Tech Tips for Dealing With A Long Power Outage

First, switch your smartphones to low power mode. It may be a pain to keep turning the screen back on when it sleeps, but it will extend the usable time of the device if you have no way to charge it.

Second, charge your devices when you can. If you are at work or a friends house, see if you can use their outlets to help you out. This includes your battery backups, which act as supplemental power if they are charged, and you can charge from them as long as they have charge.

If you have a battery backup and haven’t tried yet, plug your modem and router into the battery side outlets to see if your internet provider works. If they haven’t been taken down, you’ll be able to use the internet this way even though your main power is still off. Just don’t plug much else into these backups because the batteries won’t last long with higher powered things like TVs or lights plugged into them.

Remember, if you don’t have internet access anyway, your laptop can also charge your phone through the usb port to give you more options for keeping that phone going. Turn the brightness down on your screen (or turn it off if you know how) to conserve the laptop battery as you do this.

Your best options for light nowadays are LED flashlights, not candles which pose a fire hazard and don’t last as long. So find yours and put some fresh batteries in them in order to have light tonight.