Need advice for best light for this situation

I would like something larger for use at the house in power outage situations that will have a good compromise between runtime and lumens. We've had power outages that have lasted over 7 days.
Regulated would be nice.

I have the Streamlight Propolymer 3C 10 LED. It has a long run time, but it's not very bright. I estimate 30 lumens.

I like the Inova lights, but the runtime is way too short.

Over 100 lumens would be nice.

Thanks for the education.

jefffoxsr;

The best solution to your light question would be a high efficiency LED like a Cree P4 or Q series.

Then you would have to operate it at a lower current level to get the efficiency over 100 lumens/watt. At 50 lumens you would only need 1/2 watt.

Power source would have to be lithium ion batteries for best power density. I would suggest two or more #18650 in parallel for the longest run time. To get days of run time, it would have to be a pack of lithium cells.

It would have to be a custom-built light to get all the characteristics you want.

But it is an interesting idea....

Larry Cobb

Hello jefffoxsr and welcome to CPF

More than 100 Lumens output with a runtime for days,hmmmm...........these requests are not playing well together.

Stay a while here and you'll have a light collection which lasts for days.
Get a few spare cells, primaries and recheargeables (with 12V car-adaptor) and take a look to the lights which you'll really like.
Different brightness levels are a great advantage looking for long runtime.

Best regards

____
Tom

Long John said:

Hello jefffoxsr and welcome to CPF

More than 100 Lumens output with a runtime for days,hmmmm...........these requests are not playing well together.

____
Tom

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At least he didnt ask for AA Maglite size

100lumens with 7 days(170h) runtime is possible but bit bulky.. 2 or 3 XR-E leds running at total ~1W, powered by 22 pcs of 18650 2600mah cell or 12pcs D-cell alkalines. With 56 hours runtime battery pack size would be more reasonable, for example 4D maglite could work as a case donor for this project.


Anyways I would recommend 12v powered battery charger and enough big lead-acid battery or even full-blown emergency power system.

huntlight FT-01 XSE-cree
would be fine. works on 18500 and CR123. many stages.

mzzj said:

100lumens with 7 days(170h) runtime is possible but bit bulky..

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I'm not sure where you live, but here it's only dark for ~12 hours a day on average. And, I tend to sleep for about 7-8 of those hours. So, 7 days really only equals about 35hrs assuming you leave the light on constantly when it's dark and you're not sleeping. I can't see needing >100 lumen the whole time, so I'll suggest something like a Fenix L2D-CE. 55 hours on low (9 lumen) and the ability to go to 135 lumen (for 2.4 hours) when needed.

for 100 lumens running for 7 days, your best bet is having packs of spare lithium primaries, running multi Cree-xre's at lower level for best efficiency

LowTEC said:

for 100 lumens running for 7 days, your best bet is having packs of spare lithium primaries, running multi Cree-xre's at lower level for best efficiency

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Are you another nocturnal Artic Circle user?

If the OP doesn't sleep, and lives north of the Arctic Circle, I could see that 7 days would equal 170+ hours otherwise I don't understand your answers.

Stereodude said:

I'm not sure where you live, but here it's only dark for ~12 hours a day on average. And, I tend to sleep for about 7-8 of those hours. So, 7 days really only equals about 35hrs assuming you leave the light on constantly when it's dark and you're not sleeping. I can't see needing >100 lumen the whole time, so I'll suggest something like a Fenix L2D-CE. 55 hours on low (9 lumen) and the ability to go to 135 lumen (for 2.4 hours) when needed.

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I couldn't agree more with you Stereodude (if that is your real name

The F2D-CE is what I bought for my bug-out-bag (emergency kit).

I also threw a Gerber Ultra Infinity-M in there. It's not super bright, but when you are in pitch black, it's good enought to read by when it's pointed on a white ceiling. Plus, it runs for like 25 hours on 1 AA.

Depends on what you want the lights for. My tri-LED Modamag will run on low for at least 48 hours and gets *real* bright.
A few LEDs and a 12 volt battery will last a very long time for good light.
The best solution I found, based on over a year without power 98% of teh time is to go to bed soon after dark and get up as it gets light.

jefffoxsr said:

I would like something larger for use at the house ..

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I use a 90 Ah lead acid battery and a flourescent tube with 12 V ballast for this sort of situation. Add a few solar panels and you will be going forever.
"Portable" is not a requirement, as I understand.

You guys made some good points. Thanks for the help.

I already have a Fenix L2D-CE, so I must be in good shape.

Mike Painter said:

.. a year without power 98% of teh time ..

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= 29 min of power per day. What was the voltage when the power was on ? Where was that ?

If we are talking power outage and dark, one does not need a tremedous amount of light in the dark.

Why not a long running light like the SL3AA 10LED and a brighter second light.

I still can't see what 100 lumens is good for if there is no natural light.

A M*gled running on 2D is supposed to run 20+ hours, and it makes a pretty decent amout of light.

Stereodude said:

I'm not sure where you live, but here it's only dark for ~12 hours a day on average. And, I tend to sleep for about 7-8 of those hours. So, 7 days really only equals about 35hrs assuming you leave the light on constantly when it's dark and you're not sleeping. I can't see needing >100 lumen the whole time, so I'll suggest something like a Fenix L2D-CE. 55 hours on low (9 lumen) and the ability to go to 135 lumen (for 2.4 hours) when needed.

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well, on _average_ its dark 12h no matter where you live.
On polar areas it is just 180days on and 180days off, still daily average of 12h :laughing:

I dont know where Jeff is living, but he was asking for a 1 week runtime
I live about 100miles south of polar circle, and we already have plentiful 8 hours of daylight in this time of year.

mzzj said:

I dont know where Jeff is living, but he was asking for a 1 week runtime

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Not exactly... He said they've had power outages that lasted 7 days. That's not 7 days of runtime.

Martin said:

= 29 min of power per day. What was the voltage when the power was on ? Where was that ?

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More like on for an hour or two once a week or less when "company" came in.

First six months or so at Rancho El Barrill and the last 7 months at Punta San Francisco on the Baja Pennsula.

At that brightness you would need a lot of batteries to keep you going,

There really is no need for that much brightness in a power outage. A headlamp and a low level lantern are the best tools for such a situation indoors. Low lumen lights to navigate hallways and take away from the "stuck in the dark" feeling, and a headlamp for reading, knitting, whittling or whatever you do without a computer to navigate CPF. For outdoors, you'll be surprised how well any of your mid level lights throw when there are no street lights on. Even a single 5mm led throws three times farther and I swear my surefire E1L outdoorsman threw 200 meters to light up the apartment complex down the street.

I had a power outage last Friday night ,..the power outage was my fault, I forgot to pay my bill.. Most used light was a couple of tap lights , a cheap headlamp and my Streamlight Twintask....You dont really need a scorching flashlight unless you are going to use it to cook..

I tried to see how long they will last but I got tired of waiting , so I just went to sleep....:laughing: