What the hell is a Faraday Cage? That’s the first question most people ask themselves when they first hear the term. So, for those of you out there scratching your heads in confusion, let’s clear this question up first.
A Faraday Cage is an enclosure made from electrically conductive material that is designed to block electromagnetic fields. They can be big or small and made from many different materials, although some materials work better than others.
In even simpler terms – it’s a box (cage) that blocks electrical signals.
So why would this be desirable? Let’s find out…
To give you a good understanding of what Faraday Cages are and why you need to use them, we’ll cover the following topics:
What Is A Faraday Cage And How Does It Work?
As we’ve already discussed, a Faraday Cage is an enclosure designed to keep electronic waves out. It does this by using an outside layer of material that conducts electricity to form a protective barrier around a non-conductive inner chamber. This outer material (usually metal) essentially blocks the electrical waves and signals, diverting them around the exterior of the cage, ensuring the interior of the cage remains without electrical charge.
Of course, the exact details of how these cages work are far more complex than the explanation I’ve just given you, but it’s a complicated process and we simply just don’t have the time or the need to go into it in this article. However, if you are interested in knowing more, I encourage you to research Faraday Cages and their inventor and namesake Michael Faraday. It really is fascinating stuff.
But for this article, what you really need to know is this – a Faraday Cage blocks electrical signals.
Faraday Cages might sound a bit like something out of a sci-fi film but they are a lot more common than many people realize. In fact, you’ve probably seen, owned, and have been in a Faraday Cage without even realizing it.
You’re probably aware that if you are involved in an accident while driving and there are fallen power lines around your car that you should remain in your vehicle. And that you should stay inside your vehicle during a lightning storm. This is because your car is a Faraday Cage. The metal exterior of your vehicle diverts the electrical charge around the outside of the car, leaving you safe and unharmed inside.
If you’ve ever been in an elevator and lost cell phone signal, it’s most likely because the metal exterior of the elevator was acting as a Faraday Cage.
Also, without Faraday Cages, you wouldn’t be able to safely microwave last night’s Chinese take-out. So the next time you’re feeling too lazy to cook, you can thank Michael Faraday for your microwave meal. Or at least thank him for the technology that keeps those microwaves safely inside the microwave, where they should be. So, as you can see, Faraday Cages aren’t only used to keep electronic waves out, there are also used to keep harmful waves in.
Faraday Cages are also used extensively in the design and tech industries, the science fields or anywhere that requires areas to be free from electrical interference.
And in terms of anti-spy technology, Faraday Cages work great. They are used to keep classified information in secure areas from being accessed by things such as electronic bugs and transmitters. Even the Vatican uses a Faraday Cage to shield the Sistine Chapel.
Why Do I Need A Faraday Cage?
As a survivalist, there are two main reasons that you should be using Faraday Cages – to keep your electronic items safe from damage or attack and to prevent your signals from reaching others.
Electromagnetic Damage
First, let’s discuss damage to your electronic items. Electronic damage will most likely occur in two forms – solar energy from the sun, and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks.
Solar energy is vital to life on this planet and most of the time we live comfortably with it and even benefit from it (see our article on portable solar panels). But during solar flare events, dangerous amounts of electromagnetic radiation and x-rays are produced by large explosions on the sun’s surface.
These blasts of solar radiation can damage and interfere with your sensitive electronic items and although we haven’t experienced a large, destructive solar flare in recent history, scientists warn that it’s only a matter of when, not if, the next one is coming.
Having your electronic items stored in a Faraday Cage will decrease the likelihood of your electronic items being damaged in such an event.
In a survival situation, particularly a warfare situation, the risk of EMP attacks are very real. A nuclear explosion, while not only destroying the vast majority of infrastructure in the blast zone, will also create an EMP blast in the surrounding areas.
An even more likely attack could be a strike from a so-called “high-altitude” electromagnetic pulse weapon. These EMP weapons are purposely designed to explode high above the Earth’s surface and cause maximum damage to electronic equipment in a wide area.
The videos below give a detailed explanation of the threat of a widespread EMP attack.
Privacy and Security
How many devices do you own that are equipped with GPS? Not only can these devices be used to track your location, but most of these items contain valuable and personal information that hackers and other undesirable people want access to. So limit this access to personal information and location data by keeping your devices stored safely inside a Faraday Cage. Take a look at the Stealth Anti Signal Forensic Faraday Bag available on Amazon. It’s a simple but effective solution.
Even your credit card can be scanned while it’s stored in your wallet. Take steps to prevent this from happening by using either an RFID Faraday Cage Wallet to keep your entire wallet secure or an RFID blocking Safe Wallet Shield to keep your cards safe from attack.
What Should I Store In A Faraday Cage?
In terms of use in a survival situation, Faraday Cages can be broken up into three main categories: home, carry and vehicle. So what items will you most likely be storing in each situation?
Home Storage
The size of your at-home Faraday Cage depends greatly on the number of items you plan on storing inside. You may also have multiple cages around your house for use in different rooms or situations.
When at home, I recommend keeping the following inside a Faraday enclosure:
Communication Devices
These are probably the most important items that should be stored in your Faraday Cage. Aim to have a wide range of devices stored here for both local and long-distance communication.
It’s difficult to predict whether or not radio or satellite communication will still be in operation after an EMP attack but it’s better to be safe than sorry and have your communication devices safely stored and ready for use if the networks are online.
Cell Phone
You probably won’t keep your day-to-day cell in your home Faraday Cage but it’s a good idea to keep a spare safely locked away in case your main cell gets fried in an EMP attack.
