Alternate Power Sources

 

It has been a process for me, but over time I’ve been able to add alternate power sources to my home.  In case of an emergency, primarily a long term power outage, I’ve got ways to continue living and functioning within my home.  If need be I can also take them on the road.

 

I keep a two burner camp stove with one pound propane cylinders as well as a small outdoor grill with charcoal & lighter fluid in my garage for cooking.  I can easily boil water or prepare a meal using these items.  I also keep lamp oil on hand and I have a couple kerosene lamps to use for lighting as well as some candles and flashlights with batteries.

 

A few years ago I invested in a power inverter for my car that plugs into my cigarette lighter inlet and will produce electricity when my vehicle is running allowing me to recharge my laptop and cell phone or run pretty much any electric appliance I might need to use.

 

Last year I upped my game by purchasing a Jackery 240 generator along with a solar panel to charge it with.  It is lightweight and portable so I can carry it anywhere I might need to use it within or outside of my home.  The last time we had a long power outage I was able to carry it upstairs and plug in the router so I could access the internet, which came in handy for me to check the power company’s website for updates, but more importantly, it kept me entertained while I waited for the power to come back on.  I can also use this little generator to recharge my laptop, cell phone or plug in a lamp.  It has enough wattage to handle a slow cooker too so I can make myself a meal if I need to.

 

Last winter I picked up a USB LED light that has a clamp so you can pretty much use it anywhere.  It is super handy to clamp onto the handle of the Jackery and I can just plug it into one of the USB ports.  I put it to the test when I needed to cut the power in order to replace the thermostat and add a timer switch to my upstairs bathroom which has no window was completely dark.  It produced quite a bit of light with very little draw of power on the Jackery and was a great test of both items.

 

Last spring I was able to afford to buy a much larger generator and I chose a 1500 watt VTOMAN.  It will run my small appliances but it will also run my new freezer so when I decided to replace the one I sold I no longer had one of the concerns I had which was the possibility of losing the contents of my freezer in the event of a long term power outage.

 

While I am easily able to recharge my solar generator by plugging it into a wall outlet or the cigarette lighter inlet in my vehicle I had also purchased a solar panel at the time I bought my Jackery so I have another way to charge it.  A month after I purchased the VTOMAN I was able to purchase much larger solar panels for it as well.  During a long term power outage I could plug in my freezer and the solar panels which I’d set in my driveway to recharge the generator.

 

I had often thought of purchasing a gas fueled generator, but I had concerns about storing both the generator itself as well as the fuel and oil to run it.  The solar generators are much smaller and lighter and I can easily store them on a shelf in my garage along with the solar panels that fold up flat.  Plus they don’t make any noise when you are using them so they are also great to take camping.  For me, this was a much better choice over a gas generator.  Having alternative power sources gives me greater peace of mind in case of an emergency situation.  While we can’t prepare for everything, we can prepare for some things.