The EMP proof Bus

artvonne · January 10, 2012, 02:08:50 PM

Taking a page from another thread, I thought I would start a thread a few of us tin foil hat wearers might find interesting.

Without getting into the probablity of an EMP happening, or the craziness of it or whatever, I simply thought it could be interesting to discuss the situation from the direction of keeping our rig functioning if we got hit with a real good one.

We start with the premise that it is going to occur, and it will wipe out all transistors, micro processors, integrated circuits, computers, ECM's, etc... Things that I have read suggest condenser/capacitors will likely fail as well, and my Uncle concurs. No one has said anything about diodes, and I havnt asked, so lets throw those in too. So lets accept the worst case suggestions, that all these sensitive electrical items will be destroyed, that the only parts left within 1000 miles that will still function are protected in a faraday cage and buried.

So were 700 miles away from home partying at some pretty campground with our Bus buddies. The EMP strikes and everything discussed has been damaged. Which kind of systems or which particular Bus would be the best to own at that moment?

Brassman · January 10, 2012, 02:37:56 PM

One you could live in.

Nick Badame Refrig/ACC · January 10, 2012, 03:25:18 PM

Answer,

Electromagnetic Shielding...

Nick-

jbnewman · January 10, 2012, 04:00:50 PM

Quote from: artvonne on January 10, 2012, 02:08:50 PM
So were 700 miles away from home partying at some pretty campground with our Bus buddies. The EMP strikes and everything discussed has been damaged. Which kind of systems or which particular Bus would be the best to own at that moment?

I'd recommend the driver avoid wearing a pacemaker.

Oonrahnjay · January 10, 2012, 04:06:19 PM

One wearing a tin foil hat! (Sorry, couldn't resist ...)

bevans6 · January 10, 2012, 04:08:55 PM

A MUI Detroit doesn't actually need electricity to run, as long as you have a hill to bump start it...

Brian

Iceni John · January 10, 2012, 04:12:28 PM

I'm guessing any completely non-electronic vehicle would still be driveable, but those of us blessed/cursed with DDEC would be SOL. Too bad that DDEC engines cannot be made to run, at least in limp-home mode, without their electronics working. If I recall, one of Mercedes' early electronic fuel injection systems (was it CIS?) for their cars in the 1970s had that ability, potentially very useful if electrons ceased to flow. (Mind you, my 1970 Mercedes had mechanical fuel injection, sort of like Messerschmidt fighter engines had in WW2, and it worked just fine without any ECM. It even automatically compensated for altitude and temperature.)

My friend's two old buses would still run, but mine would be dead in the water. Such is progress!

John

challenger440 · January 10, 2012, 08:11:05 PM

Question, will an emp or huge solar flare take out a battery? If not I would think me and my mc7 would have the roads pretty much to ourselves! At least till I ran out of fuel. John M.

Oregonconversion · January 10, 2012, 09:14:58 PM

http://www.solarstormwarning.com/

artvonne · January 10, 2012, 09:15:40 PM

I haven't read or heard anything about it harming batteries except from shorts in connected equipment. But an alternator and solid state regulator isn't going to make it. You'll only be able to run until your batteries die. Though as Brian points out, the engine really does not need electrical power to run other than to turn the starter. The older DC generators and mechanical voltage regulators will likely survive as long as they aren't struck with high voltage from the E3 component.

Lin · January 10, 2012, 09:44:30 PM

Maybe ET can help us repair damage from the EMP assuming that the EPA, NASA, and DOD allow the UFO an ETA. WOW, this has got ME thinking of MOON PIES (which they could pick up on the way) for the FT since I was a KID. At least WE have LPG so me and the MILF can stay warm.

Oregonconversion · January 10, 2012, 10:53:02 PM

wow...

artvonne · January 10, 2012, 10:56:18 PM

The the B-25 was named after a guy who was court Marshalled, stripped of rank, and who died in disgrace three years before it was built. Just sayin. You can believe youll wake up every day to the same world every day all you want, but history has proven it to be a false belief.

I do maintenance to prevent failures on the road. I buy lots of groceries when I'm in town so I dont have to drive there every day. I cut and chop wood when its nice so I have heat when its not. And I contemplate how I would get my baby girl home if the worst case scenario happens. I simply cannot imagine a father who does not think that way. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Even a bird seeks shelter before a storm.

Oregonconversion · January 10, 2012, 11:26:07 PM

Artvonne well said.

Look at what this country has gone through in it's short life.

oldmansax · January 11, 2012, 05:13:15 AM

Just once I'd like to see a thread remain on topic.

Artvonne asked a very specific question, PERTAINING TO BUSSES. He specificly stipulated he was not interested in facts or opinions on the underlying premises. He just wanted to know about resistance to EMP events.

So now there are comments entirely unrelated to the thread.

So, being the thread is already off topic, I will assuage a few doubts as to the POSSIBILITY, not eventuality, of the event in question.

Aside from natural occurring phenomena, and actual attacks by hostile entities, there are attacks by crazy people.

Such as BUS NUTS!

This might prove interesting:

http://www.busnut.com/bbs/messages/11/68926.html?1325815255

The end of the thread is relevant.

TOM