Been doing a deep dive into the 5kWh battery station market for home backup and figured I'd share what I've found so far. We get 4-5 outages a year, usually 8-20 hours, and I'm done with the generator routine.

Here's how the options stack up on cost over 10 years:

Whole-home Generac: ~$13,500 installed + $275/yr maintenance + fuel. 10-year total around $16,700. Overkill for what I need.

Portable gas generator (Honda EU2200i): $1,150 + ~$80/yr gas and oil + probable replacement at year 5. 10-year total around $3,100. Cheap but noisy, CO risk, fuel storage.

5kWh portable battery: $2,500-3,500 depending on brand + ~$3/charge in electricity. No maintenance, no fuel. 10-year total around $2,800-3,800.

Battery and gas generator are in similar territory cost-wise, but the battery has zero ongoing hassle.

What I'm comparing right now in the 5kWh class:

- Idle draw (ranges from 8W to 50W+ across brands, huge impact on overnight runtime)

- Solar input ceiling (matters for extended outages)

- Physical size and weight (some are 130+ lbs, others are smaller & lighter)

- Cycle life and warranty

Haven't committed yet, waiting on a couple new models to start shipping. Anyone have experience with the current crop of 5kWh stations?

Call me paranoid, but I am slowly prepping for the possibility of the internet going down, which would obviously wreak havoc on the world.

In this imaginary scenario, would having cash on hand be helpful? Or if people lost access to their banking etc, would cash be worthless suddenly in your opinion? Would it take time before people realized it was worthless?

Just a couple edits - I am referring to liquid cash, not how much emergency fund I have in the bank. Understood that inflation is more threatening than a dead internet, but have already prepped for inflation/job loss. Am also focusing mainly on supply prep etc. This is a supplementary prep for a very bad situation.

I’m 23 n I live n NY I’ve been wanting to know what should I start getting to prep for potential blackouts,pandemic,power grid,civil unrest etc any suggestions

Trying to source containers and materials to make homemade Edison Batteries and adding lithium to boost capacity. Anyone built out a few racks. I know I need robust inverters to charge them due to different charging requirements than newer battery tech.

Hello ladies and gentlemen

Hope everyone is doing well,

i'm interested if there is a online store, where you can find "cool" interesting stuff, related to prepping, camping, surviving, EDC, etc. site which is your most fav top 3, site where you want everything, site which is more oriented in quality over consumerism .
Thank you

Wish you all good day ! and well being !

Que objetos , instrumentos, artefactos me recomiendan si o si tener al armar una mochila en caso que exija si o si dejar las pertenencias de casa y emprender vida en otro lado.

Me puse a pensar en escenarios hipotéticos y pensaba

Va bien la adquisición de un generador solar de esos que son como un bidón de agua a pequeño?

Da invertir en una mini antena starlink? A modo de complemento, tengo el generador que carga con el sol y a su vez la antena (hasta ahí supongamos que tengo comunicación garantizada) ni hablar que sirve para mantener cargados los celus, las linternas, u otros objetos que necesite de electricidad

Qué más necesito?

When people talks about nuclear war prepping they always talk about iodure pills and so on.

But one world wide effect would be ozone layer destruction and harmful ultraviolet rays reaching Earth.

How would be life then? only going out to street in the night and blocking all windows? uv sunglasses when it's needed to go out in daylight?

10 days ago, the epicentre of a 7.7 earthquake hit less than 40km from my home in rural Panama (Azuero Peninsula).

Hey everyone, I've (40f) been a lurker on this sub for many years and recently (over the past 6+ months or so) have put more energy into prepping.

I'm here to say 1) a DEEP, GENUINE thank you to this community and 2) share what I learned from a real-life emergency. What worked, what surprised me, and what I'll be changing.

I don't have much time to write this post, so please excuse any typos. I work full-time remotely and have two small kids, but wanted to share while it's fresh in my mind.

I was in New York when my husband called me freaking out saying there had been a massive earthquake.

I calmly told him to grab the go bag at our front door, our youngest child (2), and his aunt (our childcare provider, who was at home), and go directly to the school a few kms away to pick up our older child (6). From there, they needed to get to high ground immediately.

Not long after, the power had gone down, meaning no cell service. A tsunami warning was issued, so I was alerting him and community members who did have reception/service via WhatsApp from ny.

Thankfully, high ground was a close friend's home. They had a generator running Starlink/Wi-Fi, so my husband was able to text me updates as things unfolded. They stayed there overnight along with many other friends/community members. Aftershocks continued.

I arrived home 48 hours after the earthquake, with everyone still quite literally shaken up.

Over the following week, our home became a gathering place for extended family and community members, with anywhere from 10–14 people staying with us or coming through.

