EMP proof your vehicle.

[SheepDog223]

Does anybody KNOW if it's possible to EMP proof your vehicle? Speculation is ok too but please don't speculate with false authority.

Is it as simple as putting a ground wire from your car body to the ground? (My speculation) or would you have to cover it with a copper net and ground that? (again my speculation)

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[Cuthbert Allgood]

I don't have to worry about EMP's. I ride a bicycle.

 

[jeepseth]

My understanding is that if your vehicle is not running at the time of the emp, it likely will not be affected. There were some studies done that seemed to show issues affecting running vehicles, most of which were able to be restarted after the emp killed the motors. Some had to have battery cables pulled to reset the computers. The testing was all done on pre 2002 (I believe? ) cars though. Newer may be more problems? Good luck anyway, I think an emp strong enough to cause issues with vehicles will cause so many other issues, ive focused priorities elsewhere. Hope this helps a little.

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

I think itd be easier to make an EMP proof shed for the vehicle to reside in. JMO.

 

[Dunerunner]

Good article here... How To Prepare Your Car To Handle An EMP And Why You Shouldn't Bother

Automobiles were subjected to EMP environments under both engine turned off and engine turned on conditions. No effects were subsequently observed in those automobiles that were not turned on during EMP exposure. The most serious effect observed on running automobiles was that the motors in three cars stopped at field strengths of approximately 30 kV/m or above. In an actual EMP exposure, these vehicles would glide to a stop and require the driver to restart them. Electronics in the dashboard of one automobile were damaged and required repair. Other effects were relatively . Twenty-five automobiles exhibited malfunctions that could be considered only a nuisance (e.g., blinking dashboard lights) and did not require driver intervention to correct. Eight of the 37 cars tested did not exhibit any anomalous response.

 

[Fast Eddie]

I would think an old pre electronic ignition vehicle might be the way to go. Gapping the points in in a SHTF world will be just one more use for your hoarded match books.

 

[Mark W.]

My son is a US NAVY electronic's tech with training in Radar/Comm systems and Aviation navigation controls. And he says the best thing is to have the circuit non active. Another words turned off. He also says the Nuke creating the EMP will be a WAY BIGGER PROBLEM then your car won't start.

 

[CamoDeafie]

there IS such a thing as a Non-Nuclear EMP....

 

[AMProducts]

Good article here... How To Prepare Your Car To Handle An EMP And Why You Shouldn't Bother

As the article quoted, by and large most vehicles made since the beginning will survive EMP with very little damage. This is two fold: first, older vehicles had few components that would actually suffer damage by EMP as there were simply few things that could be damaged. While the even that instigated our knowledge of EMP did indeed damage some vehicles, most were unharmed. As vehicles have become more computer controlled, there has been a huge push to making the sensor systems less susceptible to interference, EMP, for the sake of this exercise is a form of interference albeit more destructive.

Case in point, I've worked on and off doing radio tech work (climb the pole, put up the antenna) in some of the most RF dense environments in the world, one specifically is the mount wilson transmission site near los angeles. There are multiple 100,000W FM stations at this location, there were MPE (maximum permissible exposure) limits for how long we could be anywhere near the towers, and it was not uncommon for guys with "keyless entry" systems to completely fail while at the site, usually breaking into the car and starting it normally with a key was sufficient to get the vehicle working again, in a few rare cases a tow truck showed up and drug them down the hill at which point they were able to restart.

The biggest threat posed by EMP is to the electrical grid, because it's physically large in size, and operates at voltages and currents in excess of design capacity (our switchgear has gotten better able to handle these power loads, but it's rare that we string new high tension wires), the size of the grid will allow the radio energy created by an EMP event to induce large amounts of both current and voltage into the wires, while we can understand this scientifically, it will cause massive problems for switchgear, control systems and the like. A really major issue that I think few people who talk about the EMP threat understand... when was the last time the grid went down? to my knowledge there has never been an event so massive that it actually caused the entire electrical grid to go dark. The question at this point would be how in the hell do you turn it back on?

There's a book written back in the 1960's I've been picking my way through, but essentially it's a primer on how electrical grids operate, how they are built and constructed etc. One of the things mentioned early in the book is the insane mathematical complexity created by electrical grids, factors such as impedence, reactance (AC forms of resistance and capacitance) and how electrical systems are put together has more to do with experience than actual calculation.

