EMP projects

[Bill of Rights]

Mods...can we make it a new sticky?

Stuck.

 

[IndianasFinest]

Is there anyway to protect a car from EMP? What would have to be changed on an affected vehicle to make it work again?

A EMP strike is just a very bad thing. In reality, the only hope you have in restoring a vehicle after such an event would be to have an older vehicle with a basic electrical system, and stocking some crucial parts that are likely to be affected from the spike in a old microwave oven. Since there is little research into what EMP would without a doubt cook, it's hard to say if the parts you have stored would get you back on the road. Like I said.....EMP is a very bad, and real scenario. Ever see "I am legend" where all the cars in the city act as virtual road blocks ? That's exactly what would happen if there was a blast. How far are you going to drive if all the roads are blocked ? The real question to this thread is "What can you do that is most useful in this kind of situation to help preserve life"

 

[bwframe]

I assume my '88 XT600 will run. Am I correct?

 

[infidel]

Well for us, currently both of our grain trucks, one a 78 Ford Cat diesel, the other a 86 Ford with Cummins diesel, along with all of our tractors and combine. The only way any of them would be disabled is if the starters would be ruined, I'll just try to get dad to get extras. Otherwise I'm wanting to buy a late 70's Ford pickup for SHTF. I have a couple I've been looking at, just need the money to do it.

I've also been looking into getting a hand well pump, and a bigger generator. But since gas would be harder to get I wouldn't want to rely on that. We are also looking into a wood furnace to add onto my house as well.

I'm just wondering how you know these things will work? Is there like a cutoff year for vehicles/equipment when they switched some big things? If your vehicle has X, it is screwed. What is X?

 

[csaws]

Allegedly infidel diesels will run. I say allegedly as this is from what I have read and heard I have no proof. I also have no proof that an "electronic distributor would not work, but since it is electronic I would guess not. I can tell you that if you had a carb, points dist. and a coil set back and had a Chrysler or Jeep up to about 88-93 of the rearwheel drive v-8, v-6 or inline 6 variety you could probably get anything up to about an 86-88 to run. As for chevy or Ford? maybe near the same time frame, a lot of it has to do with when they went to "computers".

My years (numbers) are not hardfast so if all this happens don't come looking for me If ya can't get a 92 YJ to run.

 

[IndianasFinest]

I assume my '88 XT600 will run. Am I correct?

I wouldn't count on it...Dirt bikes, motorcycles, and atv's still use coils, stators, and magnetos as well as other electrical components. As I said before, it's hard to say what will, and won't work. I personally would choose not to rely on mechanized forms of transportation. Your better off figuring out how you can get what you need with your own two feet.

 

[infidel]

Allegedly infidel diesels will run.

I hope this is true. That would make life on the farm a LOT easier lol.

 

[IndianasFinest]

There is a very good possibility that older diesel engines will run since they do not utilize a ignition system. Diesel engines work on heat, and compression so as long as the starter motor doesn't fry, and the battery is charged prior to the burst theoretically it should run. Another plus to a older diesel engine would be if it has a manual transmission. If it does the need for a starter is just luxury if you have enough man power to push start it.

 

[jedi]

You could protect your current (read car with electrically components) by building a Faraday cage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Off course this requires that you have the car or TV or radio or PC or whatever **INSIDE** the cage when the blast goes off.

However its a mute point really because even if the car survives you are now target #1 for zombies everywhere. Why? An EMP blast is going to disable all our current cars, our electrical system, our manufacturing, etc.. In essence everything in our society! So having a car will be the least of your worries.

1) Stable and steady food supply (trucks that bring food to the local store won't run, the highways are going to be a sea of roadblocked cars, even if you can get food to the store there is no power so nothing will last long)

2) Heat source (your local power company's generators and electrical grid are all going to be gone. Every transfer is going to be gone. No electrical company has enough transforms on hand to replace their entire inventory in the field. Even if they do (they don't) the power source (eg. the big building that burns coals, runs water, etc. that produces electricity is also going to be down). So with no power and no way to make power no manufacture can tn make anything else. Read the company that makes transforms can not make new ones. The company that builds the "coal furnaces" can not make new ones. See the catch 22. It will take several years working round the clock for the companies to get back up and running before they could fill all the request for new parts.

So don't worry about the car. Even if it survives and you manage to get thru the sea of dead cars how are you going to get more gas before you run out? Every zombie will be eying your car as well so stopping at the local shell station is not a good idea. not to method you have no way of pumping that gas.

You should instead focus on forming a community that you will be able to depend on to live like the 1900s.

or you can do what a "spoiled person" i know told me. I'll just kill myself if my cellphone won't work and I can't watch TV.,

 

[Bruenor]

Useful EMP Articles

Nuclear Weapon EMP Effects

Hardening Your Computing Assets

Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack -- 208 pages of pdf, takes a while to load

How To Survive an EMP or Superworm Attack

I know very little about the technology or effects of an EMP blast, so I can't vouch for any of these articles, but they look like interesting reading.

 

[hotfarmboy1]

There is a very good possibility that older diesel engines will run since they do not utilize a ignition system. Diesel engines work on heat, and compression so as long as the starter motor doesn't fry, and the battery is charged prior to the burst theoretically it should run. Another plus to a older diesel engine would be if it has a manual transmission. If it does the need for a starter is just luxury if you have enough man power to push start it.