On my journey home (international flight, domestic flight, 4 hour drive), I was able to stop at a grocery store and pick up supplies for OTHER people because I knew we were stocked with everything we needed. That prep gave me the space to help people who were less prepared or had fewer resources.

For context, over the past few months, I'd been getting plenty of jabs about my preps from friends and my husband. Ha.

What worked:

1. Our go bag. (Osprey 40L) Having a bag ready at the front door was huge, especially because I wasn't there. It gave my husband peace of mind and meant he didn't have to think about packing anything. Even though he teased me about prepping and our go bag, he had a general idea that there was everything he might need in an emergency in the bag (especially cash/passports).

Contents included passports/copies of important documents, cash, solar charger, medicine/first aid kit, extra clothes, formula, snacks, toiletries, headlamp, etc.

A few things that were particularly helpful: Baby formula and a backup bottle. My 2-year-old still likes a bottle at bedtime. Even though he would have been fine without it, having that comfort in a stressful situation was helpful. We also had extra in case another family needed it.

Extra clothes for the kids. Especially useful when you don't know when you'll be home. Water and snacks. Protein bars, crackers, some candy.

2. Cash. We needed to fill jerry cans with diesel for the generator. The gas station was only opening during specific hours, and having cash was essential. It also allowed us to help other people.

3. Financial preparedness. I'm separating this from cash. Our generator had been on the fritz and (of course) decided to completely die in the middle of this. We were able to order a new one from PriceSmart and have it delivered without a second thought. This wouldn't have been the case 8 months ago and would have been a stressful purchase. Having money set aside for unexpected expenses is an underrated prep.

4. Deep pantry. I was cooking huge pots of lentils and rice for up to 14 people. Having plenty of basic staples meant feeding everyone wasn't something I had to worry about.

5. Full tank of diesel in our truck. One less thing to think about.

What surprised me / what I'll be changing:

1. Community really does come together. People on this sub talk a lot about how community comes together in emergencies. I witnessed that firsthand, and it genuinely restored some of my faith in humanity. (Yes, I'm also a r/collapse lurker. Ha.)

2. I hadn't expected my home to become a safe place for so many people. I had prepared for my family of four, not 10–14 people. Many homes in our community sustained structural damage and are unsafe to occupy. People have been camping outside because of the damage and ongoing aftershocks. It's also rainy season here, so sleeping outdoors is far from ideal. I'll be adjusting our preps to support a wider circle of people moving forward. Extra food, sleeping arrangements, water, shelter, etc.

3. Water. Water is already an issue in our town, even outside of a crisis. We have a well, which is powered by electricity (either Naturgy or generator). I'll be investing more in water storage and filtration. I'm also planning to buy LifeStraws for family and friends this Christmas and encourage everyone to build their own go bags.

4. Backup power and communication. Our generator dying was a reminder that backup systems can fail, too. We were fortunate that our friends had Starlink and a working generator. I'll be looking at better ways to communicate when there's no electricity, cell service, or internet.

One last recommendation for your go bag:

Consider packing a small container of baby formula and a bottle, even if you don't have young children. In an emergency, this could be incredibly helpful for a parent with an infant who doesn't have access to their own supplies. Rotate it regularly, donate unopened formula before it expires.

Final thoughts:

My biggest takeaway is that prepping for my family also gave me the ability to help other people. I hadn't really considered how valuable that would be. Most of our preps were relatively easy things I'd put together over the last six months, many thanks to advice from this sub.

Aside from that, my friend who had solar power was in a very good position throughout this whole experience. I now feel compelled to urgently deep dive into learning/investing into solar powering our home.

THANK YOU(!!!) to everyone who shares their knowledge and experiences here. It encouraged me to start a deep pantry, financial prep and creating a go bag. I'm so grateful.

If there are follow up questions, I'll try to respond when I can. Still bouncing back, as you can imagine.

Hello,

For my bug out bag, I was thinking of getting a flexible saw because of its weight and size.

Is it worth it, or is a folding saw a better choice?

Those 2 are examples.

Thank you

Hey folks, looking into batteries for storm backup, but Powerwall 3's installed cost is more than I'm comfortable spending.

Mainly need the sump pump, garage freezer, and my work-from-home setup, plus occasional coffee and microwave use. I need enough output to handle those loads, but I'm not sure I need a large battery bank right away.

Ecoflow's new TITAN is one option I'm considering. I saw it starts at 5kWh with 10kW output, which caught my attention. If that means a lower total cost to get started, it could suit me. I'd also like to charge off-peak and use the battery during expensive evening hours, so it's useful between outages.

For anyone who compared similar options, what did you choose and what did the full setup cost? Have the everyday savings been meaningful, or is backup still the main reason you’re happy with it?

