EMP Protection For Home and Auto

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

phil frost

Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2019
Posts
78
Reaction score
65
Location
Angola, ny
Ram Year
2018
Engine
6.4
So after reading through the closed down Bugout and war truck thread, I wanted to ask a question. Has anyone installed one of these in their truck or house? and do they really work?

EMP Shield
 

RamDiver

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2022
Posts
1,939
Reaction score
3,075
Location
Marlborough, Ontario, Canada
Ram Year
2021
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Good morning,

I'll have another look at this product when I'm more awake and others may comment before that but, so far, this device appears to be a powerline filter, of which there are many available from different manufacturers.

Their massive list of awards and accolades look impressive but everything I know about the concept of an EMP is that a massive pulse creates an EMF pulse that will blast through anything but a very serious shielding created by something such as a thick lead barrier.

This massive magnetic pulse will destroy any device that contains digital circuitry of any sort no matter the complexity of the device.

Obviously, the intensity will be reduced the further you are away from the center of the blast epicenter and the intensity of the EMP will determine how quickly the effects are reduced with from the distance from the epicenter.

In other words, if you want a powerline filter, there are many competitively priced products to choose from that are likely far less expensive and will perform the same function.

Powerline filtering is not a new technology or any type of rocket science. :cool:

I have been directly involved with evaluating these types of products for industrial applications and since moving to a rural home in 2009, have also investigated the availability of consumer grade products for home use.

I am not an electrician but am an electronic technologist with the majority of my past career working with RF, microwave, and digital transport technologies.

.
 
Last edited:

crash68

ACME product engineer
Staff member
Administrator
Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2016
Posts
10,700
Reaction score
16,708
Ram Year
2015
Engine
3.0 EcoDiesel
If your concerned about an EMP from a nuclear bomb then they won't do much and a failed electronics are the least of your worries.
You don't have to worry about much naturally occurring EMP happening within a vehicle electrical system, the battery does a good job of that.
For your house they're really expensive whole house surge protectors, you can buy the top rated whole house surge protectors with lightning arrestors for about half the cost.
 

RamDiver

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2022
Posts
1,939
Reaction score
3,075
Location
Marlborough, Ontario, Canada
Ram Year
2021
Engine
Hemi 5.7
If your concerned about an EMP from a nuclear bomb then they won't do much and a failed electronics are the least of your worries.
You don't have to worry about much naturally occurring EMP happening within a vehicle electrical system, the battery does a good job of that.
For your house they're really expensive whole house surge protectors, you can buy the top rated whole house surge protectors with lightning arrestors for about half the cost.

And, protection of your power source may not mean squat if there's no EMF isolation from a pulse to protect your electronics.

Anything with digital electronics that is not magnetically shielded will become big paperweights, including your digital watch or your truck.

.
 

chri5k

Senior Member
Supporting Member
Joined
May 24, 2019
Posts
1,925
Reaction score
2,902
Location
USA
Ram Year
2016
Engine
Diesel
The EMP Shield "might" help with a disturbance coming down the power line. However, an EMP can induce high voltages in any circuit. High voltages can be induced within the circuits of any unshielded electronic device and many IC's or chips. Unless the device is shielded (enclosed) in some way that prevents the EM waves from reaching it, it will be vulnerable to an EMP. In short, the EMP Shield device is basically useless against an EMP attack and just an overpriced power line filter with lots of hype marketing.

Lastly, in the event of an attack and the device doesn't work who or how are you going to call them to get your money back? ;)
 

Dan Topp

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2019
Posts
779
Reaction score
1,311
Location
Jefferson Wisconsin
Ram Year
2019
Engine
5.7
From what I could tell from their product on Amazon it’s similar to the surge protection that my internet and service that are protected by.I have installed one on every house I’ve owned or customer I’ve done a retire/panel job never a issue or callback but then again it’s a one zap device and if you don’t check it periodically for green light status,you would be unaware,the coax or cat 6 has a input-output and the ac is connected via 40a 2 p breaker.B53EFD80-6429-4DAC-8103-1AF319581074.jpeg9490F08A-5C19-4B35-A673-B122CD8C8DEC.jpeg
 
Last edited:

crash68

ACME product engineer
Staff member
Administrator
Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2016
Posts
10,700
Reaction score
16,708
Ram Year
2015
Engine
3.0 EcoDiesel
I have installed one on every house I’ve owned or customer I’ve done a retire/panel job
Good advice for everyone, whole house surge protectors are a lot better than any plug in device you can buy.
 

