Disaster! flashlight

[MatthewSB]

What would you want, including lights, batteries, etc., for a natural disaster or other emergency, say something that would have you living without power, or possibly without a home, for a week or so until help arrives?

What if you only had to choose one light?

Would it be important to have a light that you can work on yourself, like a 6P or C2, and spare parts in case something breaks, or would you rather have a newer light in factory configuration?

Anybody have a solar charger? Or, are they not needed because of the insanely long runtimes now possible?

 

[AnAppleSnail]

All disaster planning is risk management. What will you need? What is only nice to have? What things get you NEEDS and some wants for the limits you have?

Limits: Budget, BOB size, EDC-size, 'available in country.'
Time scale: Overnight, 3-day, week, month, year, forever*

*Forever planning is kind of post-apocalyptic masturbation, not real disaster planning. Usually if you can't move away and move on with a life enriched by Ebay and international shipping, you'll have other things kill you first.

So: Risk management. Two is one, one is none. Batteries die, primaries run out, and alkaleaks leak. Most stores in disasters run out of AA, AAA, C, and D cells first. But if you're stocking up just before or during a disaster, you've failed to plan (And planned, therefore, to fail) and are wasting time in a disaster stocking up on supplies. Don't be in disaster traffic! Shop early and stay home and safe, or evacuate early and safely.

Check out Sub Umbra's threads about Katrina. He had good reasons to 'shelter in' during mandatory evacuations in New Orleans. He also has some VERY good advice to handle other living needs in that situation (Weeks and months).

Overnight, a single battery will work unless you're directing storm repairs. Get lights with low modes. Have backup lights and cells. For a week, you can have a battery stash, but if you use high levels you'll still run out. Without knowing your likely uses, I can't help much.

In my likely disaster scenarios, I make the early choice to stay home, or travel to family houses better situated for disaster. I pack several needed things along with a good selection of lights and charged batteries and go, or else stay. At home I have a gas tank for cooking and oven heating, but an electric well and septic field that could overflow during heavy sustained rain.

I suggest having: An EDC light, always on your person, with a good selection of modes. Mine is (at work) a Minimag Pro, along with a rotating 1xAA light of choice. These happen to accept common cells, which I will NOT go to a store to fight for.

A BOB with needed supplies. Do drills. Bam, you're leaving for the night with your BOB in one hand and car keys in the other. Next morning (And all night) list things you wish you had. Another drill is to cut your breaker overnight and see what is missing. Practice makes better.

So: One "best" survival light is dumb. All lights fail. Bring two, bring spares, and that'll handle it. LED lights don't have user-serviceable parts with a shorter life span than a week, EXCEPT batteries. In other words, spare O-rings, dropins, bezels, clickies, and such are used maybe yearly, and not as good as having another light instead of a pile of spare bits.

 

[MatthewSB]

Thanks for the information.

I'm not new to disaster planning or prepping in general. I have adequate medical training, hike and camp, practice my Primitive Skills, and am an avid martial artist ;)

Based on your advice, I will be ordering an EB1, the one with the same interface as the LX2 (low first, high second, with a twist) to carry in my pocket. I think I'll also pick up an LX2 to keep in my 'get home bag' in the truck in case my pocket light dies, or to throw in my pocket as a spare if I go caving or somewhere else that I absolutely need a light. What do you think of this as an everyday carry setup?

To expand on my original post....

How many CR123s do you keep on hand? With a 10 year shelf life, it's no big deal to keep plenty of batteries around in case of a supply shortage, but at some point a recharger and rechargeables could pay off.

Searching this site, it looks like Surefire lights don't work so well with rechargeables, so would it be a good idea to keep a "classic" like a C2 around, with a Malkoff dropin that can handle a larger range of voltage (sorry if my terminology is off)?

 

[AnAppleSnail]

Well, I don't keep CR123s. I'm not sure that lithium primaries OR rechargeables will survive the latest round of 'incidents.' One weakness in Surefire's lights is their low modes. Here's what I mean:

1 SureFire to be used as general use is great. Durable, dependable, and hours of runtime.
1 [light with moonlight mode] may also be great. It can be durable, dependable, and give DAYS of runtime on the low modes.

