ODA CDR I should add that she said she would just carry an extra set of energizer ultimate lithiums for her light and a Solarwrap Mini if she had to do it again. The Solarwrap is tiny and weighs next to nothing. She saw another trekker using one...just unrolled it and hung it on his pack all day. String on one end, dab of Velcro on the other so it doesn't get twisted. Said the battery was usually fully charged when they stopped for the day. It's USB only though, so no aa charging.

All that said I think your original goal zero would be better if you're thinking mid to long term. One warning: daughter unit's first one died after two charges. It was instantly replaced, but make sure you test it thoroughly before you depend on it.

Well paint my toenails and call me Sally. AA eneloop chargers using USB. Guess I never looked. Lots of options open up using these little AA/AAA chargers I guess. USB AA charger

This would sway me back to the Instapark for $50 (especially if you already own some AA recharg. batts) because it has a monocrystalline solar panel (sig. better in cloudy conditions and partial shade) vs the polycrystalline (set up under trees with dappled shade, power output drops more than is proportionate to the portion of the panel shaded) on the goal zero.

I've been researching this pretty extensively because I need 10W solar for the emergency comms net I'm planning. Neither of these work for me because I need 12v out for my charger but I have settled on a 10w monocrystalline panel.

Looks like I'll have to make one.....
 

I need a cigarette socket (female) that has a USB connection on the end. Looking to use a cigarette lighter charger that can hook up to the solar panels via USB. Can't seem to locate that animal. They can be found all day long male plug with USB socket. Any help here???

You won't find a USB to female cig because it's going from 5v (USB) to 12v (Cig) and that can't be done without wasting a boatload of power and producing a lot of heat. Male cig to USB can be easily found because they're going downhill--12v from the car to 5v for the USB.

12v solar panels directly produce 12 - 17 volts output. These guys who sell solar charge stations with 5v USB only are making a marketing decision and converting the 12v from the panel to 5v USB.

You can hook a 12v female directly to the output of a solar panel if whatever you plug into the cig can handle 12-17 volts DC. What are you trying to power?

If you need 12V out...

You can find a cheap monocrystalline panel and directly hook the output into the input of a battery pack:

This is a good 5W mono panel (small 8.7" x 10.4" about a sheet of paper) and is a good deal at $30. Ask about connection wiring before you buy.

This is twice the power--10W--for about half the price but bigger.

This 8000 mAh power pack has an input up to 19V so the panel can charge it directly. It has 9-12V output (for your cig socket), USB for phones etc, and 16-20V output for laptop computers. The trick with this power pack is, people are using it without a charge controller because it's apparently built in. I'd put a diode between the panel and the battery so you don't lose current backing up into the panel when it's dark...or just unplug the battery when you aren't charging it. Easy peasy.

That's all you need--a 12v solar panel, an Energizer pack, a bit of wiring, and the cables to plug your devices into it. It might all fit into a large single revolver pistol case or jerry-rig something out of tupperware.

Biolite Stove
 

Consider one of these: BiolLite Stove

I have one along with the grill and it is awesome. I also have the GoalZero system and the stove outperforms hands down.

I can charge 2 sets of AA batteries in the time it takes to cook a meal and heat water to do the dishes. Plus, I no longer need to carry fuel as the BioLite burns wood I pick up from around my camp.

As soon as REI gets the Kettle Pot I am going to get one. The stove will fit inside the pot saving more room in the pack.

Downside to the stove is if there are fire restrictions you can't use it. Much of New Mexico was under those for most of the summer and USFS did not budge on their ruling on stoves. White gas was ok, but wood burning stove was not.

Just my 2 cents.

cake

I thought I was all clever and everything with "my" handheld tranceiver-simplex repeater idea. I just found maybe 20 YouTubes on the subject. :rolleyes:
This guy works up the battery and panel requirements for solar charging. He's pretty long-winded and says "charger" when he means "charge controller" but even if you're starting from scratch you'll understand the issues by the end.

Last call for high-sulfur diesel
 

The farm owners contiguous to my property think about a grid-down scenario quite a bit. It's an expensive and complicated proposition to plan for continuity of operations for a large farm and there are many moving parts. One of the biggest is fuel. They guys around here who prep are serious about storing diesel. Serious.

