Power outage in Maryland right now

Outage ongoing since last night in Maryland, 200K without power.

Running the generator.

Pepco cannot bury the !#@ power lines so get these 2-3 times per year. Hard to say what's worse, summer or winter. Power line down right in front of my place.

The lites used are primarily my 6P clone with M60L which seems to run forever, 4D mag with Nite-Ize and head screwed ouf for flood, candles placed in strategic places. The generator is up most of the time but I don't have any lamps to plug in to light all rooms.

Need a D lantern actually. Bang per buck, it's the cheapest way to go. Not to mention the least dangerous.

Both of my Princeton Tech Apex HL are down, contact issues with the uber cheap design.

If it continues tonight, will set up more lites like MiniMags with that low powered module. Heads come off and you get flood.

One thing I learned is that dim lights are so depressing. I don't rely on them. Bright lites like Malkoff's ,et all, are encouraging.

etc said:

Need a D lantern actually. Bang per buck, it's the cheapest way to go. Not to mention the least dangerous.

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I'm not so sure about that. I prefer warm lanterns by far (in a depressing situation, trust me, the warm light feels much better than a cool white), and for 3 AA batteries (read, Eneloops) and great runtimes, that is a tough lantern to beat. It's small too, so it's easy to carry on trips of all sorts.

200k out of service- that must have been one whale of a storm- hopefully it wasn't the beginning of another NE cascade failure.
You have tons of trees down too?

+1 for warm emitters, a Quark Mini AA Warm on high in ceiling bounce mode is just right to fill a room with cozy and welcoming light.

and +1 for the want of D cells during a power outage, this is why I clamored for a D-cell body for the Quark Mini..

I know what you mean by dim lights are depressing, a little bright light in a depressing mood brightens the day or night.

TwitchALot said:

I'm not so sure about that. I prefer warm lanterns by far (in a depressing situation, trust me, the warm light feels much better than a cool white), and for 3 AA batteries (read, Eneloops) and great runtimes, that is a tough lantern to beat. It's small too, so it's easy to carry on trips of all sorts.

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You might be right. I placed that newer Gerber Infinity in a strategic location but the few lumens that it does offer is so !@#$# depressing, plus it's blue! Ugh. Warm tints definitely rule, I find blue ones affecting my mood negatively, even if the lumens are the same. Personally I like about 120 lumens and up to raise my mood. But can deal with low lumens in a support role.

I do have a boatload of candles but few holders, need to improvise. I like candles, despite the risk, but wouldn't rely just on them. The really good thing about candles is that you can place them in many rooms, while you cannot buy 10xMagLites with drop-in modules... candles are cheap investment.

I have the M60L, original warm hand-made and in all that mess I managed to misplace it for a few hours. What a scary feeling that was. Finally found it. Looking at the runtime of Malkoff M61L, seems much better for this type of situation. I have a ton of 18650 cells I salvaged from laptop battery packs so I should be good for a while. Plus a ton of primaries as well, enough to endure 1-year long outage but I will run out of gas and food and other essentials long before that. Our JIT delivery system starts breaking down after 3 days.

Problem is, no way to heat the water, so cold shower tomorrow for me. And no stove. No AC in this heat wave.
But do have microwave, Tee-Vee, fridge and 1 light. Running out of sockets to plug things into. Generator is high on the priorities list. But I cannot run it 7x24 so need lites anyway. Have a radio that takes 6xC cells, so back to the 1930's.
The 4D Mag is running 10mm Nite-Ize and 5xC cells (NiMH Accupower) supposed to be super long runtime.

Thinking about taking minimag with SMJLED and hanging it off the ceiling fan, in flood mode.

It's day 3 when it starts to get old. Heard an update on the radio, conflicting reports, that we should expect a multi-day outage. Oh and the alarm system is down, the 12V battery is dead. No zombie attacks just yet. The road in front of me is closed, a tree down.