 

[mccullogh]

For the record when the EMP tests were conducted on the vehicles they did not have the budget to buy them so they were borrowed from a loan pool. This meant the tests were limited to levels that would not cause severe damage to the vehicles and they could be returned when they were finished.

 

[Redcap]

I laugh at the thought of EMP.

 

[Stomper]

I laugh at the thought of EMP.

That may be so, but remember that in ANY event... PMS is no laughing matter.

 

[Burt Gummer]

there IS such a thing as a Non-Nuclear EMP....

Massive solar flare narrowly misses Earth, EMP disaster barely avoided | WashingtonExaminer.com

That is the only EMP I'd ever be concerned about and it is way down the list. Our controllers have way too many years and billions invested into the surveillance state to allow it to all go 'poof.' A solar flare would be out of their control though.

 

[AMProducts]

For the record when the EMP tests were conducted on the vehicles they did not have the budget to buy them so they were borrowed from a loan pool. This meant the tests were limited to levels that would not cause severe damage to the vehicles and they could be returned when they were finished.

While this may be true, still 25kV/m is not an insignificant amount of energy, as it is more than sufficient to damage traffic lights, grid power distribution systems and many other things that vehicles depend on to operate. Also there is zero mention of the source, or disposition of the vehicles.

From the EMP commission report:

We tested a sample of 37 cars in an EMP simulation laboratory, with automobile vintages ranging from 1986 through 2002. Automobiles of these vintages include extensive electronics and represent a significant fraction of automobiles on the road today. The
testing was conducted by exposing running and non-running automobiles to sequentially increasing EMP field intensities. If anomalous response (either temporary or permanent) was observed, the testing of that particular automobile was stopped. If no anomalous response was observed, the testing was continued up to the field intensity limits of the simulation capability (approximately 50 kV/m)

Automobiles were subjected to EMP environments under both engine turned off and engine turned on conditions. No effects were subsequently observed in those automobiles that were not turned on during EMP exposure. The most serious effect observed on running automobiles was that the motors in three cars stopped at field strengths of approximately 30 kV/m or above. In an actual EMP exposure, these vehicles would glide to a stop and require the driver to restart them. Electronics in the dashboard of one automobile
were damaged and required repair. Other effects were relatively minor. Twenty-five automobiles exhibited malfunctions that could be considered only a nuisance (e.g., blinking dashboard lights) and did not require driver intervention to correct. Eight of the
37 cars tested did not exhibit any anomalous response.

Based on these test results, we expect few automobile effects at EMP field levels below 25 kV/m. Approximately 10 percent or more of the automobiles exposed to higher field levels may experience serious EMP effects, including engine stall, that require driver intervention to correct. We further expect that at least two out of three automobiles on the road will manifest some nuisance response at these higher field levels. The serious malfunctions could trigger car crashes on U.S. highways; the nuisance malfunctions could exacerbate this condition. The ultimate result of automobile EMP exposure could be triggered crashes that damage many more vehicles than are damaged by the EMP, the consequent loss of life, and multiple injuries.

Also, while digging around, I found this: EMP Effects on Vehicles - Futurescience.com which summarizes a number of sources

One of the best articles I found was this one: The Space Review: Rebuttal to "The EMP threat: fact, fiction, and response" (page 1)
It has extensive focus as a "rebuttal" to many of the suggestions made in the EMP commission report, and it's a very good read, as it deals with many things that come into play that are way outside the scope of the original report.

 

[Brutus57]

I am no electronics wizard but I would think of prepping for Emp as icing on the cake...way lower priority than food, shelter, water, self defense. Having the only vehicle running in the neighborhood might be unhealthy! I'd take some precautions but never at the expense of mor important preps.

Brutus out

 

[Sstrand]

I'm more concerned about where to go to fill my fuel tank after the event . . .

