Parts supply for an EMP event?

k1dude · Post by **k1dude** » Thu Nov 06, 2014 3:08 am

The intelligence community has been warning the past 5 administrations that there's a very real chance a rogue nation or organization might detonate a nuke several hundred miles above the US in an EMP attack. No one would be affected by the blast, but our electronics would be destroyed.

The scientific community has been warning the last few administrations of the very real possibility that another massive solar flare event could knock out our grid and electronics. The last such solar storm to hit the earth was in 1859. Fortunately, very little power assets existed. But it knocked out telegraphs and the poles caught fire due to the huge power surge over thousands of miles of cable. No IC's or CB's existed back then. So the event had very little effect on the economy or people's daily lives. No longer. We are completely reliant on our electronics for survival.

Our government has done very little (if anything) to harden our infrastructure against either event. Supposedly only 15% of our military assets are EMP hardened.

If such an event were to take out our infrastructure, estimates suggest up to 90% of the US population would die off within the first 3 months. Since there would be no power and nothing electronic would work (including most vehicles made after the 70's), the aftermath would be devastating. There would be no power and no gas or food distribution - much less production. The economy would collapse. It would take several months to several years to replace the massive transformers that were fried in the event. They used to be made in the US and Western Europe. Now they are all made in China. By then the damage will have been done.

Now that I have all the happy news out of the way, there's a way to "harden" your own electronics from the event. Using a Faraday cage that's grounded with a 4 foot copper ground rod, the insulated contents of the cage should be unaffected.

It could be as simple as a galvanized garbage can with a copper cable bolted to the can and ground rod. Put your electronics in a cardboard box and enclose it in the garbage can. Tape the lid to the can with aluminum tape found at the hardware store.

This is where our scooters come into the equation.

If you have a few 5 gallon gas containers treated with Sea Foam or Sta-Bil, your scooter could get you several hundred to several thousand miles away if you bug-out. Or it could give you a way to get around locally if you bug-in for months or years.

So the question is, which extra components should be purchased and stored in the Faraday cage? After the event, you could swap out the damaged components and have cheap, reliable, and fuel efficient transportation when everyone else basically has none.

Any component with an integrated circuit will be on the list. Which components are those? Anything with fine wire connections or a circuit board should be on the list. Which components are those?

Regulator? Coil? CDI? Stator? Starter? Anything else?

jrsjr · Post by **jrsjr** » Thu Nov 06, 2014 3:47 am

With my luck, thieves would steal my Faraday cage for the copper and take my spare CDI with it.

srbbnd · Post by **srbbnd** » Thu Nov 06, 2014 5:57 am

You should stop watching doomsday preppers.

KrispyKreme · Post by **KrispyKreme** » Thu Nov 06, 2014 9:56 am

If that's a fact, am I lying?

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TVB · Post by **TVB** » Thu Nov 06, 2014 11:33 am

No need to stockpile fuel for the scooter: there would be plenty of dead SUVs sitting around to siphon it from.

BuddyRaton · Post by **BuddyRaton** » Thu Nov 06, 2014 12:53 pm

TVB wrote:No need to stockpile fuel for the scooter: there would be plenty of dead SUVs sitting around to siphon it from.

Oh no need to siphon in that event...there are easier and faster ways

BuddyRaton · Post by **BuddyRaton** » Thu Nov 06, 2014 12:54 pm

Just another reason to go vintage!

RoaringTodd · Post by **RoaringTodd** » Thu Nov 06, 2014 7:54 pm

I thought about that - OH I'm fine with vintage, BuddyRaton. However don't we still need electric spark to run? Will the rectifier fry? CDI?

J33pman · Post by **J33pman** » Thu Nov 06, 2014 8:02 pm

Well, I second the vintage motion! At least a two stroke Stella. Basically you need a second copy of any "black box" on the wire harness, fuses, bulbs, etc. I don't know the particulars of the Buddy.

Being basically prepared isn't crazy. How many people can even make it a week without electricity? If you don't take care of yourself, no one else will.

Everyone is afraid of some terrorist organization getting a nuke from Pakistan or North Korea and blowing up a city. Best result for them is to launch it from a cargo ship over one of our coastlines. No need to be accurate--the resulting EMP will send us into a new Great Depression. Look at the response to hurricane Sandy--feel confident?

There is an interesting novel about the subject called "One Second After" by William Forstchen.

ScooterDave · Post by **ScooterDave** » Thu Nov 06, 2014 8:08 pm

Seriously? This is what keeps you up at night?

az_slynch · Post by **az_slynch** » Thu Nov 06, 2014 8:29 pm

What problem?

All of my mopeds use point and condenser ignition. So does the '81 C70 Passport and the '64 V90. And yes, I have spare condensers.

Won't outrun much of anything with these machines, but they'll at least run...

jrsjr · Post by **jrsjr** » Fri Nov 07, 2014 12:02 am

BuddyRaton wrote:Just another reason to go vintage!

Unless the vintage scoot is running one of those coolio SIP 12V conversion kits with a CDI.

k1dude · Post by **k1dude** » Fri Nov 07, 2014 3:01 am

ScooterDave wrote:Seriously? This is what keeps you up at night?

Damn straight! You ought to see my whiskey and toilet paper supply.

BuddyRaton · Post by **BuddyRaton** » Fri Nov 07, 2014 12:56 pm

jrsjr wrote:
BuddyRaton wrote:Just another reason to go vintage!
Unless the vintage scoot is running one of those coolio SIP 12V conversion kits with a CDI.

Oh I have some with a 12v conversion but the SS 180, GS and TV 175 are all points.

charlie55 · Post by **charlie55** » Fri Nov 07, 2014 1:13 pm

k1dude wrote:
ScooterDave wrote:Seriously? This is what keeps you up at night?
Damn straight! You ought to see my whiskey and toilet paper supply.

Got aluminum foil?

k1dude · Post by **k1dude** » Sat Nov 08, 2014 9:34 am

charlie55 wrote:
k1dude wrote:
ScooterDave wrote:Seriously? This is what keeps you up at night?
Damn straight! You ought to see my whiskey and toilet paper supply.
Got aluminum foil?

Doh! Better put that on the list.