Hang in there, etc. Multi-day outages when the AC is needed are no fun. And, you get to listen to everyone's generator roaring through the night. Have fun with the flashlights anyway.

Geoff

Just occurred to me that I have a few lites I can donate to torch-less people around here.... They are nice, just haven't used them in years.

I even have a few 2/3D Mags with that new LED. (about the same brighteness as older Malkoff Mag mod) Maybe use them as barter.

A local McDonalds here was absolutely packed, I went into one and the wait time seemed like 45 minutes, so walked out. So yeah. It's TSHTF time right around the corner. My Malkoff M60L in FiveMega 1x18650 body is my best friend here plus I also got the pouch with 6x123 spares.

Time to watch all the TSHTF movies, only if I find the way to plug the DVD player into the generator.

etc said:

Time to watch all the TSHTF movies, only if I find the way to plug the DVD player into the generator.

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I recommend "The Omega Man". And check out the old flashlight Charlton Heston uses!!


With the continuous weeks of 90+ degree days here, I've been cringing and holding my breath that the power grid will hold up. Long power outages in the dead of summer are no fun, flashaholic or not.


Funny about the McD's being packed. Wonder if people just wanted to eat in an air-conditioned place to escape the heat, or if they were out of food once the stuff in the fridge was spoiled. I'm no survivalist, but I feel a lot better if I've got a few days worth of food that'll keep on the shelf.

Good luck, I hope everyone stays civil... It can be rough after a couple of days. Hopefully they have you back up and running soon. Please keep us posted.

etc said:

No AC in this heat wave.

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Quick question now that you're in the middle of it: Would you spare 600 watts of your generator for a small portable air conditioner that would cool a bedroom?

I live out in the desert, and though we don't have power outages, it's still a question I wrestle with when the topic comes up; Is cooling one room worth the price of the unit and the amount of wattage it'd take from the generator..

etc said:

Have a radio that takes 6xC cells, so back to the 1930's.

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You'd be surprised how helpful and entertaining the radio can be, it's a real morale booster over time. Set your radio so its sides are on an East-West axis, then head over to the AM band and start tuning, you'll hear a wide variety of programs from across many states. Plus you'll run into your local main news station that will have all the local updates and power outage info, which can negate the need for the TV for long spans of time.

I live about 10 miles from etc.; our power went out for only 90 minutes. But as rush hour began, 270 traffic lights remained knocked out. For this reason, I got to my train by bus rather than risk a driving accident.

I don't have a generator, but I do have a decent-size UPS backup battery. During an outage, I take remove it from my basement computer and move it to the main floor, to run fans, run the microwave, or, say, charge a daughter's laptop, cell phone, or iPod.

I must say, I get a lot of grief for my hobby, but not when the lights go out. In fact, my mother-in-law asked me an hour ago, "So which of these lights should [your daughter] take next week when she heads to medical school?" She means which 2AA light to EDC in her purse; I've already bought her a 1AA Preon warm for peering into throats and ears,

I am looking for a rope or some improvised device to hang the MiniMag with that low-powered LED mod, to hang it from the ceiling fan. It cannot replace more powerful lites but is a very nice thing to have at all times, with its long-runtime. It's most effective when placed upside down with the bezel removed, much like a conventional ceiling bulb.
I wish I could do that with the big 4D Mag but am afraid it will slip and fall down, with all the weight.

Day 2...

Paul_in_Maryland said:

I must say, I get a lot of grief for my hobby, but not when the lights go out. In fact, my mother-in-law asked me an hour ago, "So which of these lights should [your daughter] take next week when she heads to medical school?" She means which 2AA light to EDC in her purse; I've already bought her a 1AA Preon warm for peering into throats and ears,

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That's funny. I gave my wife that 2xC lite from Advance auto parts, modded with P4 I think. Pretty nice and almost in the Surefire category lumens wise. She promptly misplaced it (ADD you see) and I spent hours looking for it. No more lites will be given to family members. Maybe a 4D mag will do, hard to lose that thing.

