Jumper cables

Every car driver will eventually end up with a flat battery. A bad battery, leaving the lights on, not having used the car for a while, etc.  A problem which can be solved with jumper cables. But jumper cables are not always as straight forward as we think. There are plenty of low quality cables and there are plenty of people whom don’t know how to connect the leads.

Thick cables are usually better. A thicker cables generally means a higher capacity. If you use a cable with not enough capacity, you won’t be able to crank the car and the cables can get hot (in worse case melt and short out the battery). However thickness of the cables can hide a few facts.

•           Some company’s uses a thick insulator, making it appear thicker than it actually is.
•           While jumper cables used to be all copper, there are now three kind of materials used for jumper cables; solid copper, solid aluminum,  and copper coated aluminum cables.  Copper is a far better conductor than aluminum, more flexible and unlike aluminum it won’t corrode. This means aluminum cables appear to be thicker (or are just as thick, but have less capacity) . Most company do not specify which kind of cables are used. However aluminum is much lighter, so you can feel the weight difference.

Good cables however are not enough. You also need proper clamps to get all the electricity from a to b. There should be maximum contact between the clamps and the battery leads. The best clamps have both sides of the clamps connected to the cable to provide maximum contact. The safest clamps are the ones with full insolation on the outside (prevents shorting while  you are connecting them).

Surge protection

Most modern cars are far more sensitive to power surges. A risk when using jumper cables. There are lots of opinions what method is best to prevent this (and some say it doesn’t matter). There are jumper cables with build in surge protection which can prevent this. They are a bit more expensive.  If you do not have such jumper cables, but do have regular cables, there are aftermarket surge protectors which can be added on existing cables.

Smart cables

One manufacture (but sold under various brand names) makes ‘Smart’ jumper cables. You can hook the clamps to any battery leads and the little box in the middle will check the polarity and connect the proper cable’s to each other. This idea appears to be nice for people whom are not sure how to connect the cables. However the 12 gauge copper coated aluminum cables are too thin and the little box also requires some power from the battery to work, so it won’t work on totally flat batteries.( I have not seen a thicker cables version yet).

Instructions

You will not believe how little people know about using jumper cables,  so add instructions to your jumper cables. Shorting a battery out can be very dangerous (and expensive). Just having a piece of paper in the same package might not be obvious enough. One thing I made are the instructions cut in to strips and attached to each end of the cable.

Lock maintenance

Proper maintenance prevent a lot of mechanical problems. It’s autumn and winter is not far away. One thing many people neglect is to properly lubricate there locks. With the winter weather locks will suffer from oxidation. Having them lubricated will give you a higher chance of a problem free winter. Having a good solid lock seized can be a mayor pain in the you know what.

Important; Do NOT use oils or grease to lubricate cylinder locks, these leave a sticky residue which will clog up the fine mechanics.

There are many specialists locks sprays which will not leave residue and keep your lock nice, smooth and good for many years to come. Just place the straw in the lock and spray . It’s that easy. Some will even defrost your lock and prevent it from freezing again (to a certain extend).

HTFU: Get used to the temperature

It's autumn and winter is not far away, so the temperature is getting lower. Most outdoor people know when they are outside in the cold, we usually feel cold. However after just a few days your body adjusts and you get used to it. (Unless it's really too cold for the clothing you are wearing.)

My observation is that when I turn down the heater in the winter, from a toasty 20 degree's Celsius to something between 12 - 15 degree Celsius and just wear a sweater, my body adjusted to it and I'm far more capable keeping myself warm while being outside(it also saves a lot of money). Being cold stimulates your body to make more brown fat (Brown adipose tissue), which can directly turn energy in to heat. Not being cold to easily allows you to be far more productive when you are outside, saves money on your heating bill and burns away excessive calories.

For me, this also works the other way around. If I'm hot, I don't immediately turn on the AC or fan. Get used to it and you are far more able to cope with it later. Getting out of your comfort zone and harden the f... up can be very useful when there is no heating or AC.

Warning; Don't over do it. Getting too cold can get you hyperthermia and getting too warm can cause you to overheat.

Disposable dishes and utensils

I don’t really like disposable things, especially disposable dishes and utensils. They simple don’t work very well and create too much trash. However they can be very useful in emergency’s.

When there is no time to wash up, no water to wash up with or simply not enough space for any large quantity of real dishes and utensils, disposable dishes and utensils become very useful. Having clean things to eat from prevents illnesses from being spread and reduce the logistics you need in the short term. In the long term you need to get resupply and dispose of the trash. Having disposable dishes and utensils on hand is generally a good idea for short-medium length emergency preparedness. Saving time and space for more important things. This applies to both large organizations and for people whom  are preparing for an emergency them self's.

