Reddit reviews Schumacher SC-1200A-CA SpeedCharge 12Amp 6/12V Fully Automatic Battery Charger

So first you need to decide what the most likely events are going to be and rank them in order of the level of danger. A Coronal mass ejection could be disastrous for the world, but it is very unlikely to happen. A huge winter storm is not as dangerous, but it is pretty likely to happen. You want to first prepare for the things that are both most likely to happen and most dangerous.

Generally the things you probably need no matter what first are food and water. Two weeks is a good place to start.

• One gallon of water per person per day.
  
  
• 1500 calories of food per adult per day. A cheap way to go is one cup of dried rice, one cup of dried beans, and one cup of oatmeal. That gets you enough calories but you need a way to cook them. If you have a camping stove with enough fuel you are good to go. Otherwise getting freeze dried meals might be a better option (albeit much more expensive.)
  
  Than we move in to shelter/protection from the elements. When you first start prepping, people often want to make a bug out bag. Bugging-out before you have a bugout location is generally a bad idea. Most times you actually want to bug-in so preparing your apartment is priority. Having a small portable kerosene heater in case the utilities go down and you need to heat your place as well as extra clothing and blankets.
  
  You will also need a way to deal with human waste. Lots of people go for the option of 5 gallon buckets and plastic bags along with chemicals to supress the odors. I personally like the composting toilet option but it does take up a bit more space.
  
  If you want to think about short electrical needs, a fully charged deep cycle battery can recharge your phone and a lot of AA batteries for flashlights and such. You can hook it up to a smart charger to keep the battery maintained in the back of a closet. Then when the power goes out, hook it up to an inverter (get the right size for what ever you electrical need are) and you are set until that battery dies. There are various ways you can recharge it depending on your situation, but no need to worry about that for short term emergencies.
  
  Once you have prepared for two weeks, that is when I would start thinking about protection (because if you can't make it two weeks, you won't need to protect anything!) Crossbows aren't the bet option, but you decide what you need based on your skills.
  
  After that, start expanding your supplies out for what you would need for a month, then a year, then two years.

Thank you - it is a 2008 Toyota RAV4, and yes I typically drive it 10 minutes total a day, if that.

I was thinking of purchasing something like [http://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SC-1200A-CA-SpeedCharge-Maintainer/dp/B000BQSIWK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418765412&sr=8-1&keywords=car+battery+charger#productDetails] (this) - does this thing actually charge and then let me jump the car if I need? Or does it need to be plugged in to jump the car? I figure I can use this to test voltage as well.

I had one of these and was pretty happy with it: https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SC-1200A-CA-SpeedCharge-Automatic-Battery/dp/B000BQSIWK/
Might be overkill for your needs, but the higher amperage compared to smaller trickle chargers is good if you come home with a low battery and want to refill and not just maintain. It also did a nice job resurrecting a couple car batteries that had been discharged a bit too deeply.

For something more basic that just maintains, a cheap Battery Tender will probably do fine.

why do you need them all in one?

There's a Stanley jumpstarter/compressor, and here's an off brand (I think) fast charger.

Together they're $107, with free shipping if you have prime (it may also be free economy shipping too).

No problem. I love wiring! (Feel free to DM me in the future with any electrical questions) but as for the charger, I'm talking about the kind you plug into 120 volt wall socket and it has the clamps that put 12 volts to your battery.. It's not the exact one I have, but you get the idea. I basically cut the clamps off and crimped on eyelet connectors and connected them to my power bank, which is fused. I mounted it inside a cabinet so when I need to charge it I just drag an extension cord out to it and plug it in. And to charge it off the truck, your F-250 should have a 7-pin trailer connector which has a wire to charge trailer batteries. I just hope that up appropriately and it charges whenever the truck is running.

Great, here is the charger that I purchased!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQSIWK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We don't know enough about what you mean by "to power things" and "can power the inside".

What do those "things" on "the inside" run off of now? The van's battery?

The simplest is to get a 12V battery charger, plug it into your extension cord, and connect it to your battery. Easy, simple.

Here's one that can supply 12A, which ought to be plenty to prevent your battery from being discharged while "things" on "the inside" are powered on

https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SC-1200A-CA-SpeedCharge-Automatic-Battery/dp/B000BQSIWK/

I bought this this summer to do high tech camping, it works great:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HR8YNK6/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1FA18AN9HXJ34&coliid=I2PWR816KXTP2T

Take that, plug it into a deep cycle 12 volt battery and a power inverter. You might also want a low voltage cutoff switch between the battery and the inverter (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BEA5NPW/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1). This is the inverter I choose: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003R7M4SY/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

The solar panels produce probably 60-70 watts of energy in cloudy weather. It's still quite a bit, really.

A 80 Amp hour battery should give you enough power to run a radio, charge cellphones, power lightbulbs, or pretty much whatever you want. You won't be able to run all your equipment all the time, but it will be good enough for most important applications.

You probably could use a battery charger as well:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQSIWK/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And, if you are like me, I put anderson powerpole connectors on all the wires on all my devices, so I can quickly hook / unhook them as I go.

Make sure your bike is in neutral before reading what I have to say.

Anyway, let's start with your engine not starting. Obviously you have enough juice to run your starter, so hopefully we can eliminate any electrical gremlins. First thing you gotta know- There are 3 things you need to verify are working: Fuel, spark, and compression. Rule out the most basic shit first, you'd be surprised at how often the easiest fixes are what gets you going.

Fuel: Do you have gas? Is your petcock plugged? Are your fuel lines connected/not leaking? Are your carbs functioning correctly? Should they be cleaned, rebuilt, etc. Are they running too rich? Too lean? Are they flooded?

Spark: (disclaimer: I'm not familiar with the particular setup for your bike, but I do work on project cars/bikes near daily) Are your spark plugs bad? Are you getting spark to the plugs? You can buy a test light kit at Harbor Freight for under 10 bucks. Also, pull your plugs anyway, they can tell you a lot about the health of your engine. Is your coil good? Is the timing correct?

Compression: If you verify you have fuel, and that you have spark, check for compression. You can either buy a test kit or rent one from an auto parts chain (they're about $60 bucks for a reliable one). There are guides on how to use these things online, and what pressure range you should fall under. You may also want to grab a bore scope to check for abnormal damage to your piston & cylinder.

When you get all that shit situated, replace & re-adjust your clutch cable. If you have an old wet clutch and used car oil with friction modifiers during your last oil change, you could be getting some slippage out of that. Worst case scenario, you re-build your clutch and put in some fresh oil. As for your battery, buy yourself a charger. I picked up this one about 3 years ago and it's saved my ass more times than I can remember (I tend to buy a lot of shitty cars). I haven't had to use it for the V-Star yet, but it has a motorcycle charge setting. Also, when you jumped it, for your sake, I hope you hooked black-to-black and red-to-red or else you just introduced a ton of new problems into your bike.


For exploded/illustrated views of all your parts: http://www.cheapcycleparts.com/oemparts/#/l/suz/50d3f83ff8700230d8b4ce99/1982-gs550l-parts

You are going to need a charger that can handle deep cycle batteries. Best is a smart charger.

Here is a good example

12 amps will charge the battery quickly like in a few hours, and the slow charge you can set it to bring it up over a night.

Plus you can leave this connected and it will maintain the battery as well. You can always pick up a battery maintainer too and just leave that connected.