Makeshift Power Supply for Small Items

Losing power is usually one of the first things that happen during a natural disaster.
When there is a power outage, you can make a portable power supply just by using an ash tray out of an old car, a 12 volt battery, and a car inverter.

When running a light, LED lights are very efficient; their energy draw is extremely small. As you can see in this photo, many lights are being used with a small amount of energy.

How to wire your makeshift power supply:

      1. Take the positive wire from the ash tray
            *The positive wire is usually red. It is the wire that feeds the little metal post inside the very   
              bottom of the cigarette lighter socket*

      2. Attach the positive wire to the positive terminal on the battery.

      3. Take the negative wire from the ash tray

      4. Attach the negative wire to the negative terminal on the battery.

      5. Plug the inverter into the lighter socket.

      6. Plug in appliance.

*A power inverter turns DC current into AC current so that you can use an appliance you'd normally use at home, such as a laptop, in your vehicle. In this case, the inverter doesn’t just apply to use in a vehicle since we have removed the ash tray.*