount of near DC or very low freq bias on distribution transformers saturating their cores causing normal AC line frequency current to shoot up to destructive level. If can get a little early warning and shut down grid it can save the transformers. Big responsibility on persons making that decision.
 
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