Generators are expensive, and for most routine “short” emergencies they are actually not necessary. Utility companies have power restored in 2 to 3 days in most cases.
But, how do we keep the babies fed and safe in the meantime? Use your automobile. Or more specifically, use your automobile’s battery.
Here’s how to do it:
All you need is a car inverter. There are two ways to hook it up and depending on which way you hook it up will depend on which inverter you want to buy.
1) Plug it into your cigarette lighter. Check your car to see if the 12-volt power outlet (cigarette lighter) is ON, even without the key being on. Just plug something in and see if it comes on. If your outlet is ON even when the key is off, then you can plug an inverter into yourpower outlet.
I like the Bestek 150 inverter because it has two USB outputs in addition to the AC outlet. One USB is 2.1 amps for charging iPads and smart phones.
Plug the inverter into the car’s cigarette lighter outlet. Plug an extension cord into the inverter and run the extension cord inside the house. Then you can plug a few lights or small appliances into the extension cord. WARNING – do not attempt to plug in an air conditioner, or microwave or fridge or freezer. I said SMALL appliances.
The limit to your available power is the maximum output of your cigarette lighter. Don’t risk blowing circuit breakers or damaging your car’s electrical system.
2) Plug directly into your car’s battery. If your car’s 12-volt outlet is not always ON, then you will need a battery clip in addition to an inverter. You can also use this type of hook up if you wish to use a larger inverter than your cigarette lighter can handle.
Open the hood and attach the clip directly onto the car battery. Red on red; black on black. I have a Roadpro Battery Clip. Plug the inverter into the cigarette lighter outlet on the clip. Run an extension cord inside the house.
There is an added benefit of using the battery clip and that is that you can use a more powerful inverter like the Duracell 800-watt. This runs at 150 watts through the cigarette lighter or 800 watts when clamped on the battery.
About your extension cord. Use a good heavy-duty shop or garage cord, not those little flimsy things we use to extend a table lamp. Look for one with a power strip built in.
Look for an inverter with a usage-display. Monitor your usage, DON’T run your battery down. You may have to idle the car from time to time to recharge the battery. DON’T idle the car in an enclosed garage. Be smart.
OK, so now you have power inside your house, what can you do with it?
Most people first want light. Let’s start there. Preserve your battery power by using a low watt LED light bulb. The 2-watt provides nice overall room illumination, but the 7-watt is better for working, cooking or reading. So get a few different bulbs. I got a large pack at SAM’S Club at a reasonable price.
Make the low watt bulb brighter by installing it into a shop light with a metal reflector.
Of course, you can run a battery charger for your flashlight batteries and numerous other SMALL appliances.
I keep all of my emergency power parts in a plastic bin in the garage, near the front of the car, so everything is together when I need it. If the power is out, I don’t need to be tripping thru the house looking for parts and pieces.
Last winter when we lost power I used my car battery to run one 7-watt light bulb, an electric hot plate to make hot meals, the coffee pot, to charge my iPad and to keep my flashlights charged up. It was just enough to get us by for a short spell. We weren’t uncomfortable or too inconvenienced.
This Christmas, my husband bought me a portable ice making machine. Using the 800-watt inverter, I can make 28 lbs of ice a day then put it in my freezer or cooler. It will be a luxury to have cold beverages if the power goes out this summer, but it can also be used for first aid treatment or to keep medicines cold. Next, I hope to find an efficient bread machine.
A power usage monitor like the P3 Kill A Watt allows you to know how much power an appliance is using. You plug the appliance into the monitor and plug the monitor into the house outlet and read the power usage. Search YouTube, to find several videos that feature the Kill A Watt family.
Start paying attention to the power usage of your favorite appliances and if they are power hogs, consider updating them with newer, more efficient models.
In summary, for less than $60 (a battery clip, 800-watt inverter and a low watt LED bulb) you can have emergency power – right now, without the expense of a generator. Then as resources allow, keep adding additional low watt small appliances that add safety and value to your family.
Tremendous ARTICLE MsKYprepper! This is GREAT information!
Bev :)
Gotta love those portable ice machines for the emergency power setups! Did you get yours from the Sportsmans Guide?
Excellent article! Thank you! But I do have one question, “why would you want a bread machine?”. Had one. Gave it away. It’s just too easy to make bread without the machine, and, personally, I prefer the results of handmade over machine made, any day, IMHO.
I agree with you but if you have an electric range, how do you bake it? I can see having a bread machine for emergencies but being on a limited budget, I would choose the ice machine.
Great article, I’m all about alternative energy, there’s a million ways to acquire and use it!!!
Build an outdoor wood-fired oven, of course! :I-got-an-idea:
MEN: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/2002-10-01/Build-Your-Own-Wood-Fired-Earth-Oven.aspx?utm_content=09.08.10+DIY&utm_campaign=DIY&utm_source=iPost&utm_medium=email
Grit: http://www.grit.com/Tools/Backyard-Bread-Oven.aspx#ixzz29MxIRelX
or build a solar oven! For those who don’t want to make one (they aren’t that hard!), you can always buy a solar oven, ready made.
Good stuff MsKYprepper! I really liked the info on the portable ice machine. Also, thanks for the links.
I wouldn’t even bother with the cigarette lighter route as it isn’t powerful enough to run much more than a very small inverter. Rather, just use the apprpriate DC plug for the device you want to charge such as your iPhone.
Rather, be sure to have the ability to connect directly to your car battery and include an inverter that is at least 800 watts so that it can run your fridge or freezer. And be sure to stock plenty of fuses (both sizes) for your car and other electronics.
I really need to weigh in on this… Having long haul driven 18 wheelers with my first ex, there are small refrigerators, etc. you can buy that plug right into your cigarette lighter, even little air inflators! Personally, I think the cigarette lighter adapter is the way to go to NOT blow fuses in your vehicle! JMHO
Bev :)
Inverters are a reasonable option in a power out situation, but there are a few important “electrical details” missing from your suggestion.
A “common” level of fusing for a car cigarette lighter is 10 amps (there are, of course, some vehicles fused higher). A 10 amp 12v circuit is capable of providing 120 watts of power at 100% efficiency.
Assuming a 10% loss (optimistic) thru the invertor, the largest load you should consider putting on the invertor using the lighter circuit is about 100 watts (regardless of what the invertor is rated for).
The often thought of “quick fix” to increase the power available at the lighter socket by merely installing a higher rated fuse isn’t a real good idea, because the vehicles wiring was sized in its design to be safe at the fused amount (10 amps), and increasing the fuse (and power draw) to (say) 15 amps will likely result in burned up wiring.
As for the use of a 800 watt invertor –what you described also has similar safety issues. To get 800 watts out of the 110 volt side of an 12v-to-110v invertor, you would have to put in 12 volts at over 70 amps of current
So it’s obviously not possible to get that kind of power out of a car cigarette lighter, and even with a direct hook-up to the battery, you need to use at least 4 gage wire (think real HD jumper cable size wire) to not burn up the feed wire due to overload.
The other issue is drawing the 70 amp load for the invertor from the car battery–you wouldn’t want to do it for more than a few minutes without the engine running, and even with the engine running, alot of cars don’t have a big enough alternator to offset that large of a current draw for a sustained period of time. For those that do –getting an “extra” 70 amps beyond the vehicles normal power requirements won’t occur at idle–the engine will need to be running at about 1500-2000 rpm to achieve this.
All said–the invertor will work for temporary emergency power, but it needs to be wired in properly to not create bigger issues — like burning up the vehicles wiring, or causing a dead battery in a already difficult emergency situation.