What is your stuff hit the fan light?

Shooter4321

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Joined
Dec 28, 2016
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8
Another one who went through the Northridge quake. I have plenty of lights now, but I've settled on 3 lights I have with me always.
My main carry is a streamlight 2l-x loaded with keeppower 18650 3500 mah. On low this light runs forever with this battery, plenty of light on low for basically anything, VERY impressed with this light. It kicked my surefire edcl1t out of my pocket. I carry a collapsible defuser (yellow) that works great with the streamlight 2l-x.

My backup is its little brother, 1laa which rides in my backpack along with a Felix e05 which hangs in my pack. With 2 spare 18650 batteries 4 spare eneloop that will give me plenty of light before I need to get creative.
 

Candlestick

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Joined
Oct 17, 2018
Messages
44
Really my picks are what I have now as they have been proven durable and dependable.

Zebralight 18650 flashlight (sc64LE) &
Flood headlamp (603c / 604c).

And a couple spare 18650's in high quality waterproof match cases. I have 6 18650's right now.

Typical use IMO 30-100 lumens for general use. 12-24 hrs of runtime per cell which means unless I am working all through the night I have a couple weeks between charges. I have 3 18650 lights so I always have one in the light and a charged spare for each. I check the battery level every couple of days.

.01-1 lumens for nightlight / reading. Months of continuous runtime.

Only use for turbo would be direct emergencies, fight or flight which hopefully never happens.

Most realistic use cases I think a few weeks with a few lumens is good enough for me. I travel a lot so its unlikely I'll be hunkered down anywhere for long periods of time.

In any case the reason I carry a light is not for in times of disaster. Its just helpful to have day to day, in case of getting lost or in case of night time power outages.
 

raggie33

*the raggedier*
Joined
Aug 11, 2003
Messages
13,423
its crazy how far you can see with negative 1 lumens. i just sit in the dark for 15 minutes and i can see so far it blows my mind
 

Stefano

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 29, 2012
Messages
1,073
Location
Italy
When it comes to this, my solution was hundreds of tea lights (sounds a lot, but stores really compact), a few rounds of beeswax and sacks of paraffin wax granules ready to be processed into whatever is in need. Gallons of (m)ethanol for trangia style cooking and firewood.
I also have some candle stuff, to use so as not to immediately pull the lights out of their containers in the Faraday cage.
 

Jeff H

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Joined
Nov 4, 2006
Messages
79
Location
NW Ohio
i got a super cool looking stainless steel keroscene latern made in usa. but it kind of sucks to light
And you basically have to do THAT in the dark! These aren't as easy as a Dietz either but put out some serious light.

SCENARIO:
The "shtttt...uff hits the fan."
It's COLD.
Your flashlight was ruined by an EMP blast, but you find a remote cabin.
Inside the cabin is a lantern filled with fuel and a wood stove with plenty of kindling and firewood.
There is ONE 30 year-old Ohio Blue Tip match left in the match box by the stove.
WHICH do you light FIRST?










The MATCH!
 

CelticCross74

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 30, 2014
Messages
4,012
Location
Fairfax Va
Any 3D or 4D cell new gen Mags. The current XML2 4D Mag can run for TWO WEEKS. Mine of course are all sporting nice glare coated glass lenses. These new gen Mags are not water PROOF they are water resistant to a degree. They have much tighter clearances. Wont last submerged though. Still the XML2 Mags are the BEST bang for your buck flashlight C or D cell. Cannot praise them enough. They are cheap, run best off of alkalines and made in the USA. The XML2 C cells are no joke either.
 

whiteshepherd

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Joined
Apr 13, 2019
Messages
14
For the OP I would like to make a suggestion. I have had to use my flashlights for work. 99.99% of the time you don't need a flashlight brighter than the sun. Too bright of a light can make things actually harder to see and attract attention to you from far away. I suggest go with a light (or modify it yourself) to use Enloop AA batteries. Enloop batteries are very special compared to other batteries. They (the right ones) can sustain their charge for over 10 years and handle over 2100 cycles! They are easily charged on a smart charger (dumb chargers will kill them over time) with low power sources.

If there is a S HTF event. Looking at history economics are not all at once. Things will break down in stages before recovering.

Well.... now as far as flashlights I'm covered! I've made SO many! I love making things including flashlights. I have made a flashlight that will last 6-8 years "ON" on a single alkaline 6v battery. I also have extensive experience with super capacitors+electronics. Super capacitors don't wear out fast and have millions of cycles! Most super capacitors I've adapted to metal gear hand crank flashlights (old russian hand crank units and self made). These hand crank units you turn for several seconds and have a light that lasts for a reasonably long period of time. These flashlights are my last resort. If a worst case scenario went on for many decades these flashlights would be as good as new even 20-50 years later. Example of my build:

I got me a cozy place in the country with solar backup power. You can't as easily lose your home if you own it. Real rural country homes are cheap compared to others. If your on a limited budget that is where you want to start. A city is the last place you want to be if a natural disaster disables food/supplies long term.
 

parang

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Joined
Dec 28, 2020
Messages
175
NiMh preps, nominal 370 Ah.
CIMG0902.jpg
 

Stefano

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 29, 2012
Messages
1,073
Location
Italy
A good trick can be to take nothing for granted and protect the material in the best possible way.
This at least for a part of the material, the one that is not used frequently.
Most people here have an excess of lights and batteries, so it's a good idea to protect these things as much as possible by assuming flooding, collapses and other scenarios.
 

