38.5 hour blackout ....

OK folks ...
I'm happy to be back online! (in many more ways than one)
We had those severe windy rain storms blow through Westmoreland county on Friday evening 9:20 pm (right in the middle of my Penguins Stanley Cup playoff game!)
86 mph winds knocked down many trees and limbs - and electricity.

I'll list each light that we used during the outage.
Boy, this was the perfect time to be a flashaholic.

Gerber Infinity Ultra x 3
Gerber Firecracker x2
Sgt Burkett P7
NiteCore EZ CR2
EagleTac T10LC2
Brinkmann 3 Watt 2D
Epsilon ED-P71
Fenix TK11 R2

My neighbor from waaaaaaay down the road, walked up with his M@glight .... hehehe ... .. not yet ...
We talked about what had happened to the tree further up the street (which was laying across ALL the power lines). So I said to him, shine your light up there towards the downed tree .... .... it's coming ... hehehe
He turned the light toward the far end of the road ... aah, it won't go that far, he says .... .... ready? .... so I said " lemme see if I can illuminate this situation." MUCH pun intended :devil:
My Epsilon ED P71 said "BAM! Let there be light!"
Neighbor said "Holy SH*T! What is THAT?"

Short ending is ....
After a short lesson on LED lighting ... and a "Where do I get one of those?"
I was a bit facetious in saying, "Blow out your candle son, and try this one."
I gifted my last new Brinkmann 3 Watt 2D (he put his M@g cells in the Brinkmann straightaway and left for home feeling a wee bit brighter than when he arrived at my house.

Great story, Iam amazed at what some people think is a good torch. I shut up one little hero at work who thinks a 3D cell M@g is a "real flashlight".

Nice story, blackouts suck!

I hate watching television at candlelight.......

People who have used 1MCP spotlights know that what is bright won't last long. the true advantage is to show off a light that is both bright and long lasting.

the M6 with an MN15 works quite well...

Illum said:

People who have used 1MCP spotlights know that what is bright won't last long. the true advantage is to show off a light that is both bright and long lasting.

the M6 with an MN15 works quite well...

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I'm a fan of my 2xAA Quark with 10 spare Eneloops. I'd die of dehydration before it dies of no juice, even using it at walking-around levels constantly. I keep the spares in a Bell Tire Patch kit, it's pocket-size and fairly water-resistant.

Great story.

Being a huge nancy when it comes to no electricity, we're getting a stand-by generator installed this year.

:twothumbs

I like it! as long as there is no harm to people, I enjoy these events as they give me a chance to do "dry runs" and be better prepared for the next one... I'l bet your neighbor was appreciative.

RepProdigious said:

Nice story, blackouts suck!

I hate watching television at candlelight.......

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no TV
no microwave snacks
no DVR
no CPF

One tailstander in LR / DR / RR , and we all had the Gerbers in hand/pocket.
I was happy to have a boombox that ran 6 D alki cells - trying to get updates ... those Duracell Ds ran the whole time ... 38.5 hours non stop, and they still seem to have plenty of juice.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that power stays on, because I've got another playoff game at 6:30 tonight ...

I heard 2 generators late last night, one in either direction from my house.
Lucky *******s ... my 2 females were not happy about wet hair and stubbly legs ... haha
But hey, at least we had running water. :thumbsup:

75,000 people affected in BO, alot of them still wait for power ...

timbo114 said:

I was happy to have a boombox that ran 6 D alki cells - trying to get updates ... those Duracell Ds ran the whole time ... 38.5 hours non stop, and they still seem to have plenty of juice.

