Emergency back-up power source recommendations

[bdaul]

For disasters, what are the best:

solar chargers
battery backup systems
hand crank systems

from your experience?

Thanks, --bill

 

[Tronmech]

That all depends on how long you think you'll be without power, and under what conditions.

I would avoid hand crank systems for a smartphone or tablet, it wound be quite a workout to fully charge the phone's battery. And the durability of most of the less expensive units makes me wonder if the crank will break before I would finish.

For short-term emergency power, a cheap AA powered charger seems a good bet to me. And AA alkaliines last a long time in storage. They also have the advantage of being almost universally available.

Longer term is more complicated. If you are thinking of going solar, get a unit and test it on a camping trip. I just think that anything light enough to be easily portable won't have the charge performance to be practical.

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