What if it goes away?

[pion]

I'm big on paranoia. It's one of my hobbies.

My latest mindfest has been the potential to lose vaping through legislation. That one's fairly easy to deal with if one has the finances to load up, which I did. I've even gone so far as to ask an organic chemist friend of mine about extracting nicotine from tobacco should its availability become restricted. He's comfortable with that which led to increasing my comfort level.

But what about power? Knowing a little about the electrical grid, I also know it has potential for disaster. The maximum I've been without power has been under a day, so far. It's a pretty rare event around here, mostly weather related.

Do you think my paranoia cares about that history? What if it goes out for several days? EGADS! What if it catastrophically collapses?

I've been seeing this TV commercial for a portable solar panel that has a usb port. USB! My current current backup is my usb charger in my car. But who want's to let their car idle for hours while it charges up their pv battery? So the aforementioned solar panel is looking better and better to me each time I see the ad.

I'm close to diving in, folks.

Is anybody else this bad?

 

[Joey S]

I have a car charger. That should be good enough for a power outage.

 

[AllYourBase]

If something happens that is bad enough to cause a catastrophic collapse of the power grid, you will have bigger things to worry about than how you are going to charge your e-cig battery.

 

[melloyello]

we can always fall back on analogs since they of course will never ban them. and you dont need to start your car to charge the battery of an e-cig...like the above poster, if the world collapses totally i would have other things i worry about more than my e cig batt. i cant say that im paranoid but i refuse to fill my carts outside since a bird might poop in it when flying by.

 

[pion]

AllYourBase

Of course I'll have bigger things to worry about. But I will be able to handle them far more capably if I can get some nicotine in me. My general state of well being is directly tied to inhaling nicotine. Without it, I'm a mess.

mn puffer

I forgot to mention that one. I rolled my own analogs and when I quit, I still have a pound or so of loose tobacco left. It's my last resort. But who wants to go back to that if they don't have to? I'm more attached to vaping than I ever was to analogs.

 

[jtpjc]

If something happens that is bad enough to cause a catastrophic collapse of the power grid, you will have bigger things to worry about than how you are going to charge your e-cig battery.

Not if you have your priorities right.

 

[REET_AZ]

6 or 7 years ago we had a catastrophic power grid failure in the Michigan area. It involved several states, actually. We had no power for a week. No work. No gas. No traffic lights. Hospitals were searching for massive generators.

It was an eye opening experience. You learn how dependent your daily activities are upon electricity. We cooked everything on the grill. We stayed home, because not a single establishment was open. No retail. I was glad when it was over, but we chalked it up to another life experience. We never bought a generator, even to this day. It is an extraordinarily uncommon event.

 

[cskent]

I've considered the possibility of a long term power outage. It isn't something that keeps me up at night though. I've generally got enough battery power to go a couple of weeks without recharging, not because I'm paranoid but because I've got enough different PV's and the batteries to go with them to keep me vaping a long time.

Get yourself a mod that takes 18650 batt's, 4 AW 2900 mah 18650's and you can vape a week straight if they're all charged up when the lights go out. Does anyone make an 18 ohm atty so I can connect my PT to a car battery?

 

[jjloupe]

I have one of those solar chargers with USB ports. It says one port is 5v and the other 5.5v. It does not work very well at all.

 

[quittin4mykids]

Its funny, I live in Jasper Texas- we have hurricanes- During Rita (that was a little known storm that caused MILLIONS of dollars of damage and stayed together all the way across the united states- )

anyway- I was without power for over 3 weeks-
and then during Ike we were without for about 2 weeks- We do have a generator- I will use it- LOL we used to alternate between the freezers and fridge's (2 of each), and the fan at night- and about once a day the fishtanks- because I refused to unplug the TV and satalite- and used the computer once the phones were restored (I had dial up at the time) ROFLMAO!

so, NOW, I will just have to alternate a little more often

My biggest fear is no mail, and running out of juice-

 

[HarmonyPB]

But who want's to let their car idle for hours while it charges up their pv battery?

Lol!! You do what you have to do. After the last hurricane we were out of power (and water) for 3 days!! It got so hot we slept in the car with the ac on all night. Huge waste of gas, but those were our priorities Plus, gas wasn't as expensive a couple years ago. We were pretty lucky though, some people were out for 2 weeks!! Not mentioning those who lost everything!

 

[GERGOZ]

OMG! why have you done this to me? i was oblivious, in my own little world! now i gotta call ben and see if i can get a couple 50 gallon drums of bobas!

just kidding, lol. i understand your concern. its definitely something to think about.

btw, you dont like bobas, do you? wouldnt want someone to start hoarding it, lol!

