Build Your Own Faraday Cage, Stop Nosey Listeners, and Survive

Originally posted by RelentlessLurker
reply to post by Sforscott

 

mylar is conductive?

You want it to be, so that you pass the EMP around it and down to a ground

I used to do Car Audio System installs. I think it was a 98 Ford F Series truck, was manufactured with the main wire harness path located just under the dashpad. A good mechanic can probably correct me if it was a different year, but it dfoesn't really matter. :-) This was done, I believe, to reduce RF noise into the electrical accessories, therefore reducing the interference to the "Brain". However, it was right over top of the stereo. The factory stereo was properly shielded and grounded, but when we installed anything aftermarket, we had a terrible noise to deal with. Since I was the Manager and Lead Installer, it was up to me to figure out how to eliminate the problem. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on perspective) I couldn't just Google it!!! The internet wasn't quite ready yet, it was still just Bulletin Board Services....talk about the DARK AGES!!! Anyway, after much experimentation and research, I finally read about Faraday cages. And that's what worked to shield the electronic pulses I was out to eliminate.
My purpose for giving you this information is, there was quite a lot of trial and error, what did and what didn't work, and I think some of these lessons can be extrapolated to apply to what you are trying to do.
What worked the best was copper mesh, completely around the stereo with no breaks or gaps. Where the mesh had to be joined, I had to fold it together in such a way as to be as 1 continuous piece. The tricky part was the shield itself could not come into contact with the body of the stereo at any point other than the single ground location, which had to be the body of the stereo.The stereo had to be covered in non conductive material (I used cardboard). The wire harness had to also be seamlessly shielded with the stereo to eliminate all noise. Aluminum foil only cut out about half the noise,even fashioned the same seamless, isolated way. Solid copper plating didn't seem to do any good at all, possibly because I didn't weld the seams, etc.
An important note, as I remember which would apply here, is I couldn't just shield 3 sides, (leave the bottom open).I could however leave open the face sticking out of the dash.

I can't think of anything else relevant and hope this helps. If anyone has any questions, please raise your hand and I will get to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

Awesome

Originally posted by SpartanKingLeonidas
Would something like this shield a home from the H.A.A.R.P. array being that it's an electronic communication listening device?

I thought the conspiracy theorists claimed HAARP caused earthquakes, and modified the weather?

Ive done a little research into EMP protection and it seemed to run along the lines of Faraday Cages, one artical I read said you can use a simple galvanized metel garbage can with a lead to a ground rod to protect your electronics.
Other sources say you can use diffrent types of coatings, they arent to spendy, so they might be worth looking into. Hopefully this will help in some way.

Super Sheild

EMI Sheild Coating

cybershield info

Easiest way to build your own farraday cage is to sit in your car and put a 3 foot iron steak in the groun and attach a cable between that and your car.

The only things I have protected are

spare electrical parts for my 2 ATV's,

spare electrical components for my Nissan truck

3 - CB radios

mini Laptop & external hard drive

2 - spare truck batteries

At least I hope their protected. there is so much misleading info on EMP that it's confusing.

What I have is a galanized steel trash can with the lid that fits very tightly. I folded aluminum foil till it was 4 layers thick and put it around the lip of the trash can and hammered the lid on with my had (tight fit). I thought the foil may seal any
"leaks" between the can & lid. The inside of the can is lined with foam rubber to isolate the items from the inside of the can. I welded a 6' steel cable to the outside bottem of the can and that attaches to a 8' copper grounding rod in the ground.

I have 2 of these and store the batteries in one and the electrical components in the other.

I don't know for sure if it will work but I think it will......

Reading this thread has been very enlightening to say the least. I recently moved from a newer home (built in 2001) drywall construction. I have a belkin n router which was in the basement of the house and had no problem transmitting thru the whole 2600 s.f. 2 story home, also cell phones had full signal everywhere even the basement.
I recently moved to an older smaller house consisting of plaster walls (WIRE MESH IN WALLS) its a long ranch. I have trouble getting the wireless signal anywhere in the house with the router in the basement, and we have absolutely no cell signal within the house, but full bars when you walk outside. Is this due to the house acting as a faraday cage?? it kind of makes sense to me now.