There is however a huge disadvantage of the disposable plastic cup. Somehow somebody will tip one over and ruin a keyboard, maps, binders, etc. It's Murphy's law is guess.

The normalization of deviance

Safety rules are usually set for a good reason. Some might not be that good and need to be adjusted after careful evaluation. However if a safety margin in set there for a reason, don't bend the rules! Sometimes safety margins are crossed and nothing went wrong. Enforce safety rules and safety margin. If you don't, the fine line between safe and unsafe become blurry and shifts. If you move the safety margin instead you might end up using all the safety margin and have a accident.

There is a term for this 'The normalization of deviance" and is defined as: “The gradual process through which unacceptable practice or standards become acceptable. As the deviant behavior is repeated without catastrophic results, it becomes the social norm for the organization.”

This caused the NASA space shuttle Challenger explosion, because they moved the safety rule on there minimum temperature of o-rings, instead of enforcing a safety rule. In aerospace also know as go-fever; getting things done in a hurry despite high risks.

This does not only apply to NASA or other big origination, but also to you. Not wearing proper PPE(Personal protective equipment), driving through red lights, etc. Do it once and you will do it again and probably worse. Know what you are doing, be aware of the normalization of deviance and try to prevent this from causing problems.

Some interesting reads:
http://theemtspot.com/2009/10/03/the-normalization-of-deviance/

http://lmcontheline.blogspot.nl/2013/01/the-normalization-of-deviance-if-it-can.html

Getting prepared for the autumn

The seasons are changing and we are getting to the darker and colder end of the year. (unless you are on the southern hemisphere) A few things to prepare for again:

Car:

• Sunglasses in the car, to cope with the low sun.
• Use up the summer wiper fluid and top off with winter fluid (If the rest of the fluids are not freeze proof, replace them too).
• Check the windscreen wipers and replace if needed.
• Check if the winter tires are in good condition and change them when the temperature is getting low enough.
• Throw in the deicer sprays and scrapers.
• Spray/lube the doors seals to prevent freezing.
• Check if your emergency signaling (flares, LED flares, lights) are working.
• Throw in a blanket or warm clothing.
• Candles and lighters to keep the car warm if your stranded.
• Add/check you flashlights in the car.
• Add gear to free you stuck car (shovel, kitty litter, traction plates, etc)
• Keep your fuel tank reasonable full to prevent condensation .

Home:

• Check if the heater and ventilation is in good shape and maintained.
• Check CO and smoke detectors (should be done every month)
• Make sure you can get by if there is no heat available.
• Make sure you have a form of emergency lighting.
• Make sure you have emergency water on hand.
• Anti-slip door mats so you won’t slip when entering your house with wet/snow filled shoes.

Continually check the state of your equipment

Safety equipment wears and become unsafe. An example is the wire gate carabiner (Kong Argon wire) in this photo.

The wire gate should close it self completely, but in this case it sometimes stays open. The open gate rating of a carabiner is much lower than a closed one (usually about 1/3 of the closed strength) and obviously rope or slings can slip out more easily from an open gate.  

This carabiner comes from a quickdraw. A set up two carabiners with a sling used for lead climbing in sport/alpine climbing. A failure of the carabiner or the unclipping of this carabiner could end up in very painful experience if not death.

This carabiner is actually fairly new and has little wear on it. This highlights why it’s important to continually check the state of your equipment. The exterior look might give a good indication, but it does not have to be.

Lockable straps

Securing loads on a vehicle is an essential part of  driving safely. Both for the occupants of the vehicle and everything thing and everybody nearby. However straps are only good in keeping items in/on a vehicle when driving. They do not keep the load safe from theft. Straps can easily be opened and removed and/or cut with a knife.  Locking a load to a car with chains or cables are problematic. They can cause damage to the car or the load.

A very good solution are lockable straps. These are straps with lockable buckles and equipped with nylon straps with steel cables reinforcement. They work just like regular tie down straps, but with a lock. three main brands of these are:

Thule
Kanulock
Yakima

All three brands sell them in pairs and are available in various lengths. The Thule and Yakima uses one steel cable in the middle of the straps, The Kanulocks uses two steel cables, one on each side. Steel cables are generally relatively easy to cut with the right tools. The combination of nylon and cables does make it harder to cut for tools made to only cut steel. So they will not stop the determined thief, but will deter the opportunity thieves.