A tech emergency kit can be in a box, in a closet, or on a shelf somewhere. But what do you put in it?
Smartphones are of no help if the battery dies. If you don’t already have a few portable chargers, they’re easy to find and relatively inexpensive. Keep a couple of them charged and where you can find them.
Place a few power cables in your emergency kit to charge phones, tablets, and laptops. And consider one of these charging cables with interchangeable plugs. A lightning plug for iPhones, standard micro USB, and USB-C.
In the event power is out for quite a while, I suggest one of these portable electric generators or power stations. The Eco-Flow Delta 2 Max can charge phones, and laptops, and will keep most large appliances working for hours. In a recent outage, an old refrigerator ran for more than 14 hours when plugged into the Delta Max. And the Delta 2 Max will hold a charge for months so you can store it anywhere and it’s ready when you need it.
For extended outages, plug the Delta Max into an Eco Flow solar panel. In a few hours, the power station is fully charged.
If you lose power you lose internet and TV. Plug the television into the generator and use an old-school antenna to get local news from the TV station.
Finally, a portable crank flashlight. It needs no batteries whatsoever and can even provide power to a smartphone.
The brand is Eton and is endorsed by the American Red Cross. This one has a flashlight, is solar-powered, and has an AM/FM and weather band radio. I highly recommend having one of these in any tech emergency kit.
