Power just went out... Woohoo!

My laptop will hold for about 90 minutes and the Tripp Lite surge suppressors can handle the electrical nasties. It is 10:05 PM, the power died and my son grabbed the Inova X5 and I fired up my keychain Matterhorn. Walked upstairs and pulled my Peak Mediterranean 2AA work EDC out of the holster and am going to take a walk next door. Yeah, they are not used to power failures yet so my son is providing illumination.

Hmmm, maybe take my helmet light over (millermods L1P with 5 ohm two-stage switch) kick it to low and see how it works. Gotta go, the neighbors are asking for flashlights! Gotta love it when the power dies at night instead of during the day. :rock:

"Lights out! Ah huh! Blast, blast, blast. . ." :huh:

Enjoy it my friend, these moments are golden!

One hour and 15 minutes later, the power is still out!

Went next door and my friends were gathered around a candle for light so I brought in my Peak Mediterranean 2AA and put it in a glass pointing at the ceiling. My wife walks in with the Fenix L1P followed by my son with the Inova X5. My neighbor needs to go to the bathroom so my Matterhorn Snow29 3 light unscrews off my keychain and she uses that. She said it was "very bright for such a cute light". After about 45 minutes they commented that they need to buy some of those cool LED lights since power failures are common in Turkey.

So, how did non-flashaholics rate the four lights?

1. Peak Mediterranean 2AA Very bright, never dims, uses rechargable AA or alkalines and beats the crap out of a minimag.

2. Fenix L1P Fairly bright and puts out enough light when bouncing off ceiling to see. Stands on end and is "cute" while running on a single AA.

3. Peak Matterhorn Snow29 3 LED AAA keychain light "Very cute", unscrews from keychain, very small and bright for it's size.

4. Inova X5 Puts out enough light but uses "wierd and expensive batteries" Output is rather bluish/brownish and won't stand on end.

Went to another house and it was lit up with flashlights, an Eveready flourescent was lighting up the carport and an old anglelight 2D was used by another person. The lady there laughed when I walked up and said "I knew it was you and now your wife knows why you have so many flashlights... gotta love overseas living"! She says she keeps around 6 lights around for this very reason along with a 12 pack or two of AA alkalines.

The power just returned but that is OK since it is time to go to bed (11:30 PM here) My power conditioners are dealing with some post outage voltage swings but it seems to be stabilizing. All is well... at least until next month :thumbsup: I'll see if the neighbors will hit the net tomorrow to buy some L1Ps and/or Pacific/Matterhorn series. I'll push them to the Pacific with AA body so they can get through these power failures.

He who laughs last...

It is a good feeling to know you can handle a black out with no big deal.

Now it is time to figure out "Bent's recommended flashlights for power failures" list. Yeah, a five-pack of U2's for the family next door would solve their problem but I have to keep under $100

The guy next door loves my Mediterranean 2AA brightness, runtime and cool operation but not the price so that one is out. CR123A batteries (when available) are $5 each so scratch the Inova X5 instantly. What he wants is a powerful Luxeon light that runs on AA alkalines or NiMH for 2-4 hours while bouncing off the ceiling in the living room. Another light to hang on a lanyard for walking around the house and going to the bathroom. It must be able to stand on end and they liked the Matterhorn removable lug. Then some basic cheapies for his three children to play around with.

These are the lights I have chosen for his needs.

High power Luxeon ceiling bounce light
Streamlight ProPoly 4AA Luxeon Has the punch of the Mediterranean 2AA, is regulated and will run on alkalines and NiMH. $28.95

Lanyard mounted walk around/bathroom light that stands on end
Peak Pacific HA-III AAA with removable lug I'll give her a lithium AAA cell for 5 hours of regulated output and they can unscrew the lug to stand it on end when using the bathroom. $49.95

Lights for his three kids
Dorcy AAA LED I've had one for my younger son and it worked great. Durable, easy to grip with the rubber inserts, has decent runtime and is cheap. The momentary switch is great for the kids to play "shooting" games with their lights. Throw it on a lanyard so they won't lose the thing.
$6.97 each $20.91 total

Total price excluding shipping: $99.81 I made my $100 limit by exactly 19 cents

This latest power failure was very enlightening, it showed that flashlights are critical when the lights go out. Alas, it also showed that the latest uber-cool multiple output, HA-III light with custom reflectors is not a life and death thing. White, bright and most of all IT WORKS without overheating and remotes provide backup cells is what counts.

