The Savage Awakening (A preppers Perspective) (6 page)

It had built in 400 watt inverter so he could run small appliances like a blender, a mixer, electric can opener, food processor etc.

Dennis favorite use for it was to
Charge rechargeable batteries with a rechargeable battery charger hooked to it.

“
Hey Charles you remember when you sat out on this deck and played organ grinder with that crank up radio of mine?” Dennis said remembering when they were partying and drinking a few beers and had the batteries on the radio run down. Dennis had had a blast comically cranking the radio to the music while it was playing to keep the charge up.

“Yea man that was sure a fun day we had. Have You run your radio batteries down again?” Charles asked.

“Not yet, I still have some rechargeable AA batteries for back up but I need to charge the batteries in that second set of hand held communication radios that I am lending you and Monica.” Dennis said as he got his rocket stove fired up.

“How are you planning on doing that as overcast as it is? You got enough power in your battery bank?’ Charles asked.

“Not and continue to run that ice maker, I got something way cool to do the job with though. Hang on a second.” Dennis said and walked over to his prep shed and unlocked his door and retrieved his
CRANK-A-WATT™.

“Wow! Let me check that out. No isn’t that the neatest thing. So you just crank it huh?” Charles said trying the easy turn handle and studying the interface.

“Cool, it has a inverter and what’s this a lawn tractor battery?” Dennis asked figuring out the little marvel.

“Yea it’s a lawn mower battery, no need to purchase expensive deep cycle batteries with this. The
engineers who designed it have specified the Interstate Brand (or equal), lead acid tractor-lawn-utility battery. Although they are not considered deep cycle batteries, they are very robust and good quality products. They operate in an excellent temperature range and are typically 145 cold cranking amps @ 12 volts, which is quite suitable for my Crank-a-Watt(TM) generator.” Dennis stated while watching Charles heft it to test its weight.

“Dang! This thing is a lot lighter than I would of imagined” Charles said putting it back down on the table.

“The Crank-A-Watt™ was designed to be portable, it weighs around 14 pounds so you can pick it up and go. It is also designed to sit on the edge of a table or counter around waist or chest high. This makes it easier to crank the handle. We could carry it down to your house or Tommy’s and charge up your cell phones etc. no problem. By the way are you getting any signal on your phones?” Dennis inquired stopping what he was doing so he could better assess the world’s current state of affairs.

“Monica got through earlier so they have some cell towers still functioning, no internet though. How about you? You getting any signal?” Charles asked still inspecting the Crank-A-Watt.

“I have one of those cheap cell phones that can’t get a signal back in these woods most days and my internet was satellite so the sun probably cooked it. I wonder if DSL is working in the cities. It might be seeing its on phone lines.’ Dennis said speculating.

“Then you got to run your computer and your router etc.” Charles began.

“Hey my Lap top works and that crank a watt can recharge the battery in it.” Dennis said grinning.

“Neat, I will ask Monica if she knows anyone in town running DSL and maybe we can go try it out. I know you are dying to talk to your prepper buddies on the internet.” Charles commented.

“That would almost be too good to be true, but if the internet is running I know a ton of preppers that have alternative energy methods to get on it.” Dennis said itching to try it.

“Hell you can be a one man internet and phone charging café with that thing, or would you wear the charger out if you used it too much?” Charles asked.

“Oh I doubt it would hurt it any
because it's made with permanent magnets, the manufacturer includes a lifetime warranty on this generator. It will work just as well 100 years from now as it does today. Permanent magnets are made from Rare Earth Minerals that never wear out.” Dennis said proudly of his technologically advanced unit.

“I assume you can crank it while your running something off the battery is that right? I mean that would extend the charge in the battery and give you more working time right.”? Dennis asked pondering possibilities.

“Smart question, actually
the key to using the Crank-A-Watt™ is to always try to keep the battery or batteries topped off. It has a gauge you can watch and also the
ac inverter supplied with the unit will sound an alarm when the battery is too low to operate efficiently. Cranking while using it will
help keep the battery from getting too low.
 Basically you can look at it this way. Here is a list of tests they performed with a small battery and a big 12v battery. You can do both but for now we look at the small one.
The test showed that a
13 w energy saver light bulb in lamp: without cranking on full battery (tester was on 12.8v Full charge and went down to 11.8v) light stayed on for (7 HOURS 2 min).” Dennis said before he told Dennis he was going to check on the ladies before he put the baked beans on to heat up and for him to watch the fire in the Stovetec while he was gone.

Dennis went in the backdoor and headed for the living room and kitchen. Monica and his mom were happily chatting recipes back and forth as they arranged the kitchen cabinets and filled boxes with pre designed meals they were agreeing on.

“Looks like you two are making lots of progress in here.” Dennis said as he entered the room.

“Yes, we unloaded the cabinets and wiped them out and are sorting out weekly meal boxes as we go. Sort of one can of corn in our box, one in Monica’s and one in the cabinet. Then we do the same thing with green beans and spam etc. After we separate a couple weeks worth for each of us we will put whatever’s left in the bottom cabinet. “Mary said.