Dan Topp

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2019
Posts
779
Reaction score
1,311
Location
Jefferson Wisconsin
Ram Year
2019
Engine
5.7
Good advice for everyone, whole house surge protectors are a lot better than any plug in device you can buy.
Again I can’t vouch for their effectiveness but have been a A card JW since 84 and may of made more doing siders for residential customers then working for contractors. My two houses have used this exact one
 

RamDiver

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2022
Posts
1,939
Reaction score
3,075
Location
Marlborough, Ontario, Canada
Ram Year
2021
Engine
Hemi 5.7
You beat me to it, I've just finished my morning tea. :cool:

I was going to suggest to the OP that he just shop for a good quality whole house powerline filter.

Depending on the quality of your Hydro, often related to whether you live in an urban or rural area, a powerline filter might be a good investment.

I know I should have one at my house but to date after 14 years, my losses haven't been too bad. The usual, short-lived light bulbs and a 240-volt AC timer for the water heater (was about $90 when purchased, years ago).

The problem is, the next spike could take out my ground source heatpump and the hydro companies up here aren't liable for anything. I'm not sure if my household insurance would cover the costs or just say, sorry, we're not responsible for hydro spikes or acts of God.

I live in a rural area and the power out here sucks. My last outage about 10 days ago lasted 44 hours. Then again, a friend of mine who lives in urban Ottawa was without power last year for 4 or 5 days.

What's happened to this world where there's zero accountability from municipal services and government blunders?
 

RamDiver

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2022
Posts
1,939
Reaction score
3,075
Location
Marlborough, Ontario, Canada
Ram Year
2021
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Again I can’t vouch for their effectiveness but have been a A card JW since 84 and may of made more doing siders for residential customers then working for contractors. My two houses have used this exact one

Dan, what's an A card JW?

Is that like a special class of Jehovah's Witnesses? :cool:

.
 

Dan Topp

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2019
Posts
779
Reaction score
1,311
Location
Jefferson Wisconsin
Ram Year
2019
Engine
5.7
Dan, what's an A card JW?

Is that like a special class of Jehovah's Witnesses? :cool:

.
Well it’s international brotherhood of electrical workers A classification journeyman wireman,B is maintainance,C ,communication,only difference is A can do B and C at a reduced scale,unless pre negotiated
 

Dan Topp

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2019
Posts
779
Reaction score
1,311
Location
Jefferson Wisconsin
Ram Year
2019
Engine
5.7
You beat me to it, I've just finished my morning tea. :cool:

I was going to suggest to the OP that he just shop for a good quality whole house powerline filter.

Depending on the quality of your Hydro, often related to whether you live in an urban or rural area, a powerline filter might be a good investment.

I know I should have one at my house but to date after 14 years, my losses haven't been too bad. The usual, short-lived light bulbs and a 240-volt AC timer for the water heater (was about $90 when purchased, years ago).

The problem is, the next spike could take out my ground source heatpump and the hydro companies up here aren't liable for anything. I'm not sure if my household insurance would cover the costs or just say, sorry, we're not responsible for hydro spikes or acts of God.

I live in a rural area and the power out here sucks. My last outage about 10 days ago lasted 44 hours. Then again, a friend of mine who lives in urban Ottawa was without power last year for 4 or 5 days.

What's happened to this world where there's zero accountability from municipal services and government blunders?
I’m really sorry about your grid problem,do you have N gas there’s real solutions,if not I would look into a battery backup system,I hate that idea but keeping up with propane when a good genny must run weekly sucking down your tank just to exercise.
 

RamDiver

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2022
Posts
1,939
Reaction score
3,075
Location
Marlborough, Ontario, Canada
Ram Year
2021
Engine
Hemi 5.7
I’m really sorry about your grid problem,do you have N gas there’s real solutions,if not I would look into a battery backup system,I hate that idea but keeping up with propane when a good genny must run weekly sucking down your tank just to exercise.

Thanks, it's just one of the joys of country living, that and crappy internet service.