The Streamlight PP 4AA Luxeon will light up their living room, has the throw to check out the area outside when needed and has the size to be "the man light". 3.5 hours on 4 alkalines and 5 hours on 4 NiMH cells give enough runtime to handle winter power failures when the sun sets at 4:30.

The Peak Pacific AAA was chosen for his wife since she loved the "cuteness" of the Matterhorn AAA and the removable lug. It's purpose will be used in the shower with it hanging on a lanyard getting sprayed with water. Remove the lug, stand it straight up to light up the bathroom when nature calls. Twistie switch means it will never fail to turn on (why L1P was nixed) I know Peaks can take a daily beating in the desert and always turn on. Throw a AA body on the thing, a lithium AA for 13 hours of regulated runtime. If they want more light, throw the 2xAAA body on for a 50% boost in brightness and 50% more runtime. It is the main power failure light since it can be reconfigured to run 1AAA, 2AAA or 1AA batteries depending how many remotes they have laying around.

Now for my Fire~Fly III and Peak Pacific AAA to come in... looking forward to the next power failure :thumbsup:

I really should get one of those The Streamlight PP 4AA Luxeon. It seems like one of the most talked about lights.

lol, in the last hour I've gone from wanting a Wolf Eyes to a Pelican M6 to a Streamlight. So many lights, I sometimes feel a bit dizzy.

SCblur said:

Enjoy it my friend, these moments are golden!

Click to expand...

You said it, good news, as the global temperature increases every year, theres more probability that ACs will overload lines more frequently compared to the time I came to the US of A [about 10 years ago]

now to build a good battery bank, buy a small inverter, and set up a few DC fans...and buy a small AC fridge

power never goes out here unfortunately, when it does my HF hid is ready to go

You guys seem very mature.
Woohoo!

We're probably the only people who actually enjoy power failures.

Everybody's impressed by all my lights (EDC U60GT, Mclux III-T, Titanium CR2 Ion) until they find out how much they cost.

I laughed when I saw the title of this thread and I'm still laughing now!

We're crazy people...

I've been waiting for a power failure for a couple weeks. IsaacHayes built a light for me and I was dying to get it in the dark. It's an S1JC Lux III ~495 nm CYAN DD with an O-Sink in a 3C M/\G host. I put a UCL into it and I was chomping at the bit.

The power finally went out and I dashed outside with the light in my bare feet. It was 90 seconds of bliss. I'm really pretty much a dim light guy but I wanted to be able to reach out and touch someone. It must have something like a 1 degree beam. I lit up a house two blocks away!

BentHeadTX said:

It is 10:05 PM, the power died and my son grabbed the Inova X5 and I fired up my keychain Matterhorn. Walked upstairs and pulled my Peak Mediterranean 2AA work EDC out of the holster and am going to take a walk next door. Yeah, they are not used to power failures yet so my son is providing illumination :rock:

Click to expand...

try having NO electricity for over a month! I live in the New Orleans area, remained for Katrina, worked my tail off and went with out electricity for over a month in the summer New Orleans humid heat.

Give that one a try I usually agree with you - love when the power goes out, grab a gun and a light but Katrina brought on a whole new meaning to blackout. GUNS and lights = 11 looters I got in all just in my area.
Kevin-
http://www.realnola.com

Kinda like these short outages! Here is something I posted a week or so ago.


