I'm not sure if this goes in the commo or survival section, it's kinda both.

For those fortunate enough to have a bugout shelter, what to do for commo once you get there?

Most of us probably own CB radios...some of us have better radio equipment. If you were to be tied down to your shelter, how do you plan to power those radios?

I have an idea, but it's beyond my level of expertise. If one were to have or make a solar panel to charge a 12v battery(preferably a large one, out of construction equipment), you could power your radio easily.

One could also get 12v battery chargers for AA or other sizes, or use any 12v appliance.

Just an idea, anyone have any insight on this?

You bring up an important point in solar charging that many overlook. Everyone with Solar power for battery charging should have a charge controller.

Here is a good reference for solar information http://www.backwoodssolar.com/
The following is a quote from BackWoodsSolar-
If a person charges the smaller amp hour batteries a charge controller is an absolute must for longer life. Even the Marine and bigger batteries benefit by the regulation of charge.
Once a battery "fries" it is unlikely to be anywhere near it's original capacity again.

I have one 'store bought' controller and 3 others that I built. One of the 3 is for my 24 volt bank, the others are for 12 volt batteries. For anyone wanting the experience of electronic building take a look here
http://www.cirkits.com/scc3/index.html
No personal connection to the company, just used some of his ideas for my experimenting.

Either way use of the Charge Controller is important!

threequarterthrottle
Dependent upon what your location is like there is also another way to go. Wind power.
While they usually tell about the big jobs you can make a wind power generator for a lot less.
If you can get your hands on a delco alternator you are ready.
Remove the diodes from the alternator and connect a piece of copper wire to transmitte the A/C generated by the alternator to your storage location. Wire the diodes back into the circuit.
Why you ask? A/C travels further without a loss that the DC out of the diodes would have on smaller wire and thus easier to hide.
You can make you a propeller system out of PVC pipe cut in angles and attached to a ring that will attach to the Shaft of the Alternator. Many sites have this.
If you have another alternator make a jig to mount it to the rear of a small bile and peddle the batteries charged when the wind is down and the sun is down also..
Another way is if you have flowing water you can make a water wheel to run the alternator.
The key to all of these are the Batteries though and the regulator.
The best batteries are commercial Golf cart, warehouse equipment (Fork lifts,ect), and marine batteries. They have the largest storage ability for their size. Remember though that batteries need a good ventilation system or your clothes will start to fall off your body.

Big panels get the job done. Some of the best most accessible panel sets are available now from Harbor Freight in the $150 to $200 range. Their 45 watt kits can be set up in tandem to increase power, so running three sets on a 7 amp charge controller with a 2000 watt inverter on any decent deep cycle battery or a few old car batteries rigged up in parallel gives you ample power to keep everything running and operate the occasional power tool.

Warehouse equipment battery packs give you the best bang for the buck, as they are often reconditioned and are in big heavy packs which can hold a whole lot of juice and usually have built in charging units and charge controllers. You rig a few sets of the panels to the system AND a small generator, and what you get is a system that will maintain a decent size little retreat quite well when you are not there, then when you arrive you will be using more power, but run the generator when needed as needed to bring the battery bank up, for example when you are using power tools or heavier equipment.

Just to let you know the numbers, the forklift battery packs run $350 to $450 when reconditioned, and that is in fairly big steel housings (two to four man lift), and will run a small cabin for a long time. A single good quality deep cycle battery will be $250 to $350 and will run down quickly if you are trying to use it with power tools. Such batteries are rarely available used or reconditioned.

The big battery packs can be recharged any number of ways, not to include just a vehicle running at idle. quietness and fuel consumption on a Geo metro at a moderate idle while sitting in neutral with a jumper line running out from under some plug-ins under the hood is not half bad compared to running a loud and smoky 5000 watt generator.

They sound like a giant beacon

The intention of this post was not really for my location. I don't own my home and I don't have a bugout location of my own . I have good hiding places, however. I thought it would be helpful to everyone, and I hope it is.

Wind isn't a real viable option here. The water wheel, however, is. The key to the alternator is gear ratio(I think).

Put a water wheel in a small creek, and you're not going to get more than 100 rpm. If an engine idles around 700 rpm...and the alternator turns at approximately 2-3 times the engine speed, you're going to have to have some serious overdrive.

Using bicycle cogs, driving a 50 tooth with the water wheel, and a 7 tooth on the other end, you end up with a gear ratio of 1:7.14, a 7 to 1 overdrive. The 7 tooth cog drives another set of 50 driving, 11 driven and you get 1:4.55.

If my calculations are correct, you can turn the alternator at 1,949 rpm with 60 rpm input. I have no idea what kind of force would be required to drive that.

I may be completely overthinking this, too. I once ran into a mess with a Mustang I had. When I bought the car, I was given a long list of modifications. Omitted were the underdrive pulleys(factory-appearing ones.)

The alternator failed and I replaced it. The one I purchased had a pulley installed, so I turned my core in. After 3 replacement alternators didn't quite charge enough, I mentioned it to the previous owner. I had explored all other options, and he asked if I retained the underdrive pulley.

That little difference in RPM caused by a pulley 1/2" larger in diameter caused my lights to dim and stereo to kick off at idle. A replacement UD pulley and I was good to go.

Before anyone bashes me, I went through the rounds with load testing batteries, checking Vd on cables, parasitic current draw, etc.

Para: You're absolutely right, a poorly placed windmill, hydro setup or solar panel could prove to be a "here I am" sign when SHTF.

Thanks everyone for their contributions, please correct me if this stuff doesn't make sense.

Got eight of these at WalMart for $15.00. You can charge one NiCad,or NiMH AA battery with each one. , , .With a little tinkering,you can wire them in series for higher voltage applications.These can also be found at Wally World that will recharge button cells($1.50ea),and 321(3.2v)batteries($??$).Heres another cheap hack for your battery charging needs. www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&xl_blz_...le&hl=en&v=XoA9PEP9Pzs&fulldescription=1 .Hope this helps keep your hungry tactical toys fed.Matt

I use reconditioned RV batteries that I am able to get locally. 6v-110Ah. Run in banks for 12/24 volt operation. Don't overlook Surplus handcrank gens for mil. radio. More modern versions are usually 12/24v. Pain in the A** to use but is always there for como. Even the older versions like the kind I use for WW2 gear are usefull for charging usung the 24/28v supply for the filements for light battery charging.
Lowe's sells a small solar battery charge maintainer kit for around $50 that is good for gel cells.