The guy next door uses 2300 gallons of diesel per year. He wants enough fuel on hand to keep things going for two years. Two years is his planning window for a low-probability, high-impact event (financial collapse, pandemic, CME) and with a longer timeline would give him sufficient time to switch over to using soy/sunflower pure vegetable oil and biodiesel for critical processes. It would be pretty drastic in the longer term--e.g. culling 2/3 of his dairy cows, shifting from corn to sunflowers and potatoes--but he thinks the plan is do-able. He figures using all the land available in our hollow we could keep 600 people alive the first two years and 400 for years 3-5/6. Then it would all depend on how fast equipment degraded and draft animals could be obtained (accompanied by another 10-20% drop in the people the land could support--animals need to be fed).

Here's hoping it never happens, eh?

Anywho...diesel. My friend claims (and my research on the web backs up) that the new ultra-low-sulfur diesel--besides causing a host of problems in older equipment like decreased power, lower lubricity, fuel system leaks, clogged fuel injection systems, and incompatibility with lubrication oil--stores very, very poorly. If there is any zinc or copper anywhere in the delivery/storage path there is accelerated formation of sediments, gels, and soaps. And because it picks up water so easily, ULSD grows biofilms at a much faster rate than high-sulfur diesel. Biocides (Tri-D, BioKleen) help in the short term but not much. And no, you just can't add sulfur back into the fuel, it doesn't work.

The guys around here who store for SHTF are buying high-sulfur (>5000 ppm) home heating oil instead of the current diesel being sold (<15 ppm). Heating oil is just diesel fuel that's been dyed red to indicate it's untaxed and not for on-road use. With biocides added they think they can get years of safe storage and with the epoxy-lined collapsible-membrane tanks and automated fuel polishers some are using, up to 10 years.

In any type of emergency the EPA issues immediate waivers to allow home heating oil to be used for transport purposes so you wouldn't be breaking the law in a short-term blip like a hurricane.

Even now it's getting difficult to find high-sulfur fuel because many larger refiners have switched all production to ULSD but it's worthwhile to search around. Note that newer diesel car and truck engines can be damaged by HSD (the catalytic exhaust systems killed, injector woes). Check your equipment and the impact of HSD before you use it.

If you can't find or use HSD, consider accelerating your rotation schedule to use your ULSD every 6 months if no additives are used and every 12 months if they are.

Southern-style snowstorm: Gridlock, kind neighbors
 

Southern-style snowstorm: Gridlock, kind neighbors

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...01-29-07-10-58

"ATLANTA (AP) -- Students camped out with teachers in school gyms or on buses and commuters abandoned cars along the highway to seek shelter in churches, fire stations - even grocery stores - after a rare snowstorm left thousands of unaccustomed Southerners frozen in their tracks........"

I wonder how may people thought as they were getting ready for work "Gee, maybe I'd better throw a couple of old blankets and a bag of snacks into the trunk. Never know what could happen."

A wonderful example
 

This snowstorm is a great example of the lack of preparedness that people typically have whenever there is a situation out of the norm.

My buddy called me yesterday telling me his wife could not find milk, eggs, or bread at any grocery stores.... It will be a good thing to ask clerks what could and could not be found yesterday/today in stores...Most people just lose their minds in the most mild of inconveniences.


Snowmageddon, has caused the death and end to Fayetteville NC and total destruction of Ft Bragg and the Airborne :rolleyes:

Had I not had any food or blankets in my apartment my wife and I would have starved to death and then frozen to death during the last 12 hours :rolleyes:

As a September baby, I fully realize...winter snowstorms, blizzards and cold weather...can sometimes create a lot of unintended consequences...;)

Not all bad !!

Be prepared ! :cool:

Wasn't that the title to this thread !

It occurs to me like the worst situations always seem to occur to those who are unprepared.

For those who are ready for it, trouble seems to visit a lot less frequently.

If it does, the outcomes are almost always a lot better.

TR

I did manage to almost set my house on fire checking function on my camping stove. A little fuel leaked out.

So far in my area of louisiana most folks have stayed in. Thankfully we drive in ice so rarely that no one is "used to it" and the vast majority were driving very slowly. The few fast drivers quickly took themselves out of the equation by sliding into ditches completely clear of the road with minimal vehicle damage.

Many around here tend to have deer in the freezer or a neighbor with the same. The grocery store rush did happen here, but not much completely gone other than eggs. They were still pumping out enough king cakes to keep everybody well supplied.