It's the difference between a 60 lumen low and a 5 lumen low, really. And there are some surefire-styles lights that reach the 5 lumen lows. Most LED drivers don't give huge gains in runtime below about 1 lumen, though there are exceptions.

What I look for in a disaster light? Options. You'll want dependability, high modes, low modes, tailstanding, teeth-carry, lanyards, and spare cells. For these reasons I haven't found a place for a Surefire light in my life yet.

 

[reppans]

I'm a big fan of efficient low lumen/sub-lumen 1xAA lights for emergency/disaster scenarios. With a AAA>AA adapter and little tinfoil, you can scavenge all those AA/AAA/9Vs littering every home in cordless phones, remote control, wall clocks, toys, smoke detectors, etc.

I realize I must be among the very few low lumen enthusiasts on this board, but I find that if you're going to be using a light continuously with little to no ambient light (like camping), it is well worth letting your eyes fully dark-adapt - it's like having a free flashlight turbocharger and battery extender. Another big fringe benefit of using your night vision - you'll be able to see the other 280-degrees outside of your beam much better.

 

[TEEJ]

It depends on the "Disaster".

I do disaster response, so, my uses are different from a survivor's...until I get home, and then I have no power either, etc...such as after Irene last year and Sandy this year's hurricane's, etc.

If you are stocked up with enough spare cells, you can be ok for quite a while, if enough means enough, etc.

If you run out of AA, C and the other common sizes...you are screwed unless you can convince people to give you their "dead ones", and then you have dim sub-candle lighting, if that works for you.

I tend to get eye strain if I try to read or do tasks in too low a light scenario...as do most people, hence the MINIMUM lux values listed for various tasks by agencies that regulate/advise on that sort of thing.

So, my solution has been solar powered recharging sources...Cottonpickers for example, that allow me to run my lights so, even though the neighborhood is pitch black, my place is lit up a like a Griswald Xmas...the phones and laptops are charged, etc.

So, running a recharging system that doesn't use fuel, except the sun, and rechargeable lithium ion cells...makes it all work like a charm...for months if need be.

When its cloudy enough to slow the charging, I can also use vehicle cig ports to charge with...and, I use those portable jump start batteries that have USB and car charger type ports, etc. You can plug a converter to it, and have 120 v 60 hz current, or, DC as needed, etc.

So, I can read, do tasks, etc, w/o needing to sit in a all but room lit by a dimly glowing ember of light, just so I'm not sitting in an even more dimly lit room.

:D

A supply of tritium fobs, tubes, etc, can flesh that out further, as it requires no cells at all, no exposure to light to glow, and glows on its own for ~ 20 years or so. Once you eyes are night adapted, you can see an entire small room by the glow of a 1" trit vial...and a decent sized room with a 6" vial, etc.

 

[supratreo]

as far as flashlights, i'm not as prepared as some of you but i keep a 1 AA cell LED light in every car. 1 3D cell Mag-light with led conversion near my bed and 1 1.5m CP light in the garage. i also have a jumper box that accepts AC or DC plug for charging.

 

[cland72]

I would have two lights. Two is one, one is none and all that... I'm naming two specific lights from the same manufacturer below, but I'm mainly focusing on the attributes of the lights.

Surefire E1B
Pros: Dual output (up to 40 hours on low), regulated, bulletproof, runs on single 123. Can tailstand with a Z68 or E2D tailcap.
Cons: clicky switch could possibly fail.

Surefire 6P/C2/Z2 with Malkoff M61 (whichever tint you prefer).
Pros: Bulletproof, twist operated, "tactical" style light to be used with a weapon if needed. You can even grab a A19 single cell extender and run the M61 on 2xAA batteries at reduced output.
Cons: single output mode, eats batteries quickly due to output.

Whichever you decide, make sure you have a stockpile of good, lithium primaries for it. You shouldn't have to bother yourself with the added trouble (or weight if on foot) of using solar panels or recharging batteries.

IMO, YMMV, my .02, etc.

edited to add: a third light that would be immensely helpful would be a good quality headlamp. I own a Surefire Minimus Vision which has an excellent variable output control, but you'd do well to have any multiple output headlamp, especially one that gives you the option of using a red filter for low light signature.