Walkie Talkies
Ideal for communicating in your local area with family, friends and local coalitions. Keep a spare set of walkie talkies safe at all times. These off-grid communication devices are ideal in a post EMP attack situation where other forms of communication may not be operational.
These devices are also great for scanning the local channels for hostile or unfriendly persons in your area.
Ham Radio
This one is for the more advanced survivalist as not all people will feel the need to keep a ham radio stored at home. But if you’ve got one and know how to use it, keep it safe inside a Faraday Cage.
I highly recommend picking up one of these portable ham radios from Amazon.
Pocket Radio
Make sure you are prepared to scan for emergency broadcasts with a one-way radio receiver. There are plenty of small, hand-sized options available these days, so there really is no excuse for not being prepared with one. Check out the Katio Pocket Radio.
Of course, the downside of this radio is that it requires batteries. Get around this by purchasing a hand-cranked or solar powered radio instead.
Illumination Devices
If the grid’s down, you still need to be able to find your way in the dark and without electronic items, you’ll be down to candlelight and fire.
I recommend keeping the following illumination items stashed in your home Faraday Cage:
- Tactical flashlight
- Headlamp
- Night goggles (if you have them)
Also, like night goggles, high-powered rifle scopes should also be stored inside your Faraday Cage.
Batteries and Chargers
While it’s more than likely your batteries will survive an EMP attack, if you’ve got the space, I’d still recommend keeping them inside your Faraday Cage with your electronic items. After all, it’s better to keep these items together and decrease the chances of not being able to find them when they’re needed.
Make sure you are keeping your charging packs inside the safety of the Faraday Cage to keep them safe in the event of an EMP attack. I recommend having a good solar charger such as the PowerBank Solar Charger to charge your batteries once SHTF.
Vehicle Storage
I keep a Faraday Cage in my vehicle at all times but I don’t usually carry too many items inside. Most of the time I just keep a set of walkie talkies and a tactical flashlight inside but my vehicle Faraday Cage is big enough to fit most of the essential items that I keep in my home Faraday Cage.
I think of it as my mobile solution if I am forced to leave my home in a rush. I want to be able to transfer my equipment from my home storage to my vehicle storage quickly and get on the road fast.
Personal Carry Storage
When you are on foot, you obviously won’t be able to carry anywhere near the number of items that you would have stashed at home.
Personally, I use a Stealth Anti Forensic Faraday Bag when I’m on foot as it’s a good size to fit smaller items like my cell phone or a small radio. This bag is a great addition to your bug out bag and get home bag as well as being compact enough for everyday carry.
And if protecting your credit card information is a high priority for you, don’t forget about the RFID Faraday Cage Wallet and RFID blocking Safe Wallet Shield that I mentioned earlier in this article.
How To Build A Faraday Cage
So how do you go about building a Faraday Cage for your home and vehicle? Well, it’s surprisingly easy and cheap actually. Below are a few videos showing you some different ways of building your very own Faraday Cage. I recommend watching all of the videos before deciding to start building one so you get the right cage for you.
This first video shows a super easy way to make a Faraday Cage using just a few household items. Great knowledge to have so you can build one whenever needed.
This next video shows a cage that’s a little more sturdy than the previous one but is still very easy to make with the right materials.
In this video, they use a Behrens 10-Gallon Locking Lid Can, cardboard and some aluminum tape. Pretty simple hey?
But if you want an even simpler version, check out this one.
So while the principle behind how these cages actually work might be a little complicated, building them definitely isn’t. So take a little time to learn how to build these essential survival items.
Myths About Faraday Cages
There are a few myths and pieces of misinformation out there surrounding Faraday Cages. And we’ve just busted the first one – Faraday Cages are too complicated and expensive to build. If you’ve just watched the previous videos, you’ll know this clearly isn’t the case. Many people search YouTube for videos about Faraday Cages, and while there are many amazing Faraday Cage videos available to watch, most of these videos use professional, welded cages that are impractical for survival use.
So grab your cardboard box and trash can and use your knowledge of building Faraday Cages to prove the naysayers wrong.
Some people will tell you that chicken wire works just as well as aluminum foil or other more conductive metal enclosures. This simply is just not true as chicken wire provides far less EMP protection.
If you don’t believe me, check out this video below and make up your own mind.
Don’t let people tell you that ammunition cans make perfect Faraday Cages. Again, this is just false information as most ammo cans will use a gasket to create an airtight seal around the lid and this gasket, unfortunately, will not keep electronic waves from penetrating the can.
You can, of course, use an empty ammo can as a Faraday Cage but you’ll need to modify it first.
Another misconception is that your Faraday Cage needs to be grounded. Attempting to earth your Faraday Cage is not only unnecessary, it can be complicated. So unless you’re a professional and know exactly what you are doing. Don’t do it. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you may render your Faraday Cage useless if you try to ground it.
For more information about common Faraday Cage misconceptions, there is a great book available on Amazon. Or check out this video below.
Last Thoughts On Faraday Cages
As the threat of nuclear and electronic attack becomes more and more real, so does the need store your electronic equipment safely inside a Faraday Cage.
As shown, these cages are very easy and cheap to build, especially considering how valuable their benefits are.
So spread the word and impress your friends by showing them just how easy it is to create a Faraday Cage to keep your essential electronic items safe from damage and attack.
Even if a car doesn’t survive an EMP attack, can it act as a Faraday Cage for the electric articles you place in it?