Hence, the screen name pyro! ;)

Pat

LOL, you owe me a keyboard or at least the mouthful of Elijah Criag I just spit on the screen ! ;) :D

Picked up 2 wouxun kg-uv3d radios. Still have to find a local class to get my ticket...
The manual is predictably crappy, can anyone point me to a good guide? I will get the clone cable and program but would like to be able to do it manually....

This topic of survival planning and developing of our own plan is of the utmost importance.
So often we wait until it's standing in line, waiting on some incompetent government " we are here to help you" dude.
Let's face the facts. Breaking this all down into our individual situation, location, and type of emergency, we all need some expertise like Reaper to assist.
A lot of very important points are raised in this article and IMHO we could sure use some more of it.
There is so many levels of this type of planning, how can it be simplified?
I feel like there is plenty of talent on this site with much experience and ideas.
Hopefully, the thread will continue!

Nonstop24/7

While you might find some cheaper elsewhere, they will likely be several years older. In this, you get what you pay for, only if you get them from a good source. There is an app about MREs, what's in them, and how old they are.

A couple of the study guides for your FCC ticket are available online and you can bang away at practice exams to your heart's content here. Be sure to also study for the General license; much of the Tech material is repeated (albeit phrased differently) on the General. At an exam session you can keep taking tests for the same session/fee as long as you pass them. The General opens up a much larger realm of possibilities. Honest, they are both within your grasp.

I have also a couple of .PDF's that are user guides for the radio you are talking about that aren't so much in "Chinglish." One is somewhat large (455K); will see if I can put them up here. They are good little radios in terms of bang-for-buck. Any units not being used/charged regularly, keep the charged batteries OFF them else it will be useless when you go to pick it up. Many of these types of radios are that way.

The KG-Commander program is a good one and you can save different freq sets for whatever you've ferreted out if you need to change the mission of the radio - but there are alot of channels available in the radio.

Hope this helps.

Don't MRE's bind you up? During an emergency that lasts for more than a few days, who wants to suffer from constipation while trying to stay warm amongst other attempts to stay comfortable?

Plus I have also looked into those Biolite Stoves too. Seems to be a great idea for outdoor use.

(Errant information in red)

Do you want to be caught with your pants down?

It might be a little uncomfortable, but those minutes every day can probably be better used doing something else.
(If I am in error please correct me)

Yes - You are in error. Constipation is not a laughing matter. In fact - any health problem is a matter of concern in a survival situation. And MRE's aren't as bad as legend would have the uninitiated believe.

Peregrino,

Thank you for the correction, and subsequent removal of ignorance. I have to change my kit a little bit.

I've found MRE's to plug me up a little, but not to an uncomfortable degree.

There are screaming deals right now on genuine USGI woodland camo modular sleep systems. A used/excellent MMSS with patrol bag, cold weather bag, Goretex bivy sack, compression bag, and ground pad can be found for $79 + shipping. New ones are going for $125. Search Amazon and Ebay for the best deals.

I've purchased several very good/excellent sets from here and there and haven't hit a dud yet. No holes, damaged zippers or snaps, not even a name or unit marking. One guy recommended washing in front load washers only which I've done without a problem.

For you folk who live in the frozen northland these legitimate -40F bags are selling at don't-miss-out prices. Yes, the complete system is heavy at 11-12 pounds and bulky at about 1 cu ft and my 6'4" frame isn't the best fit. But...remember that stretch of -20F last winter?

Winter is coming.

Score!
 

Latest score by the Coupon Queens (pronounced KOO-pin, of course). A nice hand crank forge and blacksmith tools. They paid exactly $0 for the whole lot with a promise not to sell them. We have a young man in town who is learning the trade and the lady who passed them on was tickled that her husband's tools would be put to use.

We're on a mission to gather up every hand tool, manual and horse drawn farming implement, farrier tool, and blacksmith item in the area. The Queens are currently negotiating for a 1920s-era milking machine that can be belt-powered off of a Listeroid 6/1 running vegetable oil. If you've got an old farm implement as a yard ornament and you're within a 100 mile radius, expect a knock on your door and a twisted arm.

Attachment 28830

Best $3 you'll spend this week
 

Get this book, preferably the Kindle version as there are oodles of hyperlinks --> Prepping for a Suburban or Rural Community: Building a Civil Defense Plan for a Long-Term Catastrophe [Kindle Edition]. It's only $2.99.

