What Preps are you doing this week? Part 12

[Frnc]

Swapped out my Seven Seas lifeboat ration bars in my emergency grab bag/BOB. They have a 5 year use by date, which was up. They are well packaged. You get 18 bars in a box. It says don't eat more than 6 in 24 hours. They are wrapped two at a time in grease proof paper, so you get 9 of these, so eat 3 per day. They are in a thin plastic bag, which is inside a sturdy foil wrap. They taste OK, like a biscuit. Extremely crumbly - you need to be careful not to drop it, especially as they're wrapped two together, and you probably want to eat one and save the other. You need to use the paper as a sort of plate.

The instructions say conserve drinking water, only drink half a litre every 24 hours. But this is a minimum, in cool weather, if you are not doing much activity. A litre is better.

I also have freeze dried meals in my BOB, which just need hot water.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Started a stock take of batteries

All battery lanterns and torches have batteries in already...

I've a tray of batteries for quick access in my bedroom draw which the kids know they are..

So atleast they get rotated ....

So exclude the 40 is aa and 30x aaa cells in the drawer

I bought some really useful boxes to try bring order to the chaos of stuff everywhere..


38x d cells

2x c cells

80x aa cells

70x aaa cells

[Yorkshire Andy]

And I found another 12x pack of aaa cells

[Frnc]

I have quite a few, but not that many. Some are in regular use, eg the AAAs in motion lights. I'm charging three now. Also I have my Juice 3 powerbank waiting to be charged. I only have one charging plug out at the moment. I use it for everything, including my phone.

I have 12 AAAs in my BOB, plus 4 in my head torch. Also 8 spare on my book case. These I record on a spreadsheet when I charge them once a year. I notice Amazon have changed the manufacture date format. My new ones say 122024, which must be December 2024.

On the spreadsheet I record battery type, eg AAA, make, manufacturing date, month and year bought, when last charged, location (eg hand torch). I bought some plastic cases that hold four AAs or AAAs, and they help keep things organised.

[Frnc]

Actually the eneloops have their own special charger which plugs straight in. I usually wait til I have 4 to do. The other chargers all plug into my iphone charging plug, which has a USB A socket. I do have a USB-C charging plug as well, but at the moment the only tbing I use it for is my keyboard, which has a built in battery. I'm limited by cables and how many things I can plug into the mains at one time. Also, I like to have things accessible, eg I have my AAAs charging next to me as I type, so I can see when they are done.

I never leave anything charging at night, or while I am out. I use a timer on my phone, to avoid fully charging it.

I decided not to charge the Juice 3 for now, as lipos shouldn't really be fully charged in storage. It's showing 3 lights out of 4 but was showing 4 the other day, so it's only just gone to 3. I must have fully charged it in the past. It's a bit of a dilemma, because if SHTF you want things fully charged.

[GeraldTheBonzai]

Second solar panel up on the shed - in series (matched panels).
Got another one (different spec) which is going to go into the old charge controller.

LiFePo4 battery next - switch out the AGMs.

[Frnc]

Checked some items in my EGB. Replaced batteries in my backup head torch, they are coin batteries, not rechargeable. Charged AAAs for a magnifier (for map reading etc). Also helps remember where things are. The coin batteries need scissors to get them out of the packaging, which is not ideal. I might get some folding travel scissors to keep with them.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Second solar panel up on the shed - in series (matched panels).
Got another one (different spec) which is going to go into the old charge controller.

LiFePo4 battery next - switch out the AGMs.

Just be aware of the limitations of lithium based cells in cold weather... some more expensive units have inbuilt heaters to allow charging in the cold

[GeraldTheBonzai]

Second solar panel up on the shed - in series (matched panels).
Got another one (different spec) which is going to go into the old charge controller.

LiFePo4 battery next - switch out the AGMs.

Just be aware of the limitations of lithium based cells in cold weather... some more expensive units have inbuilt heaters to allow charging in the cold

The Eco-worthy I am interested in charges down to -7 and stops discharging at -20. If we ever got down to -7 or lower here on the South Coast, Council would have declared a State of Emergency and be asking for troops to be deployed.....

[Frnc]

Well that was exciting, seeing as I'd forgotten about it. The alarm lasted about 10 seconds, but the notification is still there on my phone's screen.