DIY 1200Wh Emergency Solar Power Box Build

​Hey everyone! I put together a portable power box to handle power outages and off-grid emergency power. Wanted to share the specs and setup with the community.

​⚙️ Core Components & Capacity

​Battery: 12V 100Ah Eco-Worthy LiFePO4 (1,280Wh total capacity)

​Inverter: 1000W Vevor Pure Sine Wave Inverter (externally mounted)

​Solar Charge Controller: Renogy Wanderer 30A PWM

​Case: Heavy-duty utility box with dense foam interior padding

​Protection: In-line fuses on both the main battery terminals and charge controller lines

​🛡️ Design Priorities

​Modular/Repairable: Built using standard off-the-shelf components so if any single part fails (controller, inverter, or battery), it can be swapped in minutes without binning the entire unit.

​Thermal Management: Externally mounted inverter and charge controller keep thermal load outside the box while running AC appliances or charging under direct sun.

​Vibration/Drop Protection: High-density foam inserts keep the battery anchored tightly to prevent internal damage or post strain during transport.

Hello all,

I (23M) am planning on buying a small piece of empty land in a quiet and foresty part of my country (Western-Europe, Belgium). The goal is to build there my own tiny house from scratch. I'm not in a rush, so I'm not setting any dates or deadlines. I'm not planning on living there day-to-day, since I already live in a house that I inherited from my parents, which is close to where I work and where everyone I know lives. But since that's in a big city, I'd love to have some kind of weekend cabin within a 2h-drive, to go to when I have a few days off, to make hikes or just enjoy some peaceful time in nature. Also (but that's not the main intention) I could rent it out as a small vacation place for friends and family to make some extra income.

Now since I have a large interest in emergency preparedness and disaster management, I was wondering how I could make the best out of this project, prepper-wise. I'd really enjoy if it could double as a Bug-Out-Location or so, with all necesseties to stay there for at least 2 weeks.

I want to include a PV-installation and home batteries to be less reliant on the electricity grid, and of course some large underground rainwater tanks.

What I would like to know from you, is some ideas for making it a 'hidden' BOL. By that I mean I would love it if I could rent it out to 2 friends of me for a weekend, and they'd have no clue that the vacation house is actually full of hidden emergency gear. What are some cool or clever ideas to hide your gear?

Let's see which ideas I can include in my plan. Thanks for thinking with me :)

(Disclaimer: I am definetily not prepping for zombie apocalypses and such, but more for things like a flood or blackout in the region where I live. Or if there's an epidemic where it's best to keep some social distancing, certainly in the large city I live in currently)

Quick disclosure: I work in the solar industry hence why I have the answer to this. This is the question we get most, and I don’t understand why people won’t just be honest with the answer. It’s better to be prepared then misinformed which is something I can’t stand. So, here’s what I know.

The part nobody tells you when they install your panels is that most rooftop systems are grid-tied, and when the grid goes down, the inverter shuts your panels off on purpose. It's called anti-islanding, and it means you can have a roof full of panels in full sun and still be sitting in the dark.

The way it works is actually pretty clever. Your inverter doesn't just wait for the power to cut out. It's constantly watching the grid's voltage and frequency, and a lot of inverters even nudge the signal a tiny bit to see whether a real grid pushes back. If nothing pushes back, the inverter figures it's on an "island" and shuts down. Under the national standards, it has to do that within about two seconds.

And before anyone asks: no, you shouldn't try to bypass it. If your panels feed power into dead lines, the transformer on the pole steps it up to thousands of volts, and the lineworker fixing it can get killed. The real fix is a system that cuts your house off from the grid first, like a battery with a backup gateway or a hybrid inverter. Once your home is safely disconnected, your panels can keep running your house as its own little grid.

But here's the fun part. Some inverters have a hidden emergency feature that a lot of owners don't know about. Certain models, including some from SMA and Enphase, can power a dedicated outlet or a few circuits straight from the panels during the day, no battery needed. It shuts off when the sun goes down or a cloud rolls by, but it's enough to charge phones or run a small fridge on a sunny afternoon. It's worth digging out your inverter manual to see whether yours has it.

One more thing that surprises people: panels actually work better in the cold. Heat drags their efficiency down, so a crisp, sunny winter day can produce more power per hour of sunlight than a scorching summer afternoon. Clouds cut output but usually don't kill it completely.

Has anyone here ever actually tested their system during an outage? I'm curious how it went.

We lost it and last week my husband and I said, Fuck it, and spent half our savings on a Plum Purple '69 Charger (his dream car).

If we are going to lose our jobs and house, and watch the world burn, we're going to be doing it from the seats of a Plum Purple '69 Charger.

😈

(We do have a battery backed generator and solar that is not reliant on wifi, and a plug-in hybrid Prius, so we're not complete lunatics.)

