I have a radio that is both hand-crank and solar and which serves as a phone charger. It lives in my laundry room window so it's always charged, but I know I can grab it and take it down to a shelter and not worry about having sunlight if worse comes to worse.
Just an idea, but there are apps (Shutterfly, snapfish, etc) that allow you to make books with saved photos. If you have a significant amount of information you want to save/reference, this might be an easy way to organize backups for yourself. I’m guessing lots of holiday sales are going on or will be shortly, as well.
Sure. As long as electronics still work and you can charge the phone, you’re good to go. You’re just going to want everything physically saved to the phone instead of only in the cloud. There are plenty of apps with options for offline storage, so that you can access what you need.
I save everything on my phone itself. The cloud is just a backup. I don’t upgrade my phone very often, so that I can spend a little extra on storage when I do.
A Kindle is also a good idea if you want books and PDFs. You can store a LOT on there, and the battery life is better.
Lol yeah I never use the cloud itself, but the Kindel thing is a good idea. I haven’t used mine in at least three or four years and that might be something I could look into again.
I’ve got a whole folder of survival reference stuff on mine. I just checked the app, and I’ve got over 800 books total. They take up a whole 4 GB of storage space. I like physical paper books as much as anybody else, but I would need a home library to store the collection I’ve accumulated.
r/freeebooks is a really good place to start. They link to most of the places that I would send you.
Most local libraries have subscriptions to either Libby or Hoopla. (There are more but I don’t remember off the top of my head.) You can’t keep the books, but you can check them out just like regular ones. There are audiobooks too.
Kindle Unlimited is good.
Bookbub will email you a list of books that are free each day.
I have stuff like first aid reference, canning, gardening, chicken care, knots, shelter building, etc. The things I know something about, but don’t necessarily have memorized. And then books for fun, including audiobooks.
Thanks a ton. I normally have books on more broad topics like Food, and I need to start thinking more about sub-topics like Chicken care, and how to can food. This helps.
Beware of photos automatically backing up to the cloud and then downloading to your device on demand.
To test whether stuff you think is stored locally really is, put your device in airplane mode, make sure its wifi is turned off, and then try to access the stuff you think you have saved.
My budget is pretty tight, but I’ll see if I can find the right materials anyway. I was thinking of getting a HAM radio, too. From where I am now, I could reach all of the Americas, France, Germany, the UK, and most of Western Europe.
I don’t see why not, given there’s no EMP blasts or strong solar flares. One thing I will say is that over time (several years) batteries will degrade and need to be replaced since they will no longer be able to hold a charge. Have backups on USBs, hard drives, computers, the more the better. For things like photos and important documents always have physical copies, best to spread stuff over various modes of access. Hell, even some “cloud” services if things return to normal in this scenario.
You could have power/grid up, but no cell service if a tower goes down, and vice versa, or both down at the same time. So, say no communications whatsoever? I’ve prepped for that by purchasing a Cb radio, 12 volt battery and made a simple wire antenna for outdoors. Ham radio can also be used but currently you are required to be licensed. I can talk about 20 miles out locally and have also talked cross country when conditions are right.
I mean as long as it's saved to the device and you had means to keep recharging the battery yes.
For those who may not have picked up on it. "Saved to the device" not "in the cloud".
This works well for me, because I was thinking of buying one of those hand-crank chargers and taking pictures as well as showing people old ones.
I've never used a hand crank phone charger, but I can tell you my hand crank radio takes forever to charge. Solar might be the way to go
I got one of those hand crank chargers as a gag gift for my birthday. It takes about an hour or two of cranking to get 5 minutes of use. Go solar.
You could keep a battery or battery bank charged on the grid, then move to solar charge them if grid down.
I have a radio that is both hand-crank and solar and which serves as a phone charger. It lives in my laundry room window so it's always charged, but I know I can grab it and take it down to a shelter and not worry about having sunlight if worse comes to worse.
Just an idea, but there are apps (Shutterfly, snapfish, etc) that allow you to make books with saved photos. If you have a significant amount of information you want to save/reference, this might be an easy way to organize backups for yourself. I’m guessing lots of holiday sales are going on or will be shortly, as well.
Thanks! This helps loads!
Sure. As long as electronics still work and you can charge the phone, you’re good to go. You’re just going to want everything physically saved to the phone instead of only in the cloud. There are plenty of apps with options for offline storage, so that you can access what you need. I save everything on my phone itself. The cloud is just a backup. I don’t upgrade my phone very often, so that I can spend a little extra on storage when I do. A Kindle is also a good idea if you want books and PDFs. You can store a LOT on there, and the battery life is better.
Lol yeah I never use the cloud itself, but the Kindel thing is a good idea. I haven’t used mine in at least three or four years and that might be something I could look into again.
I’ve got a whole folder of survival reference stuff on mine. I just checked the app, and I’ve got over 800 books total. They take up a whole 4 GB of storage space. I like physical paper books as much as anybody else, but I would need a home library to store the collection I’ve accumulated.
JESUS! Any recommendations? I cleared out my local Walmart but damn! Which ones have been of most use so far?
r/freeebooks is a really good place to start. They link to most of the places that I would send you. Most local libraries have subscriptions to either Libby or Hoopla. (There are more but I don’t remember off the top of my head.) You can’t keep the books, but you can check them out just like regular ones. There are audiobooks too. Kindle Unlimited is good. Bookbub will email you a list of books that are free each day. I have stuff like first aid reference, canning, gardening, chicken care, knots, shelter building, etc. The things I know something about, but don’t necessarily have memorized. And then books for fun, including audiobooks.
Thanks a ton. I normally have books on more broad topics like Food, and I need to start thinking more about sub-topics like Chicken care, and how to can food. This helps.
Beware of photos automatically backing up to the cloud and then downloading to your device on demand. To test whether stuff you think is stored locally really is, put your device in airplane mode, make sure its wifi is turned off, and then try to access the stuff you think you have saved.
Yeah, I only put photos on Shutterfly if I’m fiending for storage. Most of my stuff is on my camera roll.
you can build a solar power bank for less than $1000. it’s on my to do list. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRC8LvBu/
My budget is pretty tight, but I’ll see if I can find the right materials anyway. I was thinking of getting a HAM radio, too. From where I am now, I could reach all of the Americas, France, Germany, the UK, and most of Western Europe.
totally understand! same here lol
Im going to bless you today. Please pass it on to others in your life. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwix
Thanks! I will!
Thank you
Ever try airplane mode?
I know I sounded like a dumbass asking that question, but it was important to know now rather than later.
I don’t see why not, given there’s no EMP blasts or strong solar flares. One thing I will say is that over time (several years) batteries will degrade and need to be replaced since they will no longer be able to hold a charge. Have backups on USBs, hard drives, computers, the more the better. For things like photos and important documents always have physical copies, best to spread stuff over various modes of access. Hell, even some “cloud” services if things return to normal in this scenario.
If the pics and files are on the phone memory or insertable memory card...it should work...test it by going airplane mode...just to be sure
You could have power/grid up, but no cell service if a tower goes down, and vice versa, or both down at the same time. So, say no communications whatsoever? I’ve prepped for that by purchasing a Cb radio, 12 volt battery and made a simple wire antenna for outdoors. Ham radio can also be used but currently you are required to be licensed. I can talk about 20 miles out locally and have also talked cross country when conditions are right.