Essential Small Electronics to Protect from EMP in Faraday Containers

My first blog post was about the most important items to protect from an EMP attack.  This post is regarding all the small electronics that you would put into the tote(s) I have listed at #10 on MY list.  These will prove to be essential, but some of them may not occur to people when considering what to put into faraday storage.

I will list these items in no particular order, and I’ll give a small explanation if one is necessary.  

This post will be much shorter than the previous.  

Fist off let me say here so I don’t have to keep repeating it below…you should mostly be looking for rechargeable electronics and/or ones that offer solar charging.  There are also some electronics that offer a hand crank as a backup method for charging and these are always a great idea to have.

• LED Flashlights – small, medium and large; LED headlamps, LED lanterns or candles – to light up the entire room. Most should be rechargeable, but it would also be wise to have some that can run on AAA and AA batteries just in case.
• 2-Way radios – Try to get enough for your whole family…and it would be a great idea to have some around your neighborhood and town to be able to reach out further and communicate with trusted friends and family.
• Ham Radios – You WILL want to know what’s going on! Best to get one with solar rechargeability and there are some available with hand cranks as a backup charging mechanism.
• AM/FM radio - You may have emergency situations that arise that aren’t EMP-based, so you may still wish to keep a small AM/FM radio handy.  Choose one with a CD player and you’ll eventually be able to listen to music once things calm down.
• Battery chargers – you’ll want to keep chargers for all the rechargeable items you have protected. These items will be vulnerable also in an EMP attack.  Phone chargers, tablet chargers, and chargers for ALL your electronic gadgets. 
• USB drives – The little SSD USB drives that can have LOTS of information on them. I have one labeled SHTF and it has everything ‘survivalist’ saved on it.  I made 5 copies and handed them out to loved ones in small faraday bags for their use in case something happens to me or to my USB drive.  You should have several.  Many would want to have a USB drive with family photos and memories as well for when things settle down you still have your family pictures and videos. 
• Hard Drives – Backup hard drives and drives with everything you’d like to save. Solid State Drives would be best as they are the most reliable and durable.  It’s good to have 2 of each of the drives you feel are important!  Don’t forget the power supplies!
• Tablets, Laptops and extra Phones – Tablets are a great way to search through your hard drives to find the data you have stored on your USB and hard drives. Same as the laptop, but the laptop will consume too much power for most purposes.  Old phones can be pre-loaded with files that are prepper or survivalist related.
• Electric powered sights – Sights for firearms. Keep them protected!
• Night vision – Keep your night vision gear protected until long after an EMP! I say long after because you never know if they may hit us more than once!  That would be devastating if they hit twice and we all took our gear out of protection just to have them hit us again. 
• Small Medical Devices – Blood sugar monitors, BP monitors, CPAP masks.  You’ll know what it is that you need.
• Small USB fans to aid in sleeping during hot nights. They use very little power and can aid immensely in getting quality sleep.  Do not use unless someone else is keeping up on security detail while you sleep.
• Key Fobs - For any vehicles you have in your EMP shipping container. Most likely though you would just hide those in the vehicle and have it locked up in the Faraday container.  Also it’s less likely you are going to store away a new vehicle.  There are better options for vehicles to store that come from the 80’s. 
• Soldering iron – Would likely prove essential at some point.
• Dremel tool – Rechargeable. This would be an invaluable tool to have after an EMP.  You must always be thinking about fabrication, repairing and rebuilding as you compile your list!
• Back-up Invisible pet containment system – You will want to be able to let your dogs out. You’ll need a spare transmitter, and spare collars as well.
• Electric Multimeter – For less than $10 you can buy a 7-function digital Multimeter! If you know how to use these, you’ll want to have one.  There are much more advanced ones out there, but they are more complicated.  You decide which one is best for you.  It will prove essential when trying to repair or test any electronic that may have been affected by the EMP.

Now you should take this list…along with the lists from the previous “Top 10 List” blog post and get your list compiled using all the lists as a guide.  Leave some extra lines for you to add  things that will surely come to you over time. There’s 17 items on this list.  It’s NOT overwhelming!  Start working on this now while you are acquiring your faraday container or faraday box and have your items ready.  

If SHTF the items you have saved will become invaluable.  Think of the value of a flashlight if you own 5 or 6 of the few left in the county that still works.  All that you can save will become so much more valuable that it easily justifies the upfront cost of buying the faraday container.  If I were semi-wealthy, I would buy several pallets of small generators and fill a 20' container with them.  Whenever there's a power loss they will be a big help to people...and if there's ever an EMP they would become priceless.  I'm not saying to take advantage of people, but at least you have a means to help those around you.  They will also offer you bargaining chips if the situation dictates. 

In a nutshell, a 5-foot Faraday box can hold all the items I listed above, but if you have tools then you may want two of them.  If you have generators, ATV’s, UTV’s, snowmobiles, Motorcycles or cars that you wish to save, then a large 20’ or 40’ faraday container is your best choice.

Thanks for reading!

Troy Bruesewitz