Exactly, as long as the starters don't fry our diesels would run. The tractors are all late 70's-80's and with no ignitions, being diesels, and mechanical injection on all of them along with the grain trucks. The will run. As I said that's if the starters don't fry. But I can try to keep a starter or two on hand and stored somewhere safe to hopefully keep it from being affected.

If I would get an old late 70's ford truck like I want to. I'd do the same thing. Buy a spare dist, coil, ign module (if it has one) and whatever else might fry and try to keep them somewhere safe.

But what could I put these parts in to keep them protected?

 

[jeremy]

tag

 

[jedi]

@hotfarmboy1 please see the Faraday cage article on how to protect your electronics from an EMP blast.

You could protect your current (read car with electrically components) by building a Faraday cage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Off course this requires that you have the car or TV or radio or PC or whatever **INSIDE** the cage when the blast goes off.

 

[IndianasFinest]

An old microwave oven will work as a faraday cage. Buy one at a yard sale for $5, and your good to go.

 

[P-Shooter]

Found this after searching the net. It's from the Critical National Infrastructure Report (page 115) released last year by the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack. Not sure why the Discovery Channel Taurus wouldn't re-start, unless maybe they cranked the output up enough to really fry something. Obviously there are no real guarantees in a situation like this, but this info seems contrary to what a lot of people seem to believe. Still, even if your vehicle isn't damaged, if you're unlucky enough to be on the highway at the time you will likely have to worry about multiple accidents involving cars and semis. Not to mention the


Automobiles
The potential EMP vulnerability of automobiles derives from the use of built-in electronics
that support multiple automotive functions. Electronic components were first
introduced into automobiles in the late 1960s. As time passed and electronics technologies
evolved, electronic applications in automobiles proliferated. Modern automobiles
have as many as 100 microprocessors that control virtually all functions. While electronic
applications have proliferated within automobiles, so too have application standards and
electromagnetic interference and electromagnetic compatibility (EMI/EMC) practices.
Thus, while it might be expected that increased EMP vulnerability would accompany the
proliferated electronics applications, this trend, at least in part, is mitigated by the
increased application of EMI/EMC practices.
We tested a sample of 37 cars in an EMP simulation laboratory, with automobile vintages
ranging from 1986 through 2002. Automobiles of these vintages include extensive
electronics and represent a significant fraction of automobiles on the road today. The
testing was conducted by exposing running and nonrunning automobiles to sequentially
increasing EMP field intensities. If anomalous response (either temporary or permanent)
was observed, the testing of that particular automobile was stopped. If no anomalous
response was observed, the testing was continued up to the field intensity limits of the
simulation capability (approximately 50 kV/m).
Automobiles were subjected to EMP environments under both engine turned off and
engine turned on conditions. No effects were subsequently observed in those automobiles
that were not turned on during EMP exposure. The most serious effect observed on running
automobiles was that the motors in three cars stopped at field strengths of approximately
30 kV/m or above. In an actual EMP exposure, these vehicles would glide to a
stop and require the driver to restart them. Electronics in the dashboard of one automobile
were damaged and required repair. Other effects were relatively minor. Twenty-five
automobiles exhibited malfunctions that could be considered only a nuisance (e.g.,
blinking dashboard lights) and did not require driver intervention to correct. Eight of the
37 cars tested did not exhibit any anomalous response.
Based on these test results, we expect few automobile effects at EMP field levels below
25 kV/m. Approximately 10 percent or more of the automobiles exposed to higher field
levels may experience serious EMP effects, including engine stall, that require driver
intervention to correct. We further expect that at least two out of three automobiles on the
road will manifest some nuisance response at these higher field levels. The serious malfunctions
could trigger car crashes on U.S. highways; the nuisance malfunctions could
exacerbate this condition. The ultimate result of automobile EMP exposure could be triggered
crashes that damage many more vehicles than are damaged by the EMP, the consequent
loss of life, and multiple injuries

Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack

 

[Dr Falken]

So if the EMP burst was less than 50kV/m there would be really no adverse affect on the cars other than having to restart them, and that is if they are running? What would be the typical EMP pulse either from a nuclear weapon, or specifically a EMP weapon? Are there weapons designed to emit an EMP? To be honest, unless I am reding the quote wrong, seems that there is not as much to worry about as one might think...

 

[longbow]

Dr.

it depends...

 

[longbow]

An old microwave oven will work as a faraday cage. Buy one at a yard sale for $5, and your good to go.

OOPS

shot up the old one.....

 

[longbow]

I have a dozen aluminum night vision cases for EMP project ideas...they are about a cubic foot in size with no interior foam.

 

[Dr Falken]

Well I just watched the video of the Ford Taurus, so I guess there is something to worry about...And yes it depends, I suppose on were such an EMP occurs and the location of the vehicle. Could a vehicle stored in a metal garage be protected? Or if you are far from the blast, your vehicle might not be affected. I suppose there will be plenty of other things to worry about, just glad we do have bicycles!
I've read that you can use an ammo can as an improvised Faraday cage, which is interesting to think about, because doesn't an automobile itself act as a Faraday cage when you are struck by lightning?