Preparedness for when

Caterina

2T I hope you manage to get into P2S because it is quite interesting, persevere, or drop an email to the admin people. That should do the trick.

Maryb best wishes for your hand op.

Ginny it will be a while before I shall drive out of my neighbourhood, let alone out of London! But one day I shall visit you on the train, much more likely than going on a motorway!

Butterfly_Brain

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

MAR - Ikea make a reading type lamp that is solar powered, it is called SUNNAN or something very similar to that. We have two and they don't need sunlight to recharge the solar cell, just daylight. We leave ours set up on the windowsill and that keeps them charged. They are bright enough to read by and the charge lasts for some 12 - 16 hours, although it does dim towards the end of the time period. When we got ours some 3 years ago they were £12.99 each, don't know prices today.

They are £16 now lurchie :eek: http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/search/?query=solar+lamp

SpikyHedgehog

mardatha wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19842401

Here's what we need to prep for next - cut down your elect consumption, try to find ways to do things without it. Try to work out old-fashioned or solar alternatives - I can't cos my OH is useless and we're in a HA house - because the elect bills are going to go much higher whether there are cuts or not.

Mar, have you asked to HA to look into installing solar panels? I know the newest homes my HA is building have solar panels (mine doesn't - this isn't what they were doing 5 years ago). We've looked into having them installed at the Scout Hut, but the main roof faces the wrong way and there are too many trees around to make it worth putting them on the lower part of the roof.

I'm going to contact my HA and ask them about fitting solar panels - if they say no, I'm no worse off than I was before, but it's worth asking.

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

MAR - Ikea make a reading type lamp that is solar powered, it is called SUNNAN or something very similar to that. We have two and they don't need sunlight to recharge the solar cell, just daylight. We leave ours set up on the windowsill and that keeps them charged. They are bright enough to read by and the charge lasts for some 12 - 16 hours, although it does dim towards the end of the time period. When we got ours some 3 years ago they were £12.99 each, don't know prices today. The nice thing with this model is when you buy one they donate the same product to someone in the third world for free, to an area without a power supply at all. Ours still work perfectly and if the power goes out I can even cook by the light, they are bright enough for that even. Hope that helps, Cheers Lyn xxx.

GQ We have a Baylis wind up radio with a solar panel and a 3 LED light torch built in.It is 5" long and 3"high,has AM and FM bands and we have had it for 3 or so years. It is very reliable and the sound is good too. We got it from E*ay and it was £20 ish. I've only wound it a couple of times as the solar is very efficient. It just stands on the window sill in the lounge and that keeps it charged. Lyn xx.

Sunnan lamps are £16 now - and not available to buy online... Jealous of anyone who was in Ikea yesterday!

[Deleted User]

http://www.clasohlson.com/uk/500-W-Power-Converter-Inverter/Pr182532000

http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/Why-do-I-need-a-leisure-battery-charger?ugid=10000000002291657

So I need these: a charger ie 240v mains to battery (auto charging is good) + a good easy care high storage battery + converter of 12v dc to 240 ac.

More later, I`m off out soon but will be getting these sorted. Thanks RAS
for the pointer

mardatha

I think our HA probably would if we asked, I know some of the other rural villages have had some done and all the bus shelters Our roof faces due south to the front and would be ideal... it's a thought, I might see about that ty.

mardatha

RAS - could you please give me a quick tutorial (in wee shorts words cos it's me) on what and how I could fix up a cheap solar thingy - only for one light in the bathroom and/or back step. I really don't understand inverters and ootverters at all!

prepareathome

RAS can I have the tutorial as well, my dad was a electronic engineer but wouldn't help me as I was only one of family interested in science and because I didn't follow his footsteps he always refused right up till his death last year, his way of punishing me for not doing so, so although I understand how inverters work I have never worked out a set up for the house.

In the 70's he set up a series (think they were in series not parallel ) car batteries to light the house and run the fridge but I have never worked out how to do this and he of course would not tell me.


I do have a 6 in 1 car starter which has a normal power point for 3 pin plugs and two cigarette lighter type points and a built in light and so have some lamps that have 12v adaptors that can plug into them but am lost over anything else.

Thanks

2tonsils

I hate to ask this, but aren't sunlight and daylight the SAME thing? LOL

Feeling full of the lurgy this morning, I was awake coughing till 3am so in between bouts I did something useful and managed to get my 'introduction' on to the PS2 site....now we will see if it's approved.

Searching the airlines for flights back to the UK in case my MIL stays in the hospital beyond Monday. My other half will go alone as I have to stay to have my tests on my thyroid (bloods and an important scan) and someone has to stay to pay the taxes as there is no such thing as a standing order or direct debit here and there are huge fines if you don't pay when the bill arrives.

First quote for one way from here to London was 580 pounds!!! OUCH....and on top of that will be car hire to get to York or the train fare. Got it down to 230 pounds plus luggage and surcharge for booking...honestly, the flight companies cut their own throats with all the add on fees. He will only take hand luggage but some even charge for that...

At the moment she is settled in the hospital and on a drip for dehydration.......she never drinks enough water and cannot see that she gets dehydrated when she only has a couple of cups of tea each day......but we are glad she is in the right place to get sorted out .

Meanwhile the big rows with the politicians and political scandals continue here....Angela Merkel has decided to visit Greece next Tuesday and huge demonstrations are being arranged...not a sensible move really is it? No power cuts for us yet which is good, feel bad enough with the lurgy without having no power as well. Have a fan on in the living room as its hot and humid here now, 31 in the shade outside still.

Off for a sleep, if I can't sleep at night I might as well sleep in the day and work the internet at night like a vampire!

nuatha

Alternative suggestion regarding lighting.

If you only require lighting rather than attempting to run mains gadgets from solar power don't use inverters and 240v lights.
Inverters aren't an efficient use of the stored electricity as a sizable percentage will be lost in conversion.
12V lighting systems are fairly widely available, they're used in caravans and emergency lighting among other situations.
Actually one option for shorter power cuts might well be the sort of emergency exit lights that are fitted in buildings, they constantly trickle charge until the mains is lost then run the light from the inbuilt battery for a number of hours (the ones where I work are rated at 12 hours but when tested gave 16 hours).
Another option might be battery powered LED lights, I recently saw some advertised as counter lights for fitting under kitchen wall cupboards, a quick check on ebay shows some with a claimed battery life of 30 hours from three AAA cells, solar battery chargers are widely available to charge a spare set (or two) of AAA batteries.

Predominantly thinking on my feet, so apologies if I've missed anything.

mardatha

Also try joining UKPreppers, a lot of us on MSE are in that one.