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If you find the need for it, go to wally and buy a battery powered camp fan that uses 8 D cells, modify it to run via clamps to a car battery and it will make sleeping much comfortable

It is fun for us flashaholics during blackouts...I live in Carnegie and I lucked out that my power was only off for about 12 hours....but I got to use quite a range of lights and got a WTF is that from the neighbors when I lit up the transformers down the street with my M6 HOLA
Glad you got your neighbor to "see the light"

I won't deny that was a wee bit of fun just showin off as well :devil:

My last 3 blackouts change my views on the types lights I prefer. Prior to the blackouts, I liked powerful lights that were great throwers. During and after the blackouts, I like lights that have floody, smooth beams with multiple levels especially low lows and low medium levels. Tail standing capabilities were also appreciated as well as long runtimes. But most of all, the blackouts really turned me onto lanterns. I had a 1 large fluorescent rechargeable Coleman and wished I had many more. Now I have many LED lanterns like the Brunton Polaris, Rayovac Sportsman Extreme 300 Lumen, River Rock 3xAA, Energizer WeatherReady 4D and Coleman PackAways.

I also got a generator. :nana:

timbo114 said:

no TV
no microwave snacks
no DVR
no CPF

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Well, during our last blackout (luckily we dont get that many here in the netherlands) it took our neighbors about 15 minutes to come knocking at our door because they could see light and TV flickering from our windows and they were wondering how we still had power....

Don't you just love to have a zillion appliances that run on batteries? We have plenty flashlights/old fashioned candles to keep the house lit for days and we just love out little notebooks (which all use the same batterypacks) to watch TV on and do some internetting over my mobile phone (thats still min 3mbit here without power). Its not that we cant entertain ourselves without modern electronics but its just way more fun when you actually shouldn't be able to

That is hilarious. The last blackout I had was early evening last fall and all my neighbors know me as the flashlight guy already. We all just hung out over at the house with the most kids that didn't need to be displaced with 2-3 of my lights illuminating the situation. Spent several hours just conversing and having fun until the lights came back on.

I'm with the rest of you, as long as nobody's getting hurt, I love the blackouts!

My low output tail standers were the highlight of the weekend.
I love all of my tactical torches - but tail standing was just what the darkness ordered. :thumbsup:

I did play some Spider Solitaire on my old Sony Vaio netbook - didn't have enough battery juice to watch a dvd.
We all found some humor in the situation, because nothing was damaged, and we could still cook on the gas stove.

Funniest thing is ...
All of the sudden my wife stopped nagging about all the flashlights that I had strategically placed all over the house - hmmmmm, imagine that ...:devil:

timbo114 said:

Funniest thing is ...
All of the sudden my wife stopped nagging about all the flashlights that I had strategically placed all over the house - hmmmmm, imagine that ...:devil:

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Mine too! :tinfoil:

Between the blackouts we had and camping/hiking up north, she doesn't object to my "fascination with flashlights" much anymore. Before I got into LED lights, she would use like a 100 of those tea candles all around the house. Real safe, huh?!?!

UpChUcK said:

Mine too! :tinfoil:

Between the blackouts we had and camping/hiking up north, she doesn't object to my "fascination with flashlights" much anymore. Before I got into LED lights, she would use like a 100 of those tea candles all around the house. Real safe, huh?!?!

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Not blackout related, but my mom likes to burn scented candles, and one time there was a big roll of paper towels too close. In the course of moving stuff around and doing other things, one of the paper towel sheets ended up draped over the candle. In mere seconds, the roll of paper towels was a giant flaming torch. Fortunately, my dad was there at the time and he tossed the whole mess in the kitchen sink and doused it. I wasn't home at the time so I missed the show.

Hopefully she's more careful with the candles now

I must say . . . .


Open Flames inside a home have always scared me.


Especially with children around.


:candle:__:eeksign:__
_

Blackouts can be a good opportunity to re-evaluate many things, I always keep my large 12v spotlights charged as an auxillary power source for the portable DVD player & mobile phone chargers

Don't recall a power outage lasting more than 14+ hours though...

I have not experienced any power outage for more than 10 years, and would love it at evening and nighttime. A long time blackout would actually make me to USE the flashlights...
Last time I remember a blackout was during a very stormy weather in Malmoe. Going home again after finished the night's work as morning paper deliverer it was a ghostly feeling over the city without any streetlights, and my MiniMaglite I brought in the vest became used.

Regards, Patric