Survival Manual: Chpt 3 - Power
To use the [Apps](Apps) on your phone you need power. Power can also provide you with light and empower you in many other ways. But the power-grid and outlets might not be available. In the early days of this app
"you will not be able to read it as you have no power" ( anonymous commentator )
was the most common critic on this app. Hence I created this section to address this problem.
Methods to generate power
Solar
There are [Solar USB chargers](SolarUSBCharger). Harvesting the power of the sun is a great and very clean way to generate power. There are only 2 real drawbacks for this kind of power:
* it is not available at night
* the output depends on the weather
But if it is available you can use it very effortless. While the sun is working for you - you can do other useful things like getting some food or building a shelter.
Bicycle
In contrast to the sun - generating power with your Bicycle is more effort - but it can also be a lot of fun and a good exercise. And it might be very available as most bikes already have a "generator" installed. Usually this "generator" / dynamo is there to power your lights on the bike. But it can also charge a phone. You only need a converter to 5V/USB - you can build them yourself or buy one. But be careful here - there are some really bad converters out there. I would recommend building one yourself.
Wind
Wind-power is also great. It can be available day and night - but you need wind. Also it is often more bulky and hard to transport. But it can be a great option if you are stationary and not on the move. It is not that difficult to build a wind-generator. Basically you just need to get the wind to turn something - use junk and your MultiTool to get the wind to rotate a shaft and attach a motor. A motor is basically the same as a generator - then you just need to build some electronics to harvest the power.
Water
You can also use water to generate power. One option is to use the flow of a river passing by. There you basically do the same as you would with the wind-turbine - just that water and not wind turns the generator. One big advantage of using a river is that you get a steady rotation-speed and the flow usually does not stop as wind can do. But it depends on having access to a river or a dam. Speaking of a dam - you can also build things to direct the water and make the flow faster.
Heat-Difference
You can also generate power by heat-difference. E.g. with a fire. There are now turnkey ready solutions like the [BioLite Wood Burning Campstove with USB](CampStoveUSB) or there are also some pots out there with a power USB outlet. Science and Engineering brought us some really cool and mobile new options here just recently. You could also harvest the power of a fire via steam as is often done in a large scale today. But for small scale this is really effortful to use and implement.
Hand Crank
Using the muscles of your arm is another option. There are small USB cranks to operate by hand some even [with a light](HandCrankUSB). But be aware that this really binds you to the task as you cannot really do much while turning the crank. Also I personally find it a really exhausting and boring task - I prefer to use the bicycle. But it is always good to have a lot of options and I own a small crank for emergencies.
Car
You can also use a car to generate power. A car always comes with a generator - if you drive around the ( typically 12V ) battery is charged. You just have to convert the 12V to 5V for the phone. You can really easily build this yourself cheaply e.g. with a LM7805 Voltage Regulator IC or you buy some [car usb-charger](CarUSBCharger). But be aware that you hurt the environment when doing so. This should be the last resort or used when you drive around in a car anyway to get from point A to point B.
Tips & Tricks
Power-Bank
Get a good power-bank. Often you do not want to directly use the energy when generating. Lets take solar - this way you can compensate for solar not working at night. You charge your power-bank at day and can use the power at night. Be aware that the capacity information on these power-banks are often straight lies. Try them out for yourself and measure!
Stay DC
If possible stay DC ( Direct Current ) - if you need to make a DC/AC ( Alternating Current ) AC/DC roundtrip ( e.g. with some inverter ) you loose a lot of power ( in fact you never loose power - but here you convert it in the form of heat which is often not the form you need ). Also DC is most of the time less deadly in handling - so it helps you to survive the process of surviving ;-)
Save Power
The power you save you do not have to generate. A big help in saving power is measuring what device consumes how much energy in which state.
