Power outage lights ?

[ncbill]

For lights that pop on when the power fails I now use the Durofix 24 LED lights that plug in the outlet (but I miss my old Brinkmann Home/Guard lights)

They can be switched down to 12 LEDs for longer run-time.

Power is never off here long enough for a generator to make sense, but I did put a couple of 'regular' CFL lamps on their own UPS.

I was able to take a couple of small (550VA) Belkin UPS, remove the cheap 5 ah battery, and by cutting out some of the internal plastic was able to fit a much larger (12 ah) battery.

My home has an open floor plan so just a couple of 20W CFLs (each on one of the above UPS units) are able to light upstairs & downstairs.

So no fumbling around in the dark if the power fails while we're still awake.

 

[kaj]

I've only had about 6 power outages in the past 10 years living here. Once was a tornado that wiped out nearby power lines, another time it was an ice storm that took out lines. We lost a transformer once because of a squirrel. Another time the power line broke in my back yard. A few other times we lost power due to lightning storms. Seems ;ike most outages here are weather related and they are fixed in a matter of hours, not days.

 

[Stress_Test]

Might be a bit of off-topic but would you mind to share the reason of power outage?
(In here not even once per decade, maybe the powerplant is working too hard)

Where I live, power outages are extremely rare, and if they do happen it's only been for an hour or two. And that's only been once every several years.

However, unexpected things can still come out of nowhere, so make sure you plan for long term outages. A little while back in my state, a massive tornado hit the main power distribution lines for the whole north of the state, which was without power for about 5 days as a result. So just because you've never had major outages before, be sure to prepare for a week or more just in case. And keep lots of WATER on hand, because if the power's off long enough, it may interrupt the utilities' water supply. Trust me, after what I was hearing on the radio, you do NOT want to go out and fight the panicked mobs for bottled water.

You can find my post on the 5-day outage by putting "5 nights with no power" in the Google search box.

As far as emergency lights go, I still think the old Nite-Ize PR replacement bulb is excellent. It'll go into C and D cell Maglites, and any other light that takes a PR bulb. They're only about $7 each at Lighthound.com; I picked up a second one after the big power outage. They make for very simple, cheap, long running lights. Very versatile because you can put them in several different types of battery hosts (AA, C, D, etc).

One word about running a generator. I observed that the downside of running generators during a long outage is that the generator makes a noise that sounds like "steal me steal me steal me steal me steal me", especially at night.

If it were me, I'd run it in the daylight hours only, for cooking, washing, keeping the fridge cold, TV, whatever. Then shut it off when it starts getting close to sunset. The fridge will stay cold overnight, especially the freezer if you keep a bunch of ice in there.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I have a few of the nite ize PR based bulbs. They are nice if you can find a proper host as they don't work in most unfocusable reflectored flashlights the beam is unusable but they will run off 1 battery (less than 1.5v). I ran one off a D cell that was 1.4v and had leaked in a light and it lasted for over a week. We had a lot of generators sold in the city during the ice storm of 2007 they were stealing them off utility companies using them to power things like internet and telephone and cable tv as over half the city had no power (~200k people). Most of the talk in this forum is about the quieter inverter generators which you could probably hide outside behind a bush and chain it to a tree in the backyard.

 

[mat_the_cat]

That's a good idea about adapting a UPS, especially if you can get one cheap/free when the original battery has died.

We only have a cheap (~$200) basic generator, as for the use it gets (2-3 times a year) it's not justifiable to spend a lot. Fortunately we live in the middle of nowhere, so we don't really worry about theft or annoying the neighbours with the noise!

It's interesting the number of threads on here about disaster scenarios - I guess that by our nature we are the sort of people who always want to be prepared for anything.

 

[Sub_Umbra]

...However, unexpected things can still come out of nowhere, so make sure you plan for long term outages....

That is very good advice. I had two very significant outages in two years. We lost power for one day short of six weeks because of Hurricane Katrina and a year later six units on my block lost power for two weeks until a new pole and services could be set.

I prep for two main reasons -- to have the things I need when I need them is obvious. I am also motivated by past experiences where I felt stupid that I had let myself down.

The American Society of Civil Engineers series of 'Reportcards on Infrastructure' informs us that for the most part our power grids are continually becoming more stressed and brittle. I think it's a good bet that as the future unfolds we will see more outages not less.

 

[StarHalo]

I prep for two main reasons --

But you still need to write a book about it (especially now with Kindle self-publishing..)

 

[mbw_151]

I consider power outages to be the same as long duration camping and I've got gear for that. I find the most important items to be: a headlamp per person, a handheld with some throw per person and room lighters. I've got Zebras and Saints for headlamps and use Quarks, Surefires and HDS for handhelds and room lighters. I particularly like the HDS and Quarks on the ~5 or ~20 lumens settings for lighting rooms and Surefires with M61WLL for when more light is needed. I have some blocks of wood drilled to to fit these lights to firmly support tailstanding for ceiling bounce. All these lights run a long, long time at these output levels. Really bright lights that use up cells in an hour or two have limited application in a power outage.

 

[themandylion]

About a month ago, I did a breaker-off test of our home to check for dark trouble spots and the function of our Sylvania Power Failure Lights (we had 9 of them). All but 4 had failed (batteries worn out or bad LEDs).

Rather than buy more failures, I decided to look around everywhere for something better. The Sylvania PFL Generation II (at Home Depot) is a bad joke, even worse quality than what we had. Others available locally had similar reviews - almost all bad.

However, because of my initial search parameters, my ultimate choice wasn't found until I dug even deeper, and opened up the search.

That's the "Energizer Weather Ready Rechargeable LED" light. It looks like - and is - a simple LED flashlight, but it turns itself on when the power goes down. It has two settings, on, and auto - the latter is a Night Light setting, where the Nichia LED comes on at low setting all the time. It doesn't have an electric eye to determine brightness levels, but that appears to be its only failing. I was also impressed to learn that it has a Varta "Made in Germany" battery inside (the battery is replaceable - I opened it up to find out)

Some/most Wal-Marts have them, as well as walmart.com. I got ours at drugstore.com, since they were the cheapest online price, and coupons (retailmenot.com and similar) reduced them even further (about $10 each including shipping).

I'm very happy with them, and reviews are very good. Much brighter than the old Sylvania PFLs, too.

 

[Ken_McE]

I think most of us wouldn't find having a generator worth the expense...

Depends on your situation. Let's say you need electric to pull up water from the well, or to keep the electric fences live, or you have someone with medical equipment, or you can't run the store without power, or you have little kids and don't really want to "rough it" at home. For these kind of things it's perfectly reasonable.

About a month ago, I did a breaker-off test of our home to check for dark trouble spots and the function of our Sylvania Power Failure Lights (we had 9 of them). All but 4 had failed (batteries worn out or bad LEDs).

Rather than buy more failures, I decided to look around everywhere for something better.

If you stop by eBay and search for:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw...ght&_osacat=12576&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313

You will find real adult strength lights. What I do is buy a working unit and replace the stock incan. bulbs with LEDs.

You can also just buy a ready made MX018 circuit board from bakatronics.com for $20 US and build it out into anything you want.
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