I have a 7K portable, gas-powered generator with a manual transfer switch, no NG is available here.

I plan to set up an inverter with a standby battery (w/batt minder) on my sump pump and then I only need the generator periodically to recharge fridges/freezer and HWT. Or cooking, if not using the BBQ.

.
 

Jeepwalker

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2017
Posts
3,137
Reaction score
3,330
Location
WI
Ram Year
2012 Reg Cab, 4x4
Engine
5.7 Hemi
Something I've thought about too. There's some other good EMP threads on the forum if you do a search. So much misinformation out there as I'm sure you've seen. In the end the biggest effects seem to be long electrical grid lines which can induce current. Cars & trucks have shown to be pretty resiliant. There've been tests. But too many factors to know for sure what an enemy EMP might look like or do to vehicles. Even your generator might be a choke-point (long coil of wire) depending on how close you are or it's electronics. Keep an early 70's point's truck/Jeep in the barn if you want a hedge.

Notice the Ruskie's didn't use them in Ukraine even though they claim to have EMPs and electronic's destroying weapons. Why not? Its a relatively small country. They're probably not as effective per the cost to deploy, as unemployed bedroom-youtube dooms-dayer's portray. If they were the answer, why didn't the Ruskies disable Ukraine's entire grid/cars/communications/cell phones/refrigerators/trains (infrastructure) ..and all the devices which 'supposedly' are at risk ...on day one with two simple EMP's? They could have just walked into the empty streets of Kiev while everyone was running in circles with no TV or communications? Or why not use them on day 10 when the invasion wasn't looking so rosy ..to gain an upper hand? Or even 6 months ago to knock out the enemy front line communications (often by cell phone)? Or last month? A couple EMP's MUST be a lot cheaper than shooting off hundreds or thousands of your precious guided missles, or losing tens of expensive jet fighters, or most of your tank and armored fleet, and/or tens of thousands of your best troops and their gear? If they were the quick and easy answer to a military take-over, or even battlefield victory, I think we would have seen a least a couple being used.

Even grid/computer/network/device viruses haven't kept Ukraine from functioning. All they've done is line many countries of the world up against Russ...

But hey .....still fun to think about. Doesn't hurt to plan for to, to a certain degree. I've got my worries too. It's always an instructive topic :waytogo:
 
Last edited:

indept

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2017
Posts
3,213
Reaction score
4,740
Location
South Jersey
Ram Year
2017
Engine
Hemi 5.7L
Good advice for everyone, whole house surge protectors are a lot better than any plug in device you can buy.
Whole house surge protectors will protect you from conducted surges coming in on the line but they won't necessarily protect from induced spikes. Basically if a lightning strike hits a half mile away then anything coming in from the street will be protected by a whole house unit. If lightning hits a tree in the yard on the other side of the house from the breaker box it can induce spikes into the wires in your wall which the whole house surge protector won't protect you from. You should also have surge protector outlets or power strips throughout the house.

As for OP's EMP device, I wouldn't waste the money unless they provide some specs like Joule rating and what makes them different from your big box store whole house units. Most surge suppressors out there use MOV ( Metal oxide varistors) which degrade over time with each hit they take. Another popular suppression device is Tranzorbs which react faster & don't degrade from repeated hits. Maybe that's what EMP is using which would make it better than the typical whole house box. Bottom line, the EMP units are just surge suppressors so why so expensive??? As RamDiver correctly stated, "a massive magnetic pulse will destroy any device that contains digital circuitry of any sort no matter the complexity of the device." a box connected to your breaker box won't prevent that pulse from passing right through your walls and inducing a huge spike right into your device without having to pass through your breaker box. The only protection for that is a Faraday cage around your equipment.

They make some interesting claims too:

  • Your home will be 100% protected from lightning saving you thousands of dollars and months of time if you are hit with lightning.
  • If you have a solar system or generator, you will have power and functional equipment while others do not!

How can they claim 100% protected from lightning, if your house takes a direct lightning hit nothing connected to the breaker box is going to save your equipment. If you have a generator, how is EMP going to do anything more than the home depot around $100- $120 box without posting the devices ratings. Also this is based on a lightning strike or massive solar flare which you would have been connected to the grid for power until after the lightning or solar flare, so the generator wouldn't be connected to the house. Now the solar power would be connected so once again where are the specs.