 

[Jash]

I EDC three lights: Fenix PD32, LD12 and an E11. I've got spare lithium cells for each. Plus I always have an HL21 in my bag, but I don't count it as EDC coz I'm not a headlamp fan. It's there for rare occasions I need both hands for more time than I can grip a single AA flashlight in my mouth.

In my GHB I have a Fenix E21, E11, HL21 and an eight pack of spare lithiums. So, each day when I leave the house I have no less than six-seven flashlights available to me in the event of a disaster.

At home there's another 40 odd flashlights and enough spare cells to feed each one twice. That's not counting the fact I can recharge all my cells from a car, or the AA solar charger if everything goes to heck. However, if things got so bad that solar charging was my only option after a week or so, there'd clearly be bigger things to worry about.

However, I can not imagine using even half of what I've got in less than a month without power, unless I was blazing lights all night, every night, which just wouldn't happen during a disaster.

A little over a week ago we lost power for two days. I mainly used the TK41 on medium (tailstanding) and didn't use half the power available from the eneloops powering it. The Quark I used to do more mobile tasks only lost about 1/4 of it's batteries capacity and those cells are AW IMR 16340 cells.

Unless you're involved in disaster recovery or search and rescue, you're going to go to bed earlier than normal because basically, you get bored pretty quick once it gets dark. And don't forget, candles make quite a bit of light inside.

 

[MatthewSB]

Thanks for all of the replies guys.

Surefire 6P/C2/Z2 with Malkoff M61 (whichever tint you prefer).
Pros: Bulletproof, twist operated, "tactical" style light to be used with a weapon if needed. You can even grab a A19 single cell extender and run the M61 on 2xAA batteries at reduced output.
Cons: single output mode, eats batteries quickly due to output.

What about an A2Z? It has the combat grip body, 3 tiny LEDs and 1 thrower in the middle, and two modes. The low 35 lumen mode is supposed to be floody and the high beam very focused and 150 lumens. It also supposedly lasts 6 hours (on sellers stat's, but people here said more like 10 hours when I searched) on low mode.

Is the old school host with a Malkoff dropin any more durable or reliable than the newer lights? This is important to me, as I have a hard anodized C2 I'm thinking about selling because it only has 80 lumens, and the P60L doesn't seem very solid. I haven't sold it yet because I like the option of using incandescent or dropin LEDs or whatever else comes out in the future, and I freaking love everything about it except for the pathetic output.

 

[cland72]

Thanks for all of the replies guys.



What about an A2Z? It has the combat grip body, 3 tiny LEDs and 1 thrower in the middle, and two modes. The low 35 lumen mode is supposed to be floody and the high beam very focused and 150 lumens. It also supposedly lasts 6 hours (on sellers stat's, but people here said more like 10 hours when I searched) on low mode.

Is the old school host with a Malkoff dropin any more durable or reliable than the newer lights? This is important to me, as I have a hard anodized C2 I'm thinking about selling because it only has 80 lumens, and the P60L doesn't seem very solid. I haven't sold it yet because I like the option of using incandescent or dropin LEDs or whatever else comes out in the future, and I freaking love everything about it except for the pathetic output.

The A2Z wasn't on the market for very long, and I hope I'm not generalizing here, but I heard it had tailswitch reliability issues. If you can find a good, working A2Z, I think that would be a good solution.

Based on Malkoff's reputation, I would list his LED drop ins as good, if not better, than Surefire's newer lights. Plus with the C2, like you said, you have the ability to switch back to incandescent if you wish. Also, if something newer and better comes out from Malkoff in the future, you can always upgrade easiliy. You cannot upgrade the newer Surefire lights (well, not without some significant effort).

 

[braddy]

I am so covered in that area that it is of no concern to me, from some cheap solar chargers to a Nightstar shakelight.

To show you how easy it is today to have emergency lighting, I have an LD12 for edc which provides 97 hours at 3 lumens on a single AA for use as a diffused lantern, while I use my LD22 which gives 42 lumens for 15 hours, for a flashlight. That easily covers a weeks worth, throw in a few other lights and LSD batteries and homemade diffusers, and it is all pretty easy to get by for weeks, months, or years in my case.