 

[HarmonyPB]

Its funny, I live in Jasper Texas- we have hurricanes- During Rita (that was a little known storm that caused MILLIONS of dollars of damage and stayed together all the way across the united states- )

anyway- I was without power for over 3 weeks-
and then during Ike we were without for about 2 weeks- We do have a generator- I will use it- LOL we used to alternate between the freezers and fridge's (2 of each), and the fan at night- and about once a day the fishtanks- because I refused to unplug the TV and satalite- and used the computer once the phones were restored (I had dial up at the time) ROFLMAO!

so, NOW, I will just have to alternate a little more often

My biggest fear is no mail, and running out of juice-

Yup, us gulf coast dwellers know all too well about power outages. They're not so bad if you are prepared (as it sounds like you were!). Guess we will just have to stock up on juices before hurricane season!! Oooh!! That's a great idea! And it gives me an excuse to get more juice! I'm always looking for a good excuse!

 

[Zal42]

I've even gone so far as to ask an organic chemist friend of mine about extracting nicotine from tobacco should its availability become restricted. He's comfortable with that which led to increasing my comfort level.

You may be interested in this forum.

Do you think my paranoia cares about that history? What if it goes out for several days? EGADS! What if it catastrophically collapses?

Get a generator. A little one would be more than adequate to charge your pv batteries and they are pretty cheap. If you're worried about fuel supply, then get a diesel one and make your own diesel fuel, or one than burns alcohol and distill that.

 

[Credo]

But what about power? Knowing a little about the electrical grid, I also know it has potential for disaster. The maximum I've been without power has been under a day, so far. It's a pretty rare event around here, mostly weather related.

Do you think my paranoia cares about that history? What if it goes out for several days? EGADS! What if it catastrophically collapses?

I'd think a regular car battery could recharge your PV or flat out run an atty for a very long time before it ran out of juice! Of course you'd want to set up 12v attys or knock down the voltage...but it could be done fairly easily.

I don't think recharging your PV requires you to run the engine. Particularly if you have a true DC charger as opposed to some kind of wacky DC/AC and back to DC again line of inverters and chargers that build up heat and need a bunch of fans running to keep it all cool. Just get a smart charger circuit that detects when the PV is full, shuts itself down, and doesn't draw current from either battery after that.

 

[Zal42]

I'd think a regular car battery could recharge your PV or flat out run an atty for a very long time before it ran out of juice! Of course you'd want to set up 12v attys or knock down the voltage...but it could be done fairly easily.

I don't know why I didn't think of this. One of my hobbies is flying an R/C helicopter and when I'm in the field, I use a car battery to recharge the R/C batteries. The car battery lasts a VERY long time, many days of constant use, before it needs to be recharged itself. A hobby shop catering to R/C enthusiasts will have all the equipment you'd need.

 

[meeems]

we can always fall back on analogs since they of course will never ban them. and you dont need to start your car to charge the battery of an e-cig...like the above poster, if the world collapses totally i would have other things i worry about more than my e cig batt. i cant say that im paranoid but i refuse to fill my carts outside since a bird might poop in it when flying by.

Kmloh!!!!!!! (killing myself laughing over here)

funny stuff.

 

[quittin4mykids]

Yup, us gulf coast dwellers know all too well about power outages. They're not so bad if you are prepared (as it sounds like you were!). Guess we will just have to stock up on juices before hurricane season!! Oooh!! That's a great idea! And it gives me an excuse to get more juice! I'm always looking for a good excuse!

ROFLMAO- Yep- I always tell the kids "we aint going camping- we will just wait for hurricane season-" LOL its about time to start stocking up- We always get a 55 gallon drum of gas, for hubby's truck and the generator- I drive a deisel, so I can use the tractor deisel- But they have gotten pretty good around here about getting the gas stations back up and going within a week of a huricanne-

I am thinking 20 batteries should last me two or so days- (you get REAL bored when you are 'camping' ) and a gallon or so of juice- LOL luckily we can run 75% of our house off the generator- one day I am going to get one of those huge ones that runs the whole house!

 

[ancient puffer]

I know this is all light hearted (*I hope* ) But we lost power for 6 days when hurricane Isabelle took out our entire state's power grid. Like most of you, I have a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) hooked to my PC. Since there won't be any internet connection anyway, you can unhook that and use it to power your main/USB charger. I'd guess you could use a main/USB combo to hook in a PT as well.

Anyone know for sure if that's feasible?

 

[pion]

UPS. That's it! That's a viable solution. I have a couple of those around. That, plus the car battery mod should be perfect.

I'll have to refrain from using my upses for other things like my computer/cable modem. dvr. and such. As jtpjc indicated, it's all about priorities and straightening.

Then there's this