Sheldon

 

[CamoDeafie]

Massive solar flare narrowly misses Earth, EMP disaster barely avoided | WashingtonExaminer.com

That is the only EMP I'd ever be concerned about and it is way down the list. Our controllers have way too many years and billions invested into the surveillance state to allow it to all go 'poof.' A solar flare would be out of their control though.

from Wikipedia;

Non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse (NNEMP) is a weapon-generated electromagnetic pulse without use of nuclear technology. Devices that can achieve this objective include a large low-inductance capacitor bank discharged into a single-loop antenna, a microwave generator and an explosively pumped flux compression generator. To achieve the frequency characteristics of the pulse needed for optimal coupling into the target, wave-shaping circuits and/or microwave generators are added between the pulse source and the antenna. Vircators are vacuum tubes that are particularly suitable for microwave conversion of high-energy pulses.[3]

NNEMP generators can be carried as a payload of bombs, cruise missiles (such as the CHAMP missile) and drones, with diminished mechanical, thermal and ionizing radiation effects, but without the political consequences of deploying nuclear weapons.

The range of NNEMP weapons (non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse bombs) is much less than nuclear EMP. Nearly all NNEMP devices used as weapons require chemical explosives as their initial energy source, producing only 10−6 (one millionth) the energy of nuclear explosives of similar weight.[4] The electromagnetic pulse from NNEMP weapons must come from within the weapon, while nuclear weapons generate EMP as a secondary effect.[5] These facts limit the range of NNEMP weapons, but allow finer target discrimination. The effect of small e-bombs has proven to be sufficient for certain terrorist or military operations. Examples of such operations include the destruction of electronic control systems critical to the operation of many ground vehicles and aircraft.

The concept of the explosively pumped flux compression generator for generating a non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse was conceived as early as 1951 by Andrei Sakharov in the Soviet Union,[7] but nations keep work on non-nuclear EMP classified until similar ideas emerge in other nations.

Large EMP simulators were built in the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy.[8][9] The purpose of these large EMP simulators was to test equipment and vehicles (including ships and aircraft) for their resistance to high-altitude nuclear EMP.

Information about the EMP simulators used by the United States during the latter part of the Cold War, along with more general information about electromagnetic pulse, is now in papers under the care of the SUMMA Foundation,[10] which is hosted at the University of New Mexico.

The SUMMA Foundation web site documents the huge wooden ATLAS-I simulator (better known as TRESTLE, or "The Sandia Trestle") at Sandia National Labs, New Mexico, which was the world's largest EMP simulator.[11] Nearly all of these large EMP simulators used a specialized version of a Marx generator.[8][9] The SUMMA Foundation offers a short documentary on its web site called TRESTLE: Landmark of the Cold War.[12]

The US Navy also has a facility called the Electro Magnetic Pulse Radiation Environmental Simulator for Ships I (EMPRESS I).

SO... I truly think the military already have technology to knock out localized electronics area and cause havoc in order to make it easier to mop up.

 

[bellarum]

You think traffics bad now...remember a few years ago when the power went out back east? There were so many cars and people on the streets it looked like a kicked over ant hill. Even if you had enough fuel to get to the gas station someone would probably have to manually pump it. Ha! I'm gonna go hide my garden hose in case someone wants to go old school to get fuel....I don't trust you guys

 

[CamoDeafie]

another reason to stay away from roads. bug in for a while until traffic is eliminated or cleared, or use an off-road capable vehicle, and fit it with wire cutters/barrier break-through systems.

 

[mccullogh]

While this may be true, still 25kV/m is not an insignificant amount of energy, as it is more than sufficient to damage traffic lights, grid power distribution systems and many other things that vehicles depend on to operate. Also there is zero mention of the source, or disposition of the vehicles.



From the EMP commission report:



Also, while digging around, I found this: EMP Effects on Vehicles - Futurescience.com which summarizes a number of sources

One of the best articles I found was this one: The Space Review: Rebuttal to "The EMP threat: fact, fiction, and response" (page 1)
It has extensive focus as a "rebuttal" to many of the suggestions made in the EMP commission report, and it's a very good read, as it deals with many things that come into play that are way outside the scope of the original report.

That came from an interview on Empact America with Dr. William Graham the Chairman of the EMP Commission.

Thanks I'll read that entire link when I get a chance but Dr. William Radasky and Dr. Peter Vincent Pry are not rebutting the commission report but rather some assertions made by Yousaf M. Butt.