A short story of preparedness by Dr. Marica, Full Professor in the Department of Redundancy Department.

Just heard the first rumble of thunder, but who care about that when there’s a box in the mail to open? Curiously, it was not taped shut. I will comment on that at Amazon.

My

RAVPower Solar Charger 24W Solar Panel with 3 USB Ports Waterproof Foldable Camping Travel Charger Compatible iPhone Xs XS Max XR X 8 7 Plus, iPad, Galaxy S9 S8 Note 8 and More, Black

has arrived,

I’ve had this in my ‘saved for later’ folder for ages. Since I will not be buying any bling at Tiffany’s this weekend as planned (long story), I decided the time was right.

It is, as Amazon describes, a solar charger,

But it’s way cool!

The owner’s manual cautions me to tuck my devises inside the pocket when charging. Doesn’t look to me like an iPad would fit– but that’s not too important to me.

and evenly distribute output current.

It weighs just over 1.5 pounds!

It does not store electricity. It converts radiant energy to electrical current. Which is exactly what I want it to do. Let’s walk through a course in The Department of Redundancy Department. You need your gadgets and gizmos and devises. They need electricity. Therefore, you need electricity. (The principle of transsomethingorot– transitivity.) Most of the time, your needs are satisfied by electricity flowing as if by magic from little holes in the walls. Sometimes, though, you are not near holes in walls, or the flow stops. What are you and your gadgets going to do?

You have several options. 1) You can generate electricity by burning non-ethanol gasoline in a piece of heavy machinery. This is a lot of work, and if you’ve had to crank up the generator anyway, it’s probably busy generating electricity for things that are, frankly, more important than your stupid iPhone. 2) You can steal electricity from your truck. My experience is this takes an inordinate amount of time, especially if you are trying to power up a turbo devise. Also, if it’s frigidly cold, your truck might not have too much electricity to spare. 3) You can follow a tried and true Department of Redundancy Department Principle and store electricity for a rainy day.

Shit. There goes tornado watch #15 on the weather radio.

I store electricity in two Ankar batteries (a third on the way, arriving Tuesday). One has a single USB port, a capacity of 10,050mAh, and weighs just 6 ounces. I carry this one in my sack at all times. The other has two ports (one turbo or quick charge), a capacity of 20,000mAh, and weighs 13 ounces. These are remarkable! Even on long travels, I do not believe I’ve ever drained one completely, and that’s charging my stuff and Mr. Big Food’s stuff. Highly recommended.

Each of these is itself charged by plugging into the wall. Well, technically that’s not true. For convenience sake– both at home and traveling (I find lots of the supposed USB port conveniences in hotel rooms and airports do not work very well)– I have an Ankar PortLite. Basically, it’s a splitter. Plug it into the wall

Damn. There goes tornado watch #16.

and then plug in up to six devises (three ports detect optimal current). That’s how I charge the Ankar batteries. Note, however, that when those batteries are empty, when no current is flowing from holes in walls, and when the generator is too busy keeping the freezers frozen and refrigerators running and wall unit A/Cs cranking to have space for nonessential stuff, I used to be up a creek. No more!

Frankly, that last part is not true, either. The schematic that shows how to wire up the joint with the generator includes a charging station in the breakfast room. (I am not a student in the Department of Redundancy Department. I am a Full Professor.) But now we don’t have to rely on a single source of electricity to charge the Ankar batteries. We have the sun!

Class dismissed.