There is some discussion of the usual stuff: defense, food, yadda yadd but only vague recommendations...very little is concrete à la "get clean water like this" or "set up your farms like that." The real focus is on organizing your community now to mitigate future disasters. Figure out what works for your circumstances and environment. Set up a structure now. Have plans to more easily establish a post-disaster polity and maintain rule of law if the worst happens.

We've followed a lot of his advice, establishing committees for water, fuel, sanitation, medical care, scrounging, law, defense, Amish relations (ISYN) etc. But the real gold nugget is his detailed advice on establishing a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Tax exempt, as in charitable donations to the organization are fully deductible. Some money is going to have to be spent on this stuff, and the tax-exempt status takes out some of the sting. It's a pain in the butt, but worth it in the end.

And you know that surplus military gear that Uncle Sugar is spreading around on the LEOs? Well State and local organizations can apply for grants and materiel if they have their ducks in a row and decent relations with the State and County governments. Hesco barriers, sandbags, diesel generators, fuel filters and groomers, medical consumables, storage racks and shelving, fuel storage blivets...there are lots of goodies out there. You're gonna need a lawyer or a paralegal with OCD though...tons of paperwork.

Anywho, the book is highly recommended, more for the tone and philosophy than concrete prep advice.

PS - A kid on the water committee (working on his Eagle Scout--they still do that out here) is standardizing a way to increase the yield of filtered water from 8 gals/day up to 60 gals per day using 2 x 5 gal buckets, a ceramic filter, a Schroeder valve, and a bicycle pump. He didn't invent the method, the plans are on the Interwebs, but sourcing enough materials for a community, negotiating prices, creating clear construction and maintenance instructions, purchasing and storing the bits and pieces--it's a big job. How many filters are needed for a community our size? Where are the filters to be emplaced? What are the manpower requirements to run these? What's the 5-year plan when the filters are worn out? It really goes to show how the author of this book is right...it will take a lot of folks pulling together to save a town if the worst goes down.

PPS - we can see weeks in a row where the high temp never gets above 0F. The heating committee is working on a plan to turn water heater tanks into efficient volcano wood stoves. What tools, skills, materials are needed for the job? What do we need to stockpile? What will likely be available in local stores if we prevent looting? Stovepipe costs an absolute bomb! What are safe alternatives?

You get the drift.

Link to the seminal book on rocket mass heaters, still the most highly ranked book on the subject at Amazon. As far as I can tell, it's a legit distro of the pdf (per a couple of forums on the subject). The author claims to cut firewood requirements from 4 cords per winter down to 2/3 cord. All for $50 in salvaged parts and a weekend's effort. I'm looking hard at this.

The pdf opens onto a couple of blank pages. Scroll down a bit...it's there.

Rocket Mass Heaters

.

Guy next door planted 3 trial acres of potatoes and they're all harvested...a little late. He averaged 22,000 pounds of spuds per acre. State average is 34k lbs/acre, so we have a ways to go. We also ruined about 10-15% when harvesting but that's why you practice when everyone is still smiling. Wastage will drop a lot with hand-harvesting. We're learning the crop now because we'd be replacing some soybeans with potatoes if we were feeding a horde.

Seems like a lot of taters but when you figure 440 50lb sacks per acre into 1000 mouths it goes fast. When potatoes were the staple food of the Irish they ate on average 6.5 lbs per day along with a quart of milk. (Spuds + milk is nutritionally complete.) So those 60,000 lbs of spuds would support only 25 people for a year, assuming they could also get a quart of whole milk per day as well.

Also, that's a lot of burlap sacks. Storage would have to be distributed, as no one has the time or money to build enough root cellar space to store a mountain of spuds. A dark closet would be fine, given the temps most folks will likely be able to attain in the winter.

We're rotating the spuds to some of my marginal sandy land next year and trying some turnips, parsnips, onions, and neeps on his test plot.

Radio reliability
 

Sirs,

On the off-chance you may not have already heard of this elsewhere, some of the cheap radios are beginning to show symptoms indicating memory reliability issues. Although attractive at first glance, they may not be the bargain they appear to be.
Some details concerning the issues here:
http://hamgear.wordpress.com/2014/01...bility-issues/

Might be worth considering smaller Vertex, Icom, Kenwood VHF portables instead.
Personally I use an Icom IC-F30GT, 256 channels, narrow band with all VHF statewide LE, FD, MED and the majority of ham repeaters for NorCal, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Similar models also safe for use in explosive atmospheres.

