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Saturday, April 16, 2011

Modern Survivalist Forum Japan Thread



In the Modern Survivalist Forum there’s a thread about the situation in Japan that I just have to recommend to everyone.
http://www.themodernsurvivalist.com/?page_id=936/general-discussion/sirusblacks-updates-from-japan/

Its been updated since the earthquake hit but the updates of two of the forum members (Sirius Black and Kirima)  living in Japan just make it a terribly valuable source of real world experience. Not just about the quake itself, but of people coping with the blackouts, the daily life afterwards, the supplies that were harder to come by. Maybe it’s the aftermath that I find most interesting, so I greatly appreciate their effort and updates.
I just have to recommend reading through all 6 pages and check every now and them for more updates.

FerFAL

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was reading over the Japan thread, and a thought occurred to me: Could you modify a solar garden light to ONLY charge a battery, and not light up the garden? This could be a very cheap way to keep a battery or two charged up all the time.

If there is some Electrical Engineer out there, who could describe how to make this modification - maybe even something as simple as cutting the lead to the LED, it might help a lot of people.

Kirima said...

Most solar garden lights have an AA-size rechargeable battery inside, so in this case no modification is necessary. Just open up your solar garden light (you may have to remove a screw or two) and check if there is a removable rechargeable battery inside.

Note that you may not get a full charge depending on weather conditions. Also, if you leave the battery inside the light, it charges during the day but then discharges as soon as it gets dark, so it does not stay 'charged up'. However, you can still use it as an emergency battery charger by just charging during the day, and then removing the battery at night. Repeat to get a full charge.