Remember that you can always walk outside and grab some of your solar garden lights, or borrow one of two of the neighbors if he has enough of them.

 

[flashy bazook]

The best survival light is one that best balances a number of factors, such as useable level of output (lumens), throw (lux), runtime, type of battery, reliability, water resistance, weight, size, and adaptability to circumstances.

Efficiency of the emitter is paramount, since it contributes to many of these dimensions. Since unmodded Surefires these days are not at the frontier of emitter efficiency, I would say they do not make great choices for a disaster flashlight.

Many other choices mentioned here because they have long runtimes at very low lumen outputs (e.g., 3-5 lumens) fail the test of providing useable output for varied circumstances. You need long runtimes at higher lumen outputs, my personal preference higher than 40 lumens.

All in all, very few flashlights and emitter/LED combinations "survive" a rigorous test of being a satisfactory disaster flashlight!

You need to think in terms of two flashlights I think to cover most reasonable disaster emergency type of situations, which actually is not that hard to achieve given that you will be part of a small group rather than just one individual.

 

[tel0004]

I have quite a few AA lights, the Quark AA2 being my favorite. I have quite a few AA batteries, easily enough to last 2 weeks, probably much more.

At work, we sell AA's and have a few thousand on hand, but most of our business is not local, so we would not immediately sell out. I can also recharge my rechargeable AA's at work off our generators, so there is a possibility that I could use the batteries at night, and recharge them the next day. Its not all foolproof, but based on where I live, its good enough.

 

[braddy]

What would you want, including lights, batteries, etc., for a natural disaster or other emergency, say something that would have you living without power, or possibly without a home, for a week or so until help arrives?

What if you only had to choose one light?

Would it be important to have a light that you can work on yourself, like a 6P or C2, and spare parts in case something breaks, or would you rather have a newer light in factory configuration?

Anybody have a solar charger? Or, are they not needed because of the insanely long runtimes now possible?

My HL21 fits the bill nicely, 3 Lumens for 53 hours on a single AA which covers just about everything that you would be doing for 5 hours a night, from cooking, to reading, to repairs and walking around, it comes with a diffuser. If you needed more light, just hit the button and it goes to 47 lumens for 5.7 hours, or even 97 lumens for 2 hours.

It is a light that you can wear on your head all evening, with multiple brightnesses, and the diffuser just flips up or down which makes it good for inside or outdoors, walking, or working on something close up.

It and a 2 extra AA batteries should cover you for about 150 hours (a months worth of blackout?).

 

[Samy]

I use a 60 watt solar panel to charge a large 105 amp/hr deep cycle battery. I use this battery when out camping but at home i use it regularly to charge all my eneloop AA, AAA's, 18650 and 14500 rechargeable batteries. If i don't get sunshine for many days, the sheer size of this deep cycle battery would be able to charge my eneloop batteries for extended periods (maybe a few weeks) without solar recharging. There is enough stored energy in my deep cycle battery for extended use.

During power failure at home, i use a TK-41 on med (120 lumens) or high (350 lumens) tailstanding on the loungeroom coffee table to light up half the house. I can't use less than 100 lumens when i've got a wife and kids in the house, i need to light up the living areas and such. It gets over 27 hrs and 7 hrs respectively on this setting but it only take 3-4 hours to recharge a set of eneloops with my deep cycle battery with my 8 bay eneloop charger. If i get by with the 120 lumen setting i only need to swap out batteries every 5 or 6 days. I have about 80 eneloop AA's in various devices and about 20 fully charged spares waiting for use so i have plenty of power. I usually leave an SC52 or V10A switched on medium to low settings indefinitely in the bathroom for the kids/wife to navigate and i usually leave my SC600 in the kitchen on medium when cooking/cleaning. I sometimes use my XT20 on medium or low but it doesn't tailstand so i need to use a carton or box to help it tailstand. These lights gives hours and hours of runtime but remember it only takes me 3-4 hours to charge a set of 8 eneloops and a lithium battery or two with my cheap off grid system, and i have 2x 8 bay chargers and 2x lithium chargers so at any one time i can charge 16 eneloops and 2-4 lithiums in only 3-4 hours.