Respectfully,
Volunteer

That report is pretty weak IMO. Not saying the anecdotal report isn't true, or that Chinese QC can't be spotty, but the comments are instructive.

I have a Yaesu HT. It's nice and I like that it's waterproof. But the HT I carry around the farm is my cheap-ass UV-5R. When I use it, I use it a lot. No problems so far in over a year. Does everything the Yaesu does and if it gets lost/trashed I won't lose any sleep.

Like everything, it depends on your use case. For what you seems to be using them for, a more expensive HT makes sense. For me, not so much. Yaesu/Icom are nice but when you can buy six UV-5Rs for the cost of one Japanese HT? No way. These things are hammers to me. You can put 20 x Baofeng 888-S with chargers and twenty spare batteries in a garbage can for less than $400. They all worked when I programmed them, but if a few are dead if I ever need to pass them out I won't be bothered.

I also have a case of Yugo SKS I bought when they were going for $84 apiece. Same idea. Would I rather have ten quality ARs? Well, yeah! Too pricey though. What is the patrol coverage of five, 2-man teams armed with SKSs and a cheap HT for each team (that only needs to hit our simplex repeater anyway) vs one guy with a nice BCM M4gery and an ICOM? No comparison.

"Quantity has a quality all its own."

Good to see a ham posting here. I'm not slamming you or your post. Keep an eye on the issue and let us know what develops.

I'm still looking into rocket mass heaters and found the following summary page. Some good stuff here. It's nice to see some plans using standard HVAC duct and fittings. I'm all for expedient and scrounged materials, but if the SHTF there's going to be a lot of unused ductwork from forced-air furnaces waiting to be repurposed.


Good rocket mass heater collection

.

I went through the car kits last weekend just to check everything out, replace old protein bars, etc. I was surprised to find that all four butane lighters had totally frozen strikers wheels, rendering them useless. Trying to break them free by running the striker along the pavement just abraded a flat spot on each wheel. These weren't Bics but were Costco specials. Took the striker assembly off of a couple of them but couldn't identify the problem. I always worried about leaks, not the striker.

Both of the AA Maglite Mini LEDs were dead as well, one with a leaked battery and the other with I assume the same problem but the end cap was seized to the point I couldn't get it off using a Leatherman.

To round things out, mice had chewed into one pack and eaten all of the energy bars.

I too, have found a mixed bag with the bulk cheapo lighters. I have also had the flints in the Spark-Lites dissolve into powder as well.

For the money, Maglites are better replaced with whatever cheap Chinese LED you can find on Amazon. Buy several and test them out before you put them in the kits. You can save on batteries and add a couple of spares with the change, if Surefires are not in the budget.

Mice are a bitch. Mason jars or Nalgene bottles, maybe?

TR

I've had good luck with these. You can catch them on sale at home depot for $15. Four settings (low, high, strobe and off). Standard AAA batteries (3) for power. Hard metal case similar to maglite. I've got them everywhere in the house and car. I've had and used them for about 2 years now and haven't had a failure. At $5-7 per light, they are a good bargain. I'm linking to Amazon for the description, but they are cheaper to buy through local purchase.

http://smile.amazon.com/Duracell-Dur.../dp/B00D3Y3JEE

Thanks for the recommendation. I have to pass on these because they don't use AA batteries. I made a hard and fast rule a while back: if it doesn't run on AAs I don't buy it. That extends to flashlights, scanners, handheld transceivers, etc. I still have only Surefires/CR123 as weapon lights because I haven't bought any lately. Any new ones would likely employ AAs.

AA batteries have made a quantum leap. Look at the new Energizer Ultimate Lithiums: lightweight, 15 year shelf life, 3-8 times the standard lithium run times (they say 9x) depending on the application, and a good discharge profile. They're currently expensive but prices are already coming down. For everyday use I have buckets of 2700 mAH rechargeables and the means to charge them when the nightlight won't work.

TR - yep, I tried out a couple of the Chinese 1 x AA flashlights that use the Cree seconds. Found one I liked and bought 20 when they were 3 bucks a pop. Haven't had a problem with the two I use regularly but it's always a Guangdong crapshoot. The car kits are going to get one of those to go along with the headlamp.

