Part of our Emergency Communications and Preparedness guide.
I’ve written plenty about LiFePO4 batteries and solar charging for field kits, but there’s a bigger question I haven’t tackled directly: what actually keeps the shack itself running when the grid is down for days instead of hours. Batteries alone won’t carry a base station forever, so here’s how I actually think about the three options together.
Battery Banks: Good for Hours, Not Days
My 100Ah LiFePO4 battery box is great for a field kit or bridging a short outage, but run a base station HF radio, a couple of HTs charging, and a laptop for logging off it continuously and you’ll be recharging within a day. Batteries are a buffer, not a solution, once an outage stretches past a day or two.
Solar: Great If the Sun Cooperates
A solar panel and charge controller feeding your battery bank turns a short-term buffer into something closer to sustainable, especially in Arizona where I am located, but it’s entirely weather dependent. A multi-day storm that knocked the grid out in the first place is often the same weather that leaves your panels producing next to nothing. Solar is a great daily supplement and a poor sole source during the exact events that call for backup power.
Generators: The Actual Answer for Multi-Day Outages
For genuinely extended outages, a generator is what actually keeps a shack running around the clock, rain or shine, day or night. A small inverter generator sized for your radio, a charger, and basic household loads (a fridge, some lighting) is usually enough. Run it a few hours a day to recharge batteries and power essentials rather than continuously, and you’ll stretch your fuel supply considerably further than people expect.
Fuel Storage and Rotation
A generator is only as good as the fuel behind it. Store what you’re comfortable keeping safely, treat it with stabilizer, and rotate it through your vehicles periodically so you’re not discovering stale gas is the reason the generator won’t start during the outage it was meant for.
How I’d Actually Layer This
Battery bank for the first day and for portable operating, solar to trickle-charge whenever the weather allows it, and a generator as the real backbone for anything past a day or two. None of these alone covers every scenario, but together they cover almost all of them.