Smartphone survival guide:How to stretch your battery life (CNET, Nov 2012)
If you use your laptop/phone/tablet during while it's freezing or just cold, make sure that all batteries stay warm, since batteries lose much of their capacity whenever temperatures drop significantly below 'room temperature'.
When you are noticed in advance of a disaster likely to strike in your area, make sure that you recharge all available batteries.
Old phones/laptops can be often used as backup power although often their old batteries don't have full capacity anymore.
If you own a car/truck you can use its 12V/24V battery. Don't use long extension cords when using low voltage, because thin cables have extremely high losses and also voltage can go lower than your equipment requires.
Try to avoid DC/AC inverters, since using low voltage radios, recharging units, etc don't have conversion losses. If you need to use a DC/AC inverter make sure to disconnect the unit once you don't need the AC power anymore, otherwise they will suck your battery empty in standby mode.
When you connect to a wireless phone/internet network make sure to have optimum reception. Install external antennas or go near window etc in order to get strongest possible signal. Your phone/internet connection unit will reduce its transmitting power accordingly ! So when you are in the basement don't be shocked when your battery is empty rather sooner than later.
related:
Hurricane Sandy - Emergency communication setup using Twitter [EZR compilation]
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