Power Outage, How many Lumens, How many batteries? (for lights and more)

[tonijedi]

Party on guys!
During a 10 days hiking me and my girlfriend hardly used half an AA. We were prepared with a lot more lumens and runtime in case we needed, but we didn't have any emergency.
Same philosofy goes for home in case the power is out: respect your biological clock and you'll do fine.

 

[braddy]

So now you are back to your original post.

 

[tonijedi]

I'm so sorry braddy that I can't make myself more explicit, it's probably due to my language skills. My first post and the following are not conflicting with each other: I do advocate less light use (respect your Circadian rhythm), but I also say you should have lights ready for when it's needed. I won't argue more about this, it's just my opinion, I have the various lights and candles to do it according to it if I may ever need and that's it. If it ever happens to me it's my skin in the game, not yours.

 

[Poppy]

Gentlemen,
This discussion is no longer contributing to the purpose of the thread. If you feel a need to, please continue by way of PMs.
Thanks

Poppy.

 

[braddy]

Yes, the thread sure got taken off topic.

 

[LlF]

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[Poppy]

i have a 3 D dorcy that's suppose to have 200lm, with 3 aa in adapters, bouncing from ceiling most of the time.
and I have to say the big baton like 3D light with the lightweight of lithium feels great in hand, I'm seriously considering the olight baton now... If I survive this.
btw with 3D it has 20h runtime, how long can I expect with 3AA?

wikipedia lists the capacity of alkaline D cells at 8000 ma and AA cells at 1800-2600 ma. and lithiums at 2500-3400 ma. therefore on average the alkie AA's have approx 25% capacity, and lithium AA's have approx 35% of D's. Your run-time would be cut to about 5 - 7.75 hours depending.

 

[Lampbeam]

Well, I would have to use my Fenix TK15 with its 18650s along with a Zebralight SC52w with its 14500 battery. I would use the SC52w sparingly. Then I would have to resort to tearing open a package of eight alkaline D cells to run my Maglite. I should probably stock up on some AA lithium batteries because I have several AA lights. I think I would get through it even though I'm not all that well prepared. I do have a 12 volt 48 amp marine battery with a converter off of which I could charge things for a while. But something tells me light might not be my priority.

 

[Superdave]

We keep plenty of real candles, lots of the LED tea lights, many, many flashlights and ungodly amounts of vampire-worthy 123's.. best guess would be 3-5 weeks worth of light during the dark hours, maybe more if i harvested the battery from my Nova.. lol

I'd probably keep my U2 going for the most part on low, kids have their own 2AA LED lights that last for weeks on batteries (I find them turned on under the couch all the time).




Heat is always my worry this time of year, I hate the thought of running a Kerosine heater inside the house but we keep one just in case. Supposed to be -11 tonight, even with new windows and good insulation it won't take long to get cold in here.

 

[r-ice]

Was in a huge ice storm, storms done but the damages to hydro is still on going. Currently only aa's and aaa's. I also have that lantern from energizer and it works great. I bought 96 Kirkland batteries along with my regular components of rechargeable's about 20 or so aa and aaa's.

 

[BriteGeek]

For my wife and I 50-200 lumen depending on task. Based on past outages, MINIMUM number of batteries for our Quark mini 123s would be one CR123A battery per day. Preference on the other hand is 200 lumen, plus 50-100 to get around, so we break out the rechargeable flashlights that can be recharged from the car, deep cycle AGMs, or generator(s). (should I count the lanterns that take "D" batteries?) One time my wife had to work in a building that was running on its generator for over 30 hours. Darn designer forgot to include the bathrooms on the emergency lighting circuit. She LOVED the Quark mini I had bought for her to keep in her purse! She only used one CR123 during that time.

What we keep on hand is two rechargeable batteries for each flashlight that takes a rechargeable, plus six changes of non-rechargeables for each flashlight (where applicable). It may be considered overkill, but when it comes to emergency preparedness, there is no overkill, just over-budge!

 

[riccardo]

Don't forget once you've been to all the forums it's
20 tuna fish cans
20 water bottles
20 knives
20 two way radios
20 flashlights
20 guns
.....
Well, you get the idea. For us overly prepared, there's no such thing as overly prepared - lol

....

20 bottles of beer
20 box of cigarettes
20 lighters

... estote parati..!!

;-)

 

[RI Chevy]

Very interesting thread. I really like it! I would have to add that I diversify my lighting. I have flashlights, candles, hurricane lamps that run on oil, etc. If used properly, and with respect, candles and oil lamps will run for a very long time when you have no light at all. I think most of us flashaholics have enough lights and batteries to supply our neighborhoods.

Interesting that I did not see anyone mention the little lantern adapters that will screw onto the bezel end of a P60 type host. I have the Solarforce lantern and run it on 18650's with a M61LLL. I like it. I also use diffusers, and have many Malkoff drop ins. Some high powered, and many LL, LLL and LLLL versions.

Living in hurricane alley as well, one can never be too prepared. Not only with lights and power, but also with food and drink. I thank the members for some very valuable and useful information in this thread. :thumbsup:

 

[RetroTechie]

What I was trying to say is that you don't really need a pile of batteries.