Olumin

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 20, 2020
Messages
1,337
Location
"...that famous Texas part of Hamburg"
If we are talking about carrington type event you cannot use any electric light for the duration incan or led and only option is fire or mantle incandescent lanterns. I do have two 6p and peli M6 with cr123 ready to go and 3x Surefire Fury + 6px. MD21700 with M61W on low should last plenty & i have a lot of white eneloops and alkaline AA. My zebra can run thousands of hours on those on low modes.
 

desert.snake

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
May 8, 2017
Messages
2,052
Location
Eastern Europe
Id like one of them crank/dynamo lights for emergency, but they dont seem to make any decent quality ones. All the ones Ive seen or had were kinda just toys. Remember back we had one of those squeeze type lights with super dimm orange incan, I think I took that thing on a school trip somewhere.
supercapacitor flashlight

if make some effort, you can get an excellent flashlight, it will work until the supercapacitor dies :)

 

whiteshepherd

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Joined
Apr 13, 2019
Messages
14
To the original poster from my own experience I'd go with something you can power with AA Enloops if you want you batteries to last long term. The correct Enloop will charge with a smart charger over 2100 times! Plus they are easy to charge with a smart charger (dumb chargers burn them up over time).

As far as myself I have some electronic experience. So I like to make my own flashlights. My mains are Lantern designs I have converted to run off Enloops with a hand crank backup. I have one lantern in low settings will produce 6-7 lm of light for around 6 years continuous on a standard 6v alkaline battery. I am also experienced with super capacitors (they have millions of cycles and will not wear out) and tuning circuits for max light output/time. My first hand crank flashlights were Russian Soviet hand cranks I added micro circuitry. Later I modified American flashlights with better charge/crank to light ratios. I use metal gear dynamoes in these lights. So these hand crank lights if needed will last 50+ years if well cared for.

Below is an example:
A how-to hand crank with super capacitor flashlight design.
 

whiteshepherd

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Joined
Apr 13, 2019
Messages
14
supercapacitor flashlight

if make some effort, you can get an excellent flashlight, it will work until the supercapacitor dies :)


His flashlight is not very bright and has plastic gears. The plastic gears will be the weak point. If you don't mind charging just a little longer you can get fantastic results with a super capacitor and a metal dynamo that puts out a lot more amps.
 

xxo

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 30, 2015
Messages
2,991
My picks would be a Streamlight Compact II and a Mag 2C ML50LX.

The compact II can be used as a head lamp or as a angle head light with it's clip. It will run on an AA or CR123A or even a single AAA if need be and has white, red, blue and IR LEDs.

I have a 3D printed diffuser and base that turns the ML50 into a lantern and adapters to run it on everything from AAA/AA's to 18650's and 2170's – 8 different types of cells in all.
 

whiteshepherd

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Joined
Apr 13, 2019
Messages
14
A carrington type event "might" get the electric driver of a fancy flashlight. But that depends on several factors. A basic flashlight battery to bulb (or bulb+resistor for LED) should be fine either way.
 

caelyx

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Joined
May 29, 2013
Messages
120
I have one lantern in low settings will produce 6-7 lm of light for around 6 years continuous on a standard 6v alkaline battery.
Impressive. What kind of current draw does that have? 6 years is ~52,500 hours, so that must be a very large battery, I imagine.
 

whiteshepherd

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Joined
Apr 13, 2019
Messages
14
Impressive. What kind of current draw does that have? 6 years is ~52,500 hours, so that must be a very large battery, I imagine.
I love experimenting on my offtime. For a while I spent many years seeing how efficient I could run LEDs with methods to bypass some of the losses from the forward drop voltage. I got some very good results. For this circuit I used a 3 watt SEOUL LED. Of all the LEDs I experimented back then (there may be better now?) on low power efficiency, I found this little LED gem gave really truly amazing amounts of light when pulled back to minimal current at a mid range voltage (6V). My measured draw on power was 0.3mA! A factory fresh Duracell 6V Alkaline battery (the kind that goes in your standard flashlights) will give you about 16Ah. This alone will get you past 6 years continuous "ON". However when your drain a alkaline battery extremely slowly you get significantly more power out of it. In theory up to 26Ah. Either way this flashlight is going to last a LONG LONG LONG time on a good battery in the form factor of just a lantern flashlight.

However later in my years I learned to split the baby so to speak. I wanted enough light to fill a room or tent while providing minimal personal effort (calories consumed) for that light using what I knew on efficiency. To do that I started experimenting with super capacitors and metal geared dynamos. The result was when using a modest length handle and the gears scaling rotation speed up. I could produce a LOT of amps with minimal effort to "fast charge" a super capacitor! That super capacitor could provide modest power for a good light at a reasonable time frame. My absolute favorite project with super capacitors was my wood box lantern (which is very light as it's almost empty). You could get nice modestly bright light for 1 hour or all the way down to 8 hours of light flickering randomly like a very comforting candle! All this light from again very minimal effort. The brilliance of this project of mine was I made the top of this box with power screws the exact same diameter as a double wide 6V battery. Do you remember all those neat chrome flashlights in the 70s and 80s that would mount right to the top of a double wide 6v battery? Well all those really handy/cool flashlights will now ALL mount to my hand crank power box to customize my flashlight on the fly! All I have to do is remove the old incandescent bulbs and put in decent inexpensive LEDs in their place. Walla! A super cool lantern or flashlight that needs no batteries, will last generations, and customizes easily to the task at hand.

This lantern was a fairly simple build that almost anyone can make. I detailed my build on my facebook post: A how-to hand crank with super capacitor flashlight design.
 
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