Preparedness for when

mardatha

Nuatha I don't want anything with batteries. We do have longish powercuts here but the other thing I fancied was a solar light for the back step for when OH goes out for coal. Is there a solar setup that would do that? How does it work?

Butterfly_Brain

I think that we had better get in the way of self sufficiency sooner rather than later
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/oct/05/blackouts-coal-power-stations-ofgem

vanoonoo

sorry not been able to update properly- got kicked off the forum on weds night and have been super busy IRL and now have a cold but fortunately am prepped to deal with such eventuality! planning a lazy day today and willhopefully finish reading thru this thread and update membership of our trusty band of preppers x stay safe everyone - I had some tragic news on monday that a dear colleague lost her youngest daughter to viral meningitis last weekend - please all keep well and look out for each other - as my colleague says, keep calm and have a cupcake and remember: zombies take many forms x

mardatha

Actually just read another report on that Guardian page BB, about the French steelworkers fighting to save their jobs. Got me quite annoyed and ready to hit the barricades myself Why can't govts see that if everything is all about cheapness and saving money- and everything is moved to China because of that - then what's to stop China, one day, declaring that they will no longer sell to us, or only sell to Russia, or trebling the price of everything? It's dangerous and very stupid .

nuatha

mardatha wrote: »

Nuatha I don't want anything with batteries. We do have longish powercuts here but the other thing I fancied was a solar light for the back step for when OH goes out for coal. Is there a solar setup that would do that? How does it work?

Solar light for the back step, two options spring to mind. One is sold as a shed light, basically a solar panel which charges a battery contained in the light unit and will have a manual switch. The other is a similar setup but uses a PIR to detect movement and switches on automatically but goes off after 25/30 seconds if there is no further movement detected (RV might need to wave an arm around to get it to come back on.
In both cases I'd look at ones that use rechargeable AA cells or similar - all rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles (may be a year or three depending on quality and use) but standard batteries are easy to source and replace to prolong the life of the unit.
The Ikea Sunnan lamp mentioned by Mrs LW looks like it would be a useful indoor solution, possibly use a pair and try to keep one on a south facing window sill. If the bathroom one isn't getting sufficient charge so you can swap them over.
HTH

Butterfly_Brain

vanoonoo... Oh my God that is so awful. Please send my heartfelt sympathy to the poor family

Butterfly_Brain

We bought a solar shed light from Aldi a couple of years ago and DH has it in his shed, it isn't very bright but it does make it easier for DH when he has to go out there in the dark with the
Maplins have mobile power kits and portable solar panels

http://www.maplin.co.uk/batteries-and-power

http://www.maplin.co.uk/batteries-and-power/solar-and-wind/solar-shed-lights

D&DD

Apologies for my absence just trying to finally tackle DS2's DLA renewal and now the printers jammed on me *botherations* so will catch up on all your news, I hate paperwork...
XX

mardatha

TY thats great

NiceGuyEddie_2

Apologies if this has already been posted (did try a search but searching 'book people' brings up everything with 'people', and I lost the will to carry on ), but I have another Book People bargain.



They have the full set of River Cottage Handbooks for £25, so you get the following 10 titles:

• Mushrooms
• Bread
• Edible Seashore
• Hedgerow
• Fruit

• Preserves
• Veg Patch
• Sea Fishing
• Cakes
• Herbs

The focus with all of them is about local and seasonal so they're all relevant, but I suspect the red titles will be of particular interest
Link is here http://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_product_tbp?storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=100&productId=306679