True, but "do everything in daylight" just doesn't cut it. In a long-lasting blackout you may find yourself with lots of (unforeseen?) jobs, and nighttime hours will be needed for some of those. It's more a matter of "how many lumens, and where" than "go to sleep when it's dark". A few lumens can go a long way when all you need is navigating some rooms, cook food etc. So a few flashlights with low modes, good runtimes and some spare batteries (or charger + backup power source) will help a lot.

c - Enough batteries to run the lights for 3 days * 6 hours = 18 hours with a lumen output just enough to cook, use the toilet, eat.

Who says power will be back in 3 days? Granted, that's long in western world but week-long or longer outages aren't unheard of in some places. Better prepare for a few weeks or longer, and if it doesn't last that long, good for you. Candles seem fine in that mix, as long as they're used safely.

 

[TMedina]

I could be shooting myself in the foot here, but I never worry about AA availability around home. When I think of the number of stores that sell them and the quantity they carry, it's pretty hard to imagine them selling out. Then again, not much going on weather-wise in my neck of the woods so something major would have to happen.

No matter what, I could have light for days or weeks just using the AAs from my TV/DVD/etc. remotes and L10 Nichia 219s!

I helped a buddy drive through Louisiana after Katrina rolled through. We stuck to the outskirts and periphery, but I could very easily see stores selling out of batteries PDQ.

And see people turn around and either 1) horde them or 2) re-sell them with a substantial markup. Supply and demand meets price gouging.

 

[TMedina]

I know this thread is about flashlights mainly, but since extended power outages was the big focus, I'd like to chime in about what I have deemed as necessary for myself (just one person).

My way of thinking is that a single candle can take care of my general lighting needs in the room I'm in. Flashlights would be used when a candle is not safe or bright enough, such as when I'm moving around alot or going outside. For that, I believe that my use for a flashlight would be very intermittent, and 10 minutes total use per night would be needed. A light that can last 5 hours per battery change would last a month at this rate. Of course, more batteries could easily be stocked, but not a huge number is needed.

That's the beauty of candles: they don't age, don't need aging batteries, tealights are super cheap for the amount of time you get from them (150-200 hours per bag of 50). Flashlights can have their problems, especially with electronics and batteries, so I like the idea of a candle for lighting the room I'm in, and that's what would require the bulk of my lighting needs.

Candles are very practical, but they also have limitations. They absolutely suck in wind and rain. You can buy a UCO micro hurricane lantern for a tea candle - I have one stashed with my emergency tea candle pack. But even then, in a high wind or heavy rain, you're still at risk for sputtering out. And there's the added risk of an open flame, as has been mentioned earlier in this thread.

By all means, keep some on hand - you won't regret having them. In some cases, candles are superior. In some cases, flashlights are - the trick is to always evaluate each tool on its own strengths and weaknesses and use it accordingly.

 

[TMedina]

On the subject of knife forums means 20 knives, radio forums means 20 radios, etc. That's a good point to remember. Here, we're flashaholics and we do love our hobbies. And we likely don't need 20 flashlights and 200 batteries.

That said, buying batteries in bulk is cheaper - especially if you know you're going to use them. I have half a 24-pack of Surefire CR123s that I bought in 2007 in a box. I still bought a 12 pack of CR123s from Malkoff last month. Why? Because if push comes to shove, I'm not going to regret having extra batteries lying around. And in that same vein, in the unlikely event one of my Malkoff lights dies, I won't regret having a spare, or three. This doesn't mean I plan to haul all 20 lights around with me in an emergency, nor would I recommend to anyone to buy 20 lights -> although I would certainly recommend buying more than one. (three, at a minimum, with one for every member of the house).

If I can conduct all by business with a single flashlight and no more than half an AA for a week, cool. But it's plain irresponsible, if not downright reckless to assume that it will be that way every time. Especially in an emergency where you can't predict how often you might have to use a light, or for how long. Which is why you have spares - a spare flashlight in case your primary breaks, and spare batteries in case you drain a battery more than you expected.

Plan for the worst and everything else is a pleasant surprise.

 

[TMedina]

Re: Power Outage, How many Lumens, How many batteries?

I've got a couple of 1D vampires that Wayne at EL made for me after Katrina. If I tail stand one with a fresh alky in the bathroom it'll light the whole room 24 hours a day for a week.

They have P4 emittters from 2006 and Micropucks. Even though they are a bit long in the tooth they are great to have in extended grid down events. Since I had them built we have had two major outages -- one for five days and one for two weeks. They performed very well.

When we first got them I did an experiment. I took a D cell from a three cell set that was so dead that they would not even make the filament glow in a M/\G light and slipped it into one of my EL 1Ds. Each 'dead' cell produced hours and hours of very usable white light.

Of course one could build even better 1D lights for grid down events with the emitters available today. Highly Recommended.

I just sent Wayne an email about these - if anyone is interested, I'll pass along what he has to say.

 

[r-ice]

I just sent Wayne an email about these - if anyone is interested, I'll pass along what he has to say.

Ooh I am interested!! Do they come I. Other battery sizes?

 

[TMedina]

We'll find out. They're not specifically listed on his website, so it might have been a custom order. If so, he might not be interested in doing another run.

And even if they only come in D-cell sizes, you can get D-cell adapters for other battery types. Like running an AA in a D-cell adapter.

But we'll see - I sent the email this morning, so I'd be surprised if I hear anything back before next week.