I love the self-sufficient ability of this sytem, i don't need mains power to keep it running and i don't need sunshine everyday to recharge my system. One really need to think about the ability to have power/batteries for a week or two. Look at Hurricane Sandy a few months back or Cyclone Oswald which hit here only last week, power was out for almost a week and you almost couldn't buy a flashlight or a set of batteries up and down the east coasts of either the USA or Australia for these weather events, they were sold out!

hope this helps.

cheers

 

[angelofwar]

Yeah, I'm not sure you can limit it to one. If I had to chose one, I wouldn't be me...so I think it would be more helpful to discuss lighting/power options during a disaster, as others have done, so there is more take-away. My go to long term power outage lighting consists primarily of an E2L-AA and Minimus AA. I can't stress enough how important having a quality headlamp is during a long term power outage...try operating on ANYTHING with one hand...and HA-III doesn't taste good.

I have a Goal Zero Nomad 7 kit for mobile applications and I have a 100 watt solar panel and 12v deep cycle battery on/in my man cave that I can use for charging my B65's and my ~60 AA Eneloops and ~40 AAA's. This is to keep my lighting and comm (CB/FRS/GMRS/Radio/Scanner) up and running. Given the life of Monocrystalline panels, I'm good for as long as my Eneloops hold up, which I'm guessing is about 20 years. I plan on adding a second panel and second battery later this month. I also have a steady stash of Lithiums 123's/AA/AAA's, although my AAA's are lacking a bit, soon to be fixed.

For house lighting, my first option would be my portable power pack with a work lamp with a LED house light in it. Drawing 4.5watts, as opposed to 60, will keep the house lit up for several weeks, given bedtimes, etc. I can also top off my power pack with either my Goal Zero or the solar set-up in my man cave.

In the winter I will use oil lamps to pull double duty...light the house and help heat it.

But, I guess down and dirty, an E2L-AA, Minimus AA, U2, 5th Gen L1. Oh, and have some cheap loners handy, cause your s.o.'s/neighbors probably don't have the lights you do.

 

[MatthewSB]

Great point about headlamps. I've not tried one, I assume that once I do I'll scold myself for not doing it sooner. The reason I haven't used one yet is because I don't even like hair on my head, much less electronics.

I'll have to get one and give it a try.

 

[TEEJ]

Great point about headlamps. I've not tried one, I assume that once I do I'll scold myself for not doing it sooner. The reason I haven't used one yet is because I don't even like hair on my head, much less electronics.

I'll have to get one and give it a try.

There are also wrist lights, armband lights, and angle headed pocket clipped lights, etc, which can perform similar hands free lighting functions.

Shy of that, tail standing the light works well too. My wife was tail standing a ZL SC600 and/or a Nitecore TM11 during most of Sandy's outage for example, and the rooms were lit up about like the house lights had been on.

 

[argleargle]

Other suggestions and thoughts:

Having just 1 or even 2 "disaster lights" isn't a good idea.
A modded hand-crank lantern is a nice last resort, if you can find one you like to mod.
Candle lanterns go with those candles (so you can take it outside)
Improvised oil lamps can literally run on rendered fat or vegetable oil. It's a bowl, a paperclip and a short wick for safety.
A variable-output headlamp is required, biting a flashlight for hours on end... bites.
A "finger light," literally a tiny flashlight strapped to your finger, vanishes in your gear.
I have used power tool batteries and home made 12v led arrays several times during power outages.
A 12 volt car battery might have 14,000 milliamphours of juice in it. Spare vehicles, anyone? Tractors, 4 wheelers, etc?
A low-draw led dropin with a 2D cell cheap light (my favorite mule) tends to have days and days of continuous runtime.
Unfortunately, the large "bajillion candlepower spotlights" get horrific runtimes, sometimes just 20 minutes.
A campfire is also known as "caveman tv."
When you fire up a generator or vehicle for any reason, charge every battery you can support.

I figure that I have several months of continuous runtime lumens stashed around the house and property.