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You are here: Home / DIY / Projects / Make a Faraday Cage For Just a Few Dollars

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Make a Faraday Cage For Just a Few Dollars

By Alan Urban 7 Comments ✓ This post may contain affiliate links*

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Make a Faraday Cage For Just a Few DollarsThere are many potential disasters to prepare for, but perhaps the one that deserves the most preparation is an EMP (electromagnetic pulse). If you’ve done any previous research on prepping for disasters, then you’ve undoubtedly at least heard of EMP’s, and for good reason.

An EMP attack would be cataclysmic because, assuming it were large enough, it would bring down the entire power grid across the country. We would literally have no power, no communications, no banking, no internet, no transportation, no running water, and no supply systems. And what’s worse, it would likely stay this way for years. In an instant, we would effectively be transported back to the 1800’s.

One of the best ways you can prepare is to build Faraday cages to protect your electronic items so you can use them after the EMP has occurred. You would think that making an apparatus that could truly shield your electronic devices from an EMP would be a complicated and expensive process, but it can be done with little more than a cardboard box, some aluminum foil, an old piece of cloth, and plastic wrap.

What is a Faraday Cage?

Faraday Cages were invented by a British scientist named Michael Faraday in 1836. They are defined as any kind of enclosure with an outside layer made out of electrically conductive material in order to block electric fields. The size and shape of the enclosure does not matter, and the enclosure itself doesn’t have to be conductive. As you’ll soon see, it can simply be any normal enclosure or box wrapped in a conductive material such as aluminum foil.

In a future article I’ll go into more detail about how it works. For now, check out this article.

What Goes in a Faraday Cage?

  • Phones.
  • Kindles.
  • Laptops.
  • Ham Radios.
  • GMRS Radios.
  • Flash Drives.
  • Any other electronic device you can use after the SHTF.

What Do You Need to Build a Faraday Cage?

You will need the following items to build your DIY Faraday Cage:

  • Aluminum Foil (preferably heavy duty).
  • Cloth (you can use anything from old clothes to towels).
  • Plastic Wrap.
  • Cardboard Box (size of your choice).
  • Packing Tape.
  • The electronic item you want shielded.

Make a Faraday Cage 1

Step-by-Step Process to Building Your Faraday Cage (with Pictures)

1. Have your items laid out. In this example, our electronic device will be an ordinary phone and our piece of cloth is an old T-shirt.

Make a Faraday Cage 2

2. Wrap the electronic device in your cloth. The purpose of this is to form a barrier between the device and the aluminum foil.

Make a Faraday Cage 3

3. Once your electronic device has been fully wrapped in the cloth, wrap it further (and tighter) in plastic wrap.

Make a Faraday Cage 6

4. Now that your electronic device is fully wrapped in cloth and the cloth is wrapped in plastic wrap, proceed to gently wrap this packaging with at least three layers of aluminum foil.

Make a Faraday Cage 4

5. Once this is completed, confirm that there are no holes in the aluminum foil and that every square inch of the packaging has at least three layers of aluminum foil surrounding it.

Make a Faraday Cage 5

6. Place the packaging in the cardboard box.

Make a Faraday Cage 7

7. Shut the cardboard box and tape it down.

Make a Faraday Cage 8

8. Wrap the entire cardboard box with at least two layers of aluminum foil.

Make a Faraday Cage 9

9. That’s it!

Make a Faraday Cage 10

Conclusion

As you can see, building a DIY Faraday cage is a very inexpensive and straightforward process. The materials only cost a few dollars, and if an EMP ever happens, you’ll be glad to have some working electronics.

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Comments

  1. Sue says

    January 26, 2021 at 11:49 am

    So I’m just getting started and this may sound dumb, but I’ve got to sort things out in my head.
    Obviously, I’m not going to do this with my device every single day/night…so I should buy or save old phones to put into this box? And if this is true, these devices won’t be “activated” on my Verizon acct, so how would I get them to be activated in the event of an EMP…I mean, the Verizon techs are unlikely to be available, right?

    Reply
  2. Mandi says

    April 25, 2016 at 6:17 pm

    I get it for many useful items but people keep using the phone example. If there is a large pulse (esp if something like a solar flare) … who ya going to call? 🙂

    Reply
    • Mike Price says

      October 24, 2017 at 1:07 pm

      Call on Jesus, Amen!!!,
      however my first thought was “Ghost Busters”…

      Reply
  3. William Hamilton says

    April 23, 2016 at 12:20 am

    You can also place your wrapped electronic items in an unused refrigerator or freezer that you may have in your garage. Again, you can test it by calling a cell phone placed inside. If the phone rings, you may have to wrap foil around the seal between the door and the box.

    Reply
  4. BestefarJohn says

    March 29, 2016 at 3:51 pm

    What about grounding?

    Reply
    • SKY WARRIOR US ARMY RETIRED says

      April 5, 2016 at 1:25 pm

      DONT GROUND ,IT WILL COLLECT MORE RF EMP ITS GOING TO SHED THE PULSE BY ITS SELF. AN EMP WEAPON CAN UNLOAD FROM SECONDS TO 30 MINUTES OR LONGER. IF MULTIPLE DETONATIONS, JUST HANG ON UNTILL DISIPATION HAS OCCURRED. USE A HD MYLAR POUCH WITH YOUR ITEM IN A FREEZER BAG, WRAP IN ALLUMINUM FOIL. DO NOT THERMAL WELD OR IORN MYLAR SHUT. YOU COULD BREACH THE BAG. JUST FOLD IT OVER AND TAPE IT SHUT WITH A FOIL TAPE. TRY THE CELL PHONE TEST. PLACE IN POUCH AND CALL IT. THIS SHOWS RF PULSE GOT IN. NOW MAKE A SHARP FOLD AND CALL THE PHONE. IT SHOULD BLOCK THE RF PULSE. RF EMP FROM A GAMMA BURST IS NOT LIKE LIGHTING WHICH WILL FRY EVERYTHING. TRUST YOUR MILITARY VETRANS WE HAVE THE EXPERIENCE, THANK YOU

      Reply
      • Mike Price says

        October 24, 2017 at 1:09 pm

        Thanks for your Service 🙂

        Reply

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