Carrington style event with a solar flare... preps?

[bettersafethansorry]

I currently prep for personal situations, weather events and economic down turns. However recently a very real threat has caught my eye. Its not a new threat as you can see by this article and has happened before with the carrington event but not with the amount of tech on the planet that there is now and our massive dependency on it.

article: https://www.wired.com/2012/02/massive-solar-flare/

What i'm trying to consider is 0 power for a length of time. A small Faraday cage full of batteries ect is sorted however what i'm looking to do is go back to basics and try to prep for this with as much pre electricity ideas as possible. Example i have paraffin lanterns and paraffin already. but i am open to idea's,

Also what do we think the knock on effect would be... its all well and good saying the power will be back in 6 months but could society maintain itself for that long..

Your thoughts and ideas please?

-M

[Deeps]

Its not something I prep for but wouldn't the batteries be ok ? They're chemical, I thought it was electrical circuits that would get fried. Happy enough to be proved wrong, like I say, its not really on my prepping radar.

[bettersafethansorry]

Not entirly sure to be honest. i do need to do a lot more research, if thats the case maybe save some other stuff in the faraday :p But i will read in to it.

[bettersafethansorry]

this is the quote from a guide to prepping for an emp...

"Build a Faraday cage and acquire a “Faraday collection”. Place small electronics like radios, laptops, inverters, batteries, watches and even cell phones in a galvanized metal garbage can, or a popcorn can that is insulated with cardboard or Styrofoam so they can be ready and keep you connected to the outside world following an EMP attack."

BUT then found this:

"Batteries will survive and EMP. Their lack of sensitive chips or antennas prevent them from picking up the EMF.

However, no one does High-altitude detonation experiments anymore. The last test was in 1962. Well over 50 years ago. Since then, we have all kinds of new batteries, including lithium and rechargeable batteries."

[Jamesey1981]

Most batteries would likely be ok, but a lot of lithium cells have protection circuitry built in to them to stop them overcharging and that would get fried.

[izzy_mack]

It all depends on where and how you live. If you have a log fire and a stream in your garden, a septic tank and a veg plot, you're likely to be fine. If not , it's not only your electrical appliances that will disappear but your water,your heating, your sewage disposal etc. etc. so the preps most of the forum members indulge in would become vital. water is probably the most important. Depending on the time of year, heating. A mobile gas heater with spare cylinders is good but not particularily cheap and if you wouldn't ever use it except in an emergency maybe not worth while. Each person needs to look at their own situation and work out where to invest their money for which sinarioes worry them most.

[ukpreppergrrl]

The problem with EMP is that no-one actually knows what would and would not survive because we've never experienced it with modern electronics. It's all theoretical. The opinions seem to vary from: "everything that conducts electrons will be fried"; to: "so long as it's not powered on at the time it'll be fine". The reality is probably somewhere in the middle. Opinion also varies as to how successful a Faraday cage will be in protecting things, and just how much metal and how totally enclosed said cage has to be. Personally my money is on anything with circuits will probably be fried given a strong enough pulse (the "strong enough" part is important) - this includes Jamesey's lithium batteries with the protective circuits, but I believe you can just rip these circuits off the top and the underlying battery will be fine; things without will probably be ok. I also think that a metal rubbish bin (lined with cardboard) will probably protect anything enough, but do you really want to go into a rubbish bin every time you want to use your radio? And knowing my luck the EMP will strike just as I have everything out of the bin to sort it! So, yes, I do have electronic stuff in a small metal bin, mostly because it's as convenient to store it in there as it is to store it in any other container. But stuff I use regularly isn't in there. I'll just have to take my chances.

The likelihood of a strong EMP is really quite small. A Carrington event pulse is different from a nuclear EMP. I suspect with a Carrington event things attached to long wires will be affected (this includes domestic power cables and telephone/ethernet cables), things not attached to long wires won't. I believe that much of the UK's electrical network will be fine in a Carrington event. I believe that everything in my metal rubbish bin will definitely be fine in a Carrington event. I suspect that most of the stuff not in my metal rubbish bin will probably be ok in a Carrington event providing it is not attached to a cable. A nuclear EMP is a different kettle of fish.

This just affects electronic devices, my other preps will cover the boiler stopping working, the cooker stopping working etc. as these things can happen from other disasters occurring, not just EMP. I think it's no different from covering your basics. I can still heat and cook and light without electronic devices. I still have food and water stored. I still have the means to make water safe to drink. I still can grow food.

I am no expert by any stretch and much of what I have said may well be complete boll**ks. These are all just my personal views. Please note the frequency of words like "probably" and "think/suspect". As Izzy says you have to come to your own conclusions based on your own circumstances and your own opinion of what is and what is not acceptable risk.

[jansman]

No electric = anarchy.In short order.One week ,probably less.The economy would collapse virtually overnight if it were such a cataclysmic event. Even if you protected electronics, such as phones ,tablets and even radios,it is probable that no one else has.Therefore there's no interaction with others,making your stuff useless.we would be plunged back to a mediaeval existence.

[Deeps]

No electric = anarchy.In short order.One week ,probably less.The economy would collapse virtually overnight if it were such a cataclysmic event. Even if you protected electronics, such as phones ,tablets and even radios,it is probable that no one else has.Therefore there's no interaction with others,making your stuff useless.we would be plunged back to a mediaeval existence.

Sort of how I see it, also why I have no interest in 'ham', despite it being my former 'trade'. It would be beneficial for my laptop to be working, I have a lot of useful info on it but not essential. If it came to pass that the lecky was fecked like most on here we could cope, we wouldn't be happy but we'd be fed, watered and warm enough. As with any potential 'preppery' situation I think outside factors would be a big issue, cooking smells or 'light pollution' might attract unwanted attention. This circles back to the 'do you share with the neighbours' question that's been debated plenty times.

[korolev]

Many years ago I had to visit a "civil defence bunker" to fix some telephone equipment.

I had a good old laugh when I saw what it was terminated on :



Until the feller running the show said there were no integrated circuits or processors in it, just relays and lamps, so it was far more likely to survive an EMP that the new stuff :



Interestingly, both of them were cutting edge when they came out