I suggest you save your money and get a whole house suppressor from home depot or lowes.

As for the truck version I question it's effectiveness with long wire leads which is not high frequency friendly unless tightly twisted along the length to reduce inductance even then on their page they're claiming "Solar Flares Up to 228,000 Amps" they might want to make the wire gauge a little heavier
 
Last edited:

GTyankee

Senior Member
Supporting Member
Military
Joined
Nov 2, 2020
Posts
10,061
Reaction score
12,606
Location
El Cajon Calif. 92021
Ram Year
2016
Engine
3.0 ecodiesel
I may be a great product

But

I live within 20 miles of the West Coast

Do you know that there are Electric Power Sub Stations every where, up & down the Coast

The Military & supposedly Civilian Companies that are testing products, have either purposely or by mistake have dropped Confetti, maybe made of Mylar onto those Sub Stations & even at least one ship.

Everyone claims that it was done by mistake, nobody believes it

They may have wanted to know how long it takes to clean up such an attack.

Weather Balloons could easily carry a cargo of Mylar confetti
 

Dan Topp

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2019
Posts
779
Reaction score
1,311
Location
Jefferson Wisconsin
Ram Year
2019
Engine
5.7
Something I've thought about too. There's some other good EMP threads on the forum if you do a search. So much misinformation out there as I'm sure you've seen. In the end the biggest effects seem to be long electrical grid lines which can induce current. Cars & trucks have shown to be pretty resiliant. There've been tests. But too many factors to know for sure what an enemy EMP might look like or do to vehicles. Even your generator might be a choke-point (long coil of wire) depending on how close you are or it's electronics. Keep an early 70's point's truck/Jeep in the barn if you want a hedge.

Notice the Ruskie's didn't use them in Ukraine even though they claim to have EMPs and electronic's destroying weapons. Why not? Its a relatively small country. They're probably not as effective per the cost to deploy, as unemployed bedroom-youtube dooms-dayer's portray. If they were the answer, why didn't the Ruskies disable Ukraine's entire grid/cars/communications/cell phones/refrigerators/trains (infrastructure) ..and all the devices which 'supposedly' are at risk ...on day one with two simple EMP's? They could have just walked into the empty streets of Kiev while everyone was running in circles with no TV or communications? Or why not use them on day 10 when the invasion wasn't looking so rosy ..to gain an upper hand? Or even 6 months ago to knock out the enemy front line communications (often by cell phone)? Or last month? A couple EMP's MUST be a lot cheaper than shooting off hundreds or thousands of your precious guided missles, or losing tens of expensive jet fighters, or most of your tank and armored fleet, and/or tens of thousands of your best troops and their gear? If they were the quick and easy answer to a military take-over, or even battlefield victory, I think we would have seen a least a couple being used.

Even grid/computer/network/device viruses haven't kept Ukraine from functioning. All they've done is line many countries of the world up against Russ...

But hey .....still fun to think about. Doesn't hurt to plan for to, to a certain degree. I've got my worries too. It's always an instructive topic :waytogo:
Thoughts of that really happening makes me glad I’m high and dry,as opposed to being a half block from the des plaines river.
 

blackbetty14

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2014
Posts
2,694
Reaction score
1,410
Location
CT
Ram Year
2024
Engine
Hemi 5.7 VVT/Etorque
I upgraded my panel when I bought my house and decided against the home surge protector... cost wasn't terrible like $600 or so but it was a one time use. I've been alive for 39 years and I can't remember anytime I've had my home electronics fried due to a surge etc. I see the appeal but It's gotta make sense for the cost.

I've thought about EMP protection as well and figured its probably over if anything like that happens. I did invest in a Faraday box for all my vehicle keys. Car thefts are on the rise and now they don't even need your keys to steal your car. Using a relay ping they can amplify the signal of your keys from inside your home without evening going into it, relay it back to the car and they are in, ping it again and the car starts while driving away care free. Rams have been targeted as well specifically. All the keys go in the box and I've tested the effectiveness and it works very well for less than $20. With the key in the box I can't unlock my truck with the box against the handle and if you put your phone in there there is no service. I would be more worried about the truck/car being stolen before EMP damage. Just food for thought!
 
Top