“Yea we have been doing it one for me and one for you and one for the pantry.” Monica said in a sing song voice smiling.

“That sounds like a plan. We have a bit more than I thought or are these boxes ones you haven’t gone through yet?” Dennis asked.

“
No those are weekly boxes, we figured we may as well do it all and see where we stand. Monica is doing the inventory and weird one of the kind things like a box hamburger helper or whatever is being set to the side as community day meals or something. How are you all doing?” Mary asked.

“Well that’s why I came in, Charles and I got side tracked for a minute playing with my crank-a-watt and I had an idea about all that meat. If you don’t mind I need to look at that
FoodSaver
vacuum sealer for a minute.” Dennis said waiting for them to exit the small kitchen which all though had full size appliance it always reminded him of a ships galley in size.

“Let’s see here” Dennis thought as he picked up the FoodSaver and looked at the manufacturer’s specification plate. Damn! Nobody ever lists watts on things, ok it says 1 .1 amps so that times 120 volts gives me about 120 watts. Cool I thought it would pull a lot more power than that.
Crank-A-Watt time!” Dennis thought with a small smile.

“Ladies I have a suggestion, let’s just eat some sandwiches for breakfast instead of a big meal. I just thought of a few projects that need doing and if we glut ourselves we are not going to want to do much more than nap. Charles and I have some technology tweaking to do, but we can use that FoodSaver to vacuum seal up that meat so it lasts longer. I am also going to freeze some of it today believe it or not.” Dennis said grinning like a Cheshire cat.

“How are you going to do that?” Monica and his mother began, before both of them waved him off before they got a long diatribe about Dennis’s latest prepper alternative energy scheme. They knew he would get whatever it was he was so impressed with himself about done and they just soon be spared the details at the moment.

“You want me to fix you and Charles a sandwich or you coming in?”” Mary asked.

“I will see what Charles wants to do and then be back. Charles knows a bit more about electricity than I do and I might need his help.” Dennis said heading for the backdoor.

Dennis went outside and saw Charles getting himself another hot beer and told him to get him one too. Monica would probably be pissed off that they got to have a few beverages while she was stuck inside with his mom but she would probably sneak out later.

“Damn, this beer could be iced down if he wasn’t worried about his mom nagging at him.” Dennis thought and then dismissed the idea. It was to early in the new living arrangements to show his penchant for a good party no matter what. Besides, there was no chance he was going to let himself or Charles get snozzled today.

“
Hey Charles,I got a great idea I need some help with.” Dennis said sitting down on his old tractor seat stool.

“What’s that buddy?” Charles said taking his seat on a deck bench.

“Look that Crank-A-Watt™ can run on a bicycle and get better RPM. I need you to put my bike on a stand I haven’t assembled yet while I tweak on a few ideas here. The ladies said we could just do sandwiches for breakfast if that’s ok with you and we don’t have to dink with the rocket stove for side dishes unless you really hungry.” Dennis advised while trying to picture in his mind how to get the full use out of his alternative energy gizmos.

“That’s fine by me Dennis, to be honest with you; I have been sampling that meat I cooked off and on so long now I am still pretty full. By the way, a lot of that meat has to go back on the smoker. I never tried to make beef jerky and cut it too thick and was sort of waiting on you to give your 2 cents on timing and methods.” Charles said looking laid back and without a care with a beer in his hand.

Dennis didn’t blame him; he had probably been out there since 4 this morning trying to maintain perfect heat with firewood on his smoker grill.

“Well I have the bike and the stand in the mechanical shed; I will go get it in a minute. You can put that together while we BS and have a beer and I can try to make sense of what wattage I need for what to start my projects.” Dennis declared very excitedly.

“What are you looking like the Kool Aid pitcher man for? You up to something, spill it!” Charles said looking at the huge engraved smile Dennis was wearing.

“New house rules, they are not terrible but practical..” Dennis said eying the “what is he up to now” look from Charles hearing the nasty word “rules”.

“Look, I have gizmos and batteries to charge out the wazzo around here. New rule is if you come to my house and partake of my off grid advantages you got to take a turn on the crank-a-watt if solar is not functioning or I need it.” Dennis declared in a “simple as pie fashion eying Charles for compliance.

“That sounds fair, what is it you are planning on running and how much labor are you asking for?” Charles said hoping Dennis didn’t have visions of him and Monica running on a treadmill or a hamster wheel.

“Not a whole lot. You or anyone else that comes over should get them some exercise and ride the bike while we B.S. Everyone take a turn or leave a little energy for those that cant spend the physical exertion is appreciated if you are enjoying my lights and fans and hospitality etc. “ Dennis said reasonably.

‘I am game, don’t get me wrong. I will crank or pedal that booger for days but I also understand wattage and human power is not as compatible in efficiency as I would like so I want to know what kind of devices you are talking about powering.” Charles asked wondering what luxuries Dennis had come up with to run they all could agree on.