We had a short power outage a couple of nights ago, and wanted to share some observations on some lights that were used and the practical aspect of our hobby.

Glo-Toob - I received a green version just the other week for use during evening runs, but it came in handy lighting up my daughter's room. Even in low mode, it gave off adequate light to keep my daughter calm, and the color was intruiging enough that she played with it for 15 minutes before finally falling asleep. I'm picking up more of these as they not only have good output, but are pretty sturdy.

RR Lantern - Plenty bright with decent coverage for a medium sized room with light colored walls and carpets. I had scuffed up the globe to get rid of the retina-burning glare and even out the ringy output. I hung it up in our living room, and it easily lit up the area well enough to move around in. Reading was difficult, but not impossible. I'm really liking this lantern and will be looking to pick up a couple more.

MMag with MMLite sandwich - Good for non-flashaholics as everyone is familiar with operating a MMag. Output was more than adequate for anything indoors.

LC - This is what I had in my pocket when the lights went out. Tailstanding ability was KEY!! I was with my daughter and I set the LC down on the dresser while I went to the adjacent room to grab other lights. It lit up the room well and kept my daughter happy until I came back with the Glo-Toob. High setting helped a neighbor with locating something he dropped in his garage even when I was in my yard and the garage was a good 30-40 feet away.

PT Aurora - Light, variable output, easy to use. Blue tint of the 5mm LEDs were distracting compared to the LC/MM/RR but no big deal inside. Hands free lighting makes life easier. If I didn't have the headlamp, I'd use the LC in candlemode.

Though I don't have a lot of lights compared to others, I usually leave a light (this time it was the MMag) on a counter near our kitchen. My wife knows it is there, and that was the light she went for as it was the closest to her. There are others around the house as well. Some in drawers, but most in easy to access areas. All of these lights are MMag or of similar function and pretty much anyone can use a MMag. Output is way adequate for indoor use. I usually have one in my daughter's room, but when my wife cleaned up the room, the light has gone missing.......

My sister in law once plafully teased me about carrying a light around with me all the time and all the lights I leave around the house. Kinda ironic, as her house was affected by the outage too. I heard my wife say, 'are you sure you don't want me to send Brian over cause we have lights to spare?!'

Long running LEDlights- regardless of size- get my vote for power outage lights... I've been seriously considering a Lightwave 4000 for just that purpose... But between my LEDBeam, Dorcy Super 1W, and Taskforce 3W, I have many many hours of usable light.. not to mention- there are usually some extra batteries around...

it's funny, every time I step into a building, I am hoping for a power outage. giggle giggle.

I envy you guys. The last power outage here must have been 20 years ago. Very seldom only the street lights go out.
Last year there was an outage in the hospital I work in. This means that only very few lights are taken over by the emergency supply. I could help out by setting up my Nightbuster 7 led pointing at the ceiling in the changing room which had no lighting at all. It was over in 30 minutes.

Kees

Lucky for you to have a black out at night. Blackout in Dubai yesterday for 30 minutes. But it was in broad daylight SO, I stayed in the dark toilet with my light

Non flashaholics don't understand...

I work in dark rooms,sound mixing theatres, no windows, buried in the bowels of the building so no exterior sound penetrates.A couple of years ago we had a local power distributor blow up - instant inky darkness and silence.

The theatre is big and there are lots of things to trip over and break or be broken by!

Out comes my SF 6P and Foom! I light up the whole theatre with a ceiling bounce. As I usher the producer, director etc out into the sunlight my boss says: 'What on Earth are you doing with a torch?' Although said with a smile and with gratitude, he really sums up what most people think.

There is no way that any of them would even consider carrying a torch of any description on a regular or EDC basis...and yet I and all of you flashaholics out there wouldn't consider going anywhere (even in our own homes) without at least one and probably more!!

It takes all sorts...

At least we're not wierd like Trekkers or Bird watchers!!! :lolsign:



Live long and prosper all lesser spotted lapwings...