Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have a metal barn (wood pole frame, aluminum sides and roof). Anyone know if this can be used as a Faraday Cage if I connect the roof to the sides and the sides to ground? Any ideas or suggestions?
Aluminum sheet metal is not a bad start. Normally each sheet over-laps the next. But they oxidize, so they are NOT very well conductive. You need to make them all one piece electrically. Find someplace convenient for you and make a good solder connection to each piece and a grounding cable. I used heavy gauge braided mil-spec grounding cable. Most of the time if these sheets flex at all they may generate a micro-volt differential between them, no big deal. But if heavy shyte happens, you want the ability to conduct heavy current. Tin at least a 4" diameter spot for each connection and use a heavy grounding cable. Every sheet of the roof, and every sheet of the sides need to all connected to grounding cables, so to make them into a single electrical component. Then each side should run to it's own grounding rod. That is what I did.
Our house has galvanized aluminum with baked enamel finish for roof and sides. The back side of each sheet is bare aluminum, so I made all the connections on the inside.
Aluminum sheet metal is not a bad start. Normally each sheet over-laps the next. But they oxidize, so they are NOT very well conductive. You need to make them all one piece electrically. Find someplace convenient for you and make a good solder connection to each piece and a grounding cable. I used heavy gauge braided mil-spec grounding cable. Most of the time if these sheets flex at all they may generate a micro-volt differential between them, no big deal. But if heavy shyte happens, you want the ability to conduct heavy current. Tin at least a 4" diameter spot for each connection and use a heavy grounding cable. Every sheet of the roof, and every sheet of the sides need to all connected to grounding cables, so to make them into a single electrical component. Then each side should run to it's own grounding rod. That is what I did.
Our house has galvanized aluminum with baked enamel finish for roof and sides. The back side of each sheet is bare aluminum, so I made all the connections on the inside.
Of course, it would be better if the sheet metal were copper, better yet if it were gold.
It would also be better if there were a metal wool gasket between each sheet where they over-lap, that would meet the Mil-Spec requirements. Of course to avoid bi-metal corrosion the wool needs to be of the same material as the sheets. So for aluminum sheeting then aluminum wool. For copper sheeting, copper wool, etc.
Most of my equipment on subs have wool gaskets set between each adjoining piece of metal. The cabinets are made of Mu-metal [a proprietary alloy designed for shielding magnetic flux and gravity waves], so the wool is of the same material.
No, it won't work. Unless every inch of every seem had continuity with the adjoining piece and the entire bottom of the shed had the same. Every door and window would need a continuous electrical connection.
If you can listen to a radio or use a cell phone inside then it's leaking radio frequencies. However the reverse is not true, if they don't work doesn't mean that it will stop an EMP.
No, it won't work. Unless every inch of every seem had continuity with the adjoining piece and the entire bottom of the shed had the same. Every door and window would need a continuous electrical connection.
If you can listen to a radio or use a cell phone inside then it's leaking radio frequencies. However the reverse is not true, if they don't work doesn't mean that it will stop an EMP.
Exactly right.
Even one stray charged particle hitting a microchip/printed circuit will alter it and make it useless.
... If you can listen to a radio or use a cell phone inside then it's leaking radio frequencies. However the reverse is not true, if they don't work doesn't mean that it will stop an EMP.
Good point. We can not get radio signal in our house. The cellphone tower is visible from our house, outside we get strong signal, but inside it will drop to one bar.
The better a shield is, the harder it is for signal to get through.
Thanks for the tips, guys. I think the very least I can do is connect the roof to the sides to ground to make a continuous path for current in the event of a lightening strike. That should prevent arcing to anything inside the barn.
I already have a Faraday cage in a vault space (for radios, etc) ... but was hoping to build something larger... mainly for protecting the vehicles I have in the barn.
Location: When you take flak it means you are on target
7,646 posts, read 9,953,657 times
Reputation: 16466
We discussed this about using metal storage trunks or metal cabinets. I think anything helps. The further away you are from an event the better a marginal space may work, IMHO. (If I'm wrong can someone please explain.)
I think regarding a lot of this, we just won't know until it happens.
I keep indispensable stuff that we don't use in a sealed metal container. Short wave receiver, walkie talkies, GPS. If I get a Ham radio I'll probably stash it there too, though if things are that bad I'll probably just be listening not talking.
I have an old carburetor truck that should be OK.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