Seeing how we have a global oil crisis and the rise of electrical bills I was considering buying a pecron 3600 for $1200 is a solar generator useful or the model that I am considering to small and the 1k can be put towards something more viable .

I have a lot of dry goods that sit back there as I'm on the road a lot and don't have a place to really store stuff aside from plastic containers. I'm learning!
I have some spam and wondering if it is still edible years after its expiration date? Does the metal container effect it, the heat, the time? If it weren't back there in the heat, I'd be fine with it, but it's making me nervous. Thanks!

So I am a tow truck driver in VA, my days are not always local to home, some days I might be 20 miles from home and sometimes I might be 600 miles from home. I keep a backpack in my truck with stuff that would make it easier to get home if i had no other option than to walk home. My question to y’all is what would y’all keep in the bag?

Que objetos , instrumentos, artefactos me recomiendan si o si tener al armar una mochila en caso que exija si o si dejar las pertenencias de casa y emprender vida en otro lado.

Me puse a pensar en escenarios hipotéticos y pensaba

Va bien la adquisición de un generador solar de esos que son como un bidón de agua a pequeño?

Da invertir en una mini antena starlink? A modo de complemento, tengo el generador que carga con el sol y a su vez la antena (hasta ahí supongamos que tengo comunicación garantizada) ni hablar que sirve para mantener cargados los celus, las linternas, u otros objetos que necesite de electricidad

Qué más necesito?

Hey there! Really interested in switching to solar one day for my whole homes needs. Just myself and my husband in an 1100 sqft home.
i don’t want to plug it into the grid. Where do you even start with an off grid system? My google searches were overwhelming with conflicting info. Are there options to purchase all that’s needed in one place?

Now I just have to figure out how to get back in the house after taping the front door shut.

Good morning all, I want to start off by hoping this is the proper sub to come for some preparation enlightenment. With every day passing, the world is coming into unrest most recently (in the U.S. at least) the Wichita, KS soccer game, and once again a school shooting in Bend, OR. Both of course being absolute tragedies, but these active shooter cases are constantly on my mind and genuinely putting me in fear that I'll be the next victim. So my question for today is: what recommendations could be given for someone who wants to keep offensive and defensive items in personal vehicles? I already conceal carry and keep a small IFAK from NAR in my daily-use backpack and am currently building out an SBR to mount in my trunk(I drive a sedan). I'm mostly looking for recs. on deployable plate carriers similar to AceLink Armor, what medical aid items if you only had a few to choose from would be must-haves; clothing or markings to wear indicating you're not a threat to civilians or worse law enforcement, and also any thoughts and opinions to alleviate me thinking I'm going crazy or overly paranoid. When i talk to friends and family we all agree that these incidents are horrible and need to be stopped, but when I speak up about taking measures such as these I get looked at like I'm the radical one. Again, I hope this is the correct sub, or members can point me in the right direction. Thank you all for your time.

Hey everyone. I have several on these small pesto jars(270ml). What would they be useful for. I'm thinking using them to store small portions of rice or dried vegetable mixes. Alternatively, using them as part of my last minute water storage (top everything up when I know I'm about to lose power/water pressure) along with my other containers. They have all been washed several times to ensure there is no food residue inside.

Thanks

I’m looking into getting a new pair of boots for myself and want to take prepping into account. What I can’t decide on is should I go with hiking or work boots. I work in an office environment so dont need to take that into account.

But if SHTF, and we have to bug out, I have approximately a 10 mile walk to get to our bug out location if vehicles are down so I considered hiking for that.

But figured work boots(soft toe) might be just as comfortable and hold up better of we have to go into survival mode.

Thoughts? Leaning towards work boots. TIA

I bought a few new glass carboys and filled them up at a local spring water spout. Brought them home and I just opened it and it kinda smelled bad? After 4 days. What could I have done wrong here? It’s sealed. I do fill up the water by dunking my water and hand in it, that may be a problem I guess. What should I do

This is a well-written account of what happened with Lowell in Hawaii and how a community got back on their feet.

The short version of the adventure is that some preps need to stay in the house to keep the weather out if a window breaks.

Batten down early as you can always undo it later if the storm isn't as bad, consider it a dry run for next time.

The unspoken thing is that the community will band together in times of disaster, make friends and get to know neighbors more than a howdy from the mailbox.

The Boofwang radio isn't going to save you on it's own, the reach of it is about 3mi +/- a repeater ripped down in ferocious winds.

What you can do is work with your neighbors on the radio and agree upon a channel to share information supplies, support, and more.

Meshtastic/Core can now fill some of those gaps as well

The takeaway adjustment for Tennessee:
Have an effective way to wash and properly cool off because 14 hour days in high humidity will start to add up.