Crisis Application Group or CAG
 

Anyone know the guys running this? thinghttp://www.crisisapplicationgroup.com/

They say they are former QPs and offer some training. Seems interesting.

Two things
 

I'm in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, with travel often meaning driving on lowly traveled roads which go through long stretches of non-populated areas with a lot of areas that have no cell phone reception. I have put together for each member of my family a survival kit that will sustain life very comfortably for 2-3 days, regardless of temperature, and sustain life less comfortably for at least a week.

Cold weather gear is an important item to have available at least half of the year here. I vacuum seal cold weather clothing for storage in each family member's emergency bag, which stays in their vehicle year-round. The clothing takes up SIGNIFICANTLY less room vacuum sealed.

You have to be careful of the type of insulation the garment has if you are going to vacuum seal it, as some insulations can require 24 hours or more of time before the insulation regains its loft, particularly down.

Thinsulate works just fine for warmth right out of the vacuum seal packages, however.

In the survival bags for each family member, I have individual vacuum sealed bags with polypro tops and bottoms, fleece tops and bottoms, polypro balaclavas, thinsulate watch caps, thinsulate gloves, fleece and wool socks, and water and wind proof Frog Tog tops and bottoms.

Each family member also has an arctic weight Wiggy's sleeping bag, which is also vacuum sealed to reduce bulk, in their vehicle. Wiggy's offers vacuum sealing as an option when purchasing bags. The bulk of the bag is reduced by at least a factor of 5 when vacuum sealed. I have had good luck buying pre-owned vacuum sealed Wiggy's bags from Ebay, which saves some coin over buying new.

Between the cold weather clothing and the sleeping bag, each family member should be able to shelter in place and maintain adequate body warmth for extended periods of time in weather as cold as -60 F, colder by double than anything ever experienced here in the past 25 years.

Water storage in a climate with -20 t0 -30 degrees F for a few weeks at a time and months of temperatures below 32 F can be difficult. I have found that the SOS emergency water packets, which are 4.227 oz mylar water bags, maintain integrity down to -30 for prolonged periods, can be unfrozen fairly quickly if placed against the body, are small enough to allow them to be packed around larger items in a bag, or in
small void spaces in a vehicle, and are still usable after going through months of sitting inside of a hot car in the summer. Each family member's survival bag has at least 1/2 of a gallon of water in it.

Each bag also has the other requisite survival kit items: redundant firestarting methods, tinder, a good knife, a multitool, a folding camp saw, a small first aid kit, a water filtration unit with the instructions laminated to prevent against water damage, an MSR Dragonfly camp stove with instructions laminated, portable pot for cooking or snow melting for water, food (lifeboat rations/MRE's/Mountain House), whistle, signal mirror, mil-spec strobe light, road flares, etc.

The bags are a little too large and much too heavy to be considered humpable by any of my family members, but that doesn't matter and is partially by design, as the training I have given to each family member is to stay with their vehicle under all circumstances that allow it.

One additional item I have purchased for each family member is an emergency PLB for each person. They are supposed to be stored in the vehicle when not on their person, and be activated if no help has arrived in 18 hours. I have had an older ACR electronics PLB for a number of years and put it to use once, which saved my ass. The older models were on the bulky side, which made carrying it a little difficult.

The newer models have come way down on size and weight however. The ResQLink+ units, which include GPS locating to within meters of the device, 24 hour broadcast ability, and a built in strobe light, are now small and light enough to fit in any shirt pocket, and cost less than $250.

If James Kim, who along with his family ended up stranded in southern Oregon in 2006 and who died walking for help, had had a PLB in his posession, they could have had help inside of 2 hours and the whole saga and death of Mr. Kim would have been a non-event.

Solar power
 

I didn't know NC was #3 in use of solar power. You Green Berets may or may not be tied in to that energy.


I searched but couldn't find much, probably cuz I'm dumb.

What is the best, most durable (waterproof), under $500 solar panel system for charging auto/12V batteries?

Thanks. Love y'all.

Wow. For $500 you can power an RV. I have a $150 set up from Harbor Freight (may be more or less now) for our travel trailer. Again, it runs the whole trailer except the air conditioner. For just charging you are probably good under $100.

RV(dot)net is a good resource for information on stuff like this.

Pat