Blackout report!

Hi all,

Yesterday my wife was making souvenirs for a wedding and I was watching TV when suddenly boom! the lights went out.

Wife: "We need one of your flashlights"
Me: "You bet!"

Needless to say I quickly run to the "flashlight" drawer and came back with about a dozen lights .

I used a Fenix L2P and a SF L4 (2 stage) in low mode in candle mode pointing towards the ceiling, those two were enough to lit our small living room. I gave my wife a Petzl Zipka plus headlamp and with the ambient light provided by the L2P and L4 plus the Zipka she was able to resume his work.

I also set a QIII in the table so she could see better the stuff she was using in the souvenir-making.

Headlamps are great in blackouts, the Zipka and aTikka+ I have for me were very useful.

I realized a lantern would have been useful too so maybe an Osram dragon will be in my plans very soon.

The blackout lasted about 1 hour, then the lights went back to the drawer and I think I saw the L4 smiling.

Just my quick report of a blackout

Luigi

At least you were home...yea!!!

Last week we went to a hockey game and came home to find that the power had gone off for about an hour and a half.


And I missed it...:mecry:

It is nice to test out those things isnt it luigi. Headlamps and lanterns are two things I now consider invaluable for home kits and vehicle kits, they are way to handy and useful. I have used the ones in my house 4 times now for extended periods of blackout and each time makes me realize more how valuable they are.

The most action ive had lately was a popped breaker and an internet outage

Some people have all the luck.


Well, I can always turn the lights out...but it isn't as much fun. Maybe we need a poll on the best blackout ever.
:naughty:

You need a handheld scanner to listen to the electric company figure out the problem! Last outage I had (during daylight hours ) I literally heard the electric worker say, "OK, that should do it, flip the switch!" And the lights came back on 10 seconds later, cool!

I have a scanner, but can't figure out the frequency for the electric company guys

Luigi

luigi said:

I have a scanner, but can't figure out the frequency for the electric company guys

Luigi

Click to expand...

Go to www.radioreference.com then click Database. Then just keep clicking until you find your county. Hope you find it.

PoliceScannerMan said:

You need a handheld scanner to listen to the electric company figure out the problem! Last outage I had (during daylight hours ) I literally heard the electric worker say, "OK, that should do it, flip the switch!" And the lights came back on 10 seconds later, cool!

Click to expand...

Whoa, first post!.....

Who makes a good nicely priced scanner? I might need to pick up one of these.

davit80 said:

Whoa, first post!.....

Who makes a good nicely priced scanner? I might need to pick up one of these.

Click to expand...

Uniden Bearcat BCD396T Handheld but robust with features. And don't ask me how I programmed it someone else did it for me.

Vote for best blackout - in my lifetime - August 14, 2003, entire Northeast US and most of Ontario was out for at least 8 hours, some to 3-4 days. It struck me at that time how much ambient light there is in urban areas, because when it wasn't there, boy was it dark (lucky I had a vehicle with rooflights and many flashlights on my person and in the vehicle)

Blazer said:

Uniden Bearcat BCD396T Handheld but robust with features. And don't ask me how I programmed it someone else did it for me.

Vote for best blackout - in my lifetime - August 14, 2003, entire Northeast US and most of Ontario was out for at least 8 hours, some to 3-4 days. It struck me at that time how much ambient light there is in urban areas, because when it wasn't there, boy was it dark (lucky I had a vehicle with rooflights and many flashlights on my person and in the vehicle)

Click to expand...

My first post! I hope you don't mind me butting in.

I think I was the only woman in MI who was disappointed when
power was restored.

Blazer said:

Uniden Bearcat BCD396T Handheld but robust with features. And don't ask me how I programmed it someone else did it for me.

Vote for best blackout - in my lifetime - August 14, 2003, entire Northeast US and most of Ontario was out for at least 8 hours, some to 3-4 days. It struck me at that time how much ambient light there is in urban areas, because when it wasn't there, boy was it dark (lucky I had a vehicle with rooflights and many flashlights on my person and in the vehicle)

Click to expand...

Yep i remember that one that gets my vote too. My dad went to his Nascar race in Michigan and left us in the dark so we slept in the camper with air conditioning and lights well at least my mom and sister did i was having fun in the house most peaceful night i can remember well other than the fact that the neighbors all drank the beer in my one neighbors fridge because they didnt want them to get warm lol

Hi Roxane, welcome to the forum from another Michigander. That blackout was a good one all right. Was the one that showed me just how good and handy LED lanterns and headlamps are for every day chores.

Greetings Davit80 & Roxann—Welcome to CPF! :wave:

We had a blackout last year that started August 28th and lasted until October 8th. Stuff happens...

PoliceScannerMan said:

You need a handheld scanner to listen to the electric company figure out the problem! Last outage I had (during daylight hours ) I literally heard the electric worker say, "OK, that should do it, flip the switch!" And the lights came back on 10 seconds later, cool!

Click to expand...

It's even more fun to be the guy flipping the switch! Or to be the guy watching the new guy draw a big fat arc when he doesn't do it right!

Vvwompfzzt! OH Sh** !
Pull it back out!!!!

Lee1959 said:

Hi Roxane, welcome to the forum from another Michigander. That blackout was a good one all right. Was the one that showed me just how good and handy LED lanterns and headlamps are for every day chores.

Click to expand...

I picked up my first headlamp the week before the blackout. I have four now
and always have one in my jeep . I wouldn't be without one.

Thank you for your kind welcome.

Thanks for the blackout report, Luigi! Thank goodness it didn't last long so you didn't lose any food in the fridge.

I'm working a scheduled blackout tonight as they have to cut the power to install a generator and transfer switch. I'm bringing my trusty QIII, a 1W Luxeon headlamp and a Dorcy Metalgear.

I just run a CFL on my computer UPS when we have an outage.

Not had any outages here since I bought my inverter and leisure battery... Our summertime starts tonight so less darkness :thumbsdow