I'm only half kidding. I'm a bit of a prepper and I have lots of powerbanks and devices that charge from USB but besides idling my truck I really had no other way to charge any of them in case of a long-term power outage which seemed a bit of an oversight on my part.
Not like this solves the issue. 30 watts (under ideal conditions) isn't much but it's a start.
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Yeah 30 watts isn't enough. The rule of thumb for off grid is it needs to be able to boil water (12A power station)
It seems they just wanted something to help power their devices during an outage. You can use fire (like your stove) to boil water during a power outage.
30 watts into a power bank that can output more watts on demand should keep your phone and one laptop usable indefinitely unless you use them 24/7.
Obviously a proper setup in the range of at least a few kilowatts would be more useful, but that's expensive, may require permitting (changes appearance of the house), etc.
With 30watts, you can power the electrical lighter to light a fire. Or something like that.
Or just use some matches or a lighter...
Do you really need electricity to light a fire? 🤔
You need a safe place to burn. It's illegal where I live.
Who's arresting me during the apocalypse?
If you are preparing for an emergency situation, laws like that probably don't apply anymore.
Don't you have a fireplace, or can't you get/build one? Even if it is a temporary stove.
You have multiple options. The most popular one is probably a hobostow. :)
If we're boiling water why not skip the middle man and get a solar kettle?
Why not wood stove?
OP probably doesn't. This is something I find odd about replies to stuff like this.
Hey guys, got 30w! Should be plenty.
Omg no you need 50kW to run a desalination plant.
But I have a fresh water spring next to me?
Yeah but I live next to the dead sea.
Obviously discussing different use cases and needs is cool, but some seem to try and apply requirements to others when it doesn't really apply to them.
Wood is a potentially scarce resource, access to it is situational, it requires significant storage space, wood smoke is bad for you, fire is dangerous and requires skill to manage that can take a long time to learn, same goes for the process of preparing the wood.
Depends a lot on what you are making and how. Haybox cookers require very little fuel. Just get the food up to almost boiling point and that is all the fuel you need.
I looked up haybox cookers, seems like a neat idea to insulate already boiling water, but a wood fire doesn't seem like the most convenient or efficient choice if what you want is to efficiently heat something up a specific amount but no more.
Just light a small fire and keep it pretty small and it can burn out once you are done.
I use a Kelly kettle stove a lot, tiny fire but still a few thousand watts of thermal energy. A few sticks at a time as fuel.
I've kept the old wood stoves in my house just in case I ever need them. I used them all last winter cause they were all I had at the time. Learned how to chop wood and start a fire and everything. It was kinda fun, but hard work. Defo not something anyone should have to do their whole life, but perhaps something everyone should try once. Quite humbling
EDIT: I used them for heating. Had to keep a fire going about 3 hours a day in each
Love my Kelly kettles - yes I have multiple, different sizes. Gathering wood to boil enough hot water to make tea for 6 people? About 30 seconds of work. Once you have filled 1 hand with sticks and twigs that is about enough firewood.
My primary heat source is the wood stove. I have my heat pump as back up.
I have a 400 yo oak tree shading by home and a metal roof so I only need to turn on the ac from 5-8pm in the hottest days of summer.
Depends what you actually need power for. If you just want to power some basic communication devices and batteries for them, 30w may well be overkill.
I have multiple ways to boil water that take no electricity at all.