Is smart really a smart choice ?

I too admit its convenient , and modern materials have removed the need for an engine rebuild every 30 or 40 thousand miles. Electronic ignitions mean no points to wear out, fuel injection (petrol) gives better economy, alternators give enough power to run air con, even at idle, but the price to pay is perhaps a less robust electrical system.

Anyway, after we get EMP'd, we wont be driving much.

In a strange sort of way, I am looking forward to it as life will get simpler, no internet, no TV etc, but harder, yes, growing all your food is not easy, we have been at it for nearly 20 years so far and have had a few meals totally supplied from the farm gardens and animals, but never having a Coles or Wollies only a 120 km round trip away is going to take a bit of getting used to.



You know you own an old tractor when.....You know how to put a set of front mounted cultivators on.

And no ausprep.com!!!

would you get the shakes if you couldn’t get onto here for a read or posting?   It’ll be gone too.

Stealth, the bottom line is that no one really knows how modern electronics, the power grid and so on will react to a man made EMP. There are several ways to create one, nuke is only one way. A directed energy weapon can also create a pulse, as can lightning.

An EMP releases huge waves of electromagnetic energy, which can act like a giant moving magnet. Such a changing magnetic field can cause electrons in a nearby wire to move, thereby inducing a current. With such a huge burst of energy, an EMP can cause damaging power surges in any electronics within range. Its a very fast rise time pulse, much faster than a lightning strike and that's the issue to protect from. Surge arresters and so on, are relatively slow operating devices, although a gas type can be quite quick.

That said, we can calculate the electric field strength, then look at the effect such a field could have on various items.

The field from a EMP is over 25,000 volts per meter, in other words, every meter of conductor (wire, circuit board, etc), will have induced in it a voltage of 25,000 volts.

The pulse can easily span continent-sized areas, and this radiation can affect systems on land, sea, and air. ... A large device detonated at 400–500 km central Australia would affect all of the continent. The signal from such an event extends to the visual horizon as seen from the burst point.

Luckily, an EMP is like a very fast rise time pulse, or surge, and a lot of modern electronics is now protected from such surges that can be caused by lightning hitting a power line, so chances are if a device is not plugged in at the time of the EMP it will survive. That doesn't mean it will work as the performance may have been degraded, but a re boot could get it working again. Disconnecting the battery on your car and waiting a few minutes may reset the electronics, and most modern cars have a "get home" function that the computer will revert to if it detects a major sensor failure.

As for your electric bike, it may survive, but some functions may not work correctly. Solar power systems may survive, especially those running stand alone off grid, but any connected to the grid will be fried. The regulator will probably be destroyed. Depending on the amount of surge protection, and weather its quick enough to operate, an inverter could survive, as they are quite robust devices. If its 240 volts is not connected to anything, so no voltage can be induced back into it, it should be OK. Most batteries are able to survive an EMP of any magnitude without suffering damage. This is true for all common types of batteries including lead-acid, lithium-ion, alkaline, and nickel metal hydride. Only complex battery modules with built-in charge controllers are likely to be affected.

Out here I have an old microwave oven set up away from the wall, as a makeshift Faraday cage. A microwave oven utilizes a partial Faraday cage (on five of its interior's six sides) and a Faraday shield, consisting of a wire mesh, on the sixth side (the transparent window), to contain the electromagnetic energy within the oven and to protect the user from exposure to microwave radiation. Other things, like metal garbage cans with close fitting lids, can make a reasonable Faraday cage, but the stuff u put in it must be insulated from the sides, ie. not touch the sides.

So, I think the question is more of if the bike is not running and disconnected from the grid when an EMP happens,its more a case of how are you going to charge it ? rather than will it still work ?

Perhaps anything is better than nothing, but I suspect we wont know what works and what doesn't work until it actually happens.




You know you own an old tractor when.....No body has ever heard of the implement dealer on the sticker.

Anything that has the capability to "phone home", maybe embedded telemetry should be avoided if at all possible. Easier said than done in today's business world. It actually might be impossible in the not too distant future to buy tech products that are not smart which is a bit of a worry.

Ha, I have kept a very old microwave in my basement for that same reason. Between that and a metal roof, we'll get some protection. Though you never really know until it happens.

John Deere are one of the worst offenders in relation to the 'right to repair' movement. The harvest company I do occasional work for has 8 of their headers and were looking at upgrading to newer models, until we found out that you don't actually own the software in the computer management systems. Its leased and JD can modify the conditions or even take the license from you at any time, and do it remotely without your knowledge.

Ditto all those who have bought a Tesla or Chevy, Ford etc electric car.

So we rebuilt a couple of the older headers and JD lost up to $10 million in sales.

After an EMP or similar event (and they now have directed energy weapons that can create an EMP without a nuke device), I will not be getting out the spare equipment for a while after in case they send a round two after it.

Motor vehicles that automatically turn the lights on for you at dusk and have central locking, automatic windows etc may be convenient, and I agree that fuel injected engines with lean burn technology give good economy etc, but at what price in the long run ?

Our electronic world may be about to go off line, perhaps for ever. At least the man made interference and noise levels on the short wave bands will drop !




You know you own an old tractor when.....Whilst mowing you keep an eye out for a good place to set her down in case you have to do some adjustments.

They are called daylight running lights and Im not sure they are not a Motor Transport requirement on new cars.




You know you own an old tractor when......Half of the nick nack shelf has cat figurines on it, the other half has tractor toys.

Like resetting the PC by turning it off then back on, disconnect the battery and wait a few minutes may reset the car engine computer. Most modern cars also have a 'get home' function where if a sensor is out of spec, then a code will be set that enables the engine to run, not properly, but enough to get to a service station.

There are so many sensors on modern cars, even if you swapped out the computer for a spare, there is a possibility that something else is damaged or degraded to the point of not starting.

That said, I do carry a spare engine computer, but my ute is old enough only to have a few engine sensors, like the mass air, and timing and ego, so it may well be able to be got going again by swapping out the computer. If not, bug home bag is in the back with enough supplies for 3 days on the road. I also put in a pushbike if im going any more than 100 km away from home.

If WW3 happens and it turns nuclear, the books will have to be re written re EMP's.



You know you own an old tractor when.....When showing someone your tractor you automatically say "yes, it runs".

Interesting reports of John Deere remotely de-activating any Ukranian farm equipment that fell into Russian hands.

If they can do it to Russia, they can do it to you. It's not far fetched at all. The Canadian government froze the bank accounts of anyone who donated to the truckers. Pure authoritarianism with a large dash of dictatorship.

Does anyone really doubt that if they had the ability to de-activate the engines of any driver who participated, that they wouldn't be at least considering or even doing it?
Scary stuff.