View Single Post
  #2   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
HeyBub[_3_] HeyBub[_3_] is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,538
Default OT - Home Preparedness tip

Stormin Mormon wrote:
Local Day After Christmas Sale Idea For Preppers
by David Morris on December 26, 2011

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Thanks to all who sent me such
heartfelt emails and notes. I'm trying to spend as little time in
front of my
computer as possible for a few days, but I wanted to get this quick
TIMELY tip
out to you today.
It's a tip that I've suggested for the last couple of years on the day
after Christmas that a lot of you have taken advantage of.
If you've got the time, head to your local Home Depot, Lowes, Ace,
Target, etc. and buy some LED Christmas lights on closeout.
Home Depot even has sets this year that are solar powered and come
with a solar charger, Lithium Ion battery, a light sensor to turn
them on automatically at dusk and a timer to turn them off 6 hours
later!
If you've got 120 volt emergency power, these are a great cheap way
to keep your house lit during an emergency.
A great accompaniment is the SMALL 1 plug cigarette adapter inverters
that you can buy from Radio Shack so that you can power the lights
with a 12 volt battery. (FYI, the inverter probably draws about as
much power as the LED
bulbs do.)
And, if you want more adaptability, you can spend another $3 and get a
battery harness that will hold 8 AA batteries (1.5vx8=12v) so you can
run your
LED strings on AA batteries. The model I like is from Radio Shack,
has a 9v type connector, and works like a charm. It's current model
number is 270-387.
As you're searching, you might want to look for these features:
-strings of lights rather than "icicle" lights
-a female plug at the end so you can run multiple sets in series
-wired so that the set will still work if a bulb goes out


Yep. I got a couple of strings I'm going to use as subdued lighting for the
patio's pergola.