Really lites are just a small component of the equation. You got to have a working generator with plenty of fuel. That's by far more important. In the winter, you need that plus a source of heat. Plus plenty of batteries and other supplies. A lite is just a tool to make sure you can get to all the things. I had to unscrew the spark plug, spray some of that starting fluid inside and the genny started like a charm. Probably couldn't do it without a lite. Certainly unable to find the socket / ratchet.

What I really need is some solar power, to be off the grid. And a propane stove as a backup and a good wood stove as a backup to that. I am not even close to off the grid. Just delay TSHTF by 72 hours.

StarHalo said:

Quick question now that you're in the middle of it: Would you spare 600 watts of your generator for a small portable air conditioner that would cool a bedroom?

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That's not the issue, the plug won't fit, it needs one of these heavy duty sockets, the same one a fridge uses.

Stress_Test said:

I recommend "The Omega Man". And check out the old flashlight Charlton Heston uses!! .

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Thank you, already saw it, (and did note the torch in it) that was better than the newer "I am Legend" that was based on it, I thought. Saw "The Road" recently but didn't like it all that much.
"Night of the Comet" is one of those 80's movies that's kind of interesting too.

Refilled the gas cans today, should be good for another few days. Luckily mostly everything else is open. It's hit and miss with stoplights. I cannot believe how vulnerable the power grid is. I definitely want to get off the grid at some point, just so I don't have to depend on it. It was a very mild storm I thought.

My Malkoffs remain my favorite and most heavily used lites. Most of them have nice tints. I also have a D based Malkoff, one of these older ones I got several years ago. I am keeping it for emergencies, for its wild throw. I loaded it with these "Low discharge" Accupower cells. Though I am tempted to just say screw the economy, remove the bezel and use it in the flood mode.
They are likely to fix things tomorrow, or the day after, so that I should use up my NiMH by then. Still have a boatload of Alkalines in all sizes. I came to realize that before I use Lithiums, I should use up Alks since they have limited life vs. Lith.

The Gerber Infinity Ultra is kind of almost worthless, I put it in rooms rarely visited. It offers some lite but really not enough to be very effective, but enough not to run into the wall.

I didn't even get to my Malkoff M60LL in a 3xAA FiveMega body - now *that* is the ultimate TSHTF lite, the stupid thing keeps running and running, seems impossible to discharge it. I do however keep Lithiums in it just to make it brighter. But it will eat any kind of AA cell.

The FiveMega 1x18650 lite with M60L rules - I am only on my 3rd cell (and I have 40 of them), and I seem to run it continuously. It's really much more efficient than M60. I am tempted to stick M61L in it just to see how much runtime improvement I get, the reports indicate substantial improvement.

TwitchALot said:

I'm not so sure about that. I prefer warm lanterns by far (in a depressing situation, trust me, the warm light feels much better than a cool white), and for 3 AA batteries (read, Eneloops) and great runtimes, that is a tough lantern to beat. It's small too, so it's easy to carry on trips of all sorts.

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Thanks for the link TwitchALot. No comparison to etc. by any means, but we had a 12 hour outage last week and a 2 hour outage this week. I ordered one of the warm lanterns for the mistress of domestic affairs to use when the next outage comes along. I hope I haven't shot myself in the foot on this purchase. This may sound sick and twisted, but I somewhat enjoy the opportunity to make use of my flashlights. If this lantern is too convenient I might be cutting myself short on flashlight time.

etc said:

That's not the issue, the plug won't fit, it needs one of these heavy duty sockets, the same one a fridge uses.

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Not talking about a window unit, those are over 1KW, I'm talking about a portable room unit, like this one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0014JKCPE/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Interesting...

Pepco is right across from me right now. I see they are using some kind of LED headlights. Unable to ascertain which ones but have a blue-ish tint, so more than likely a bunch of 5MM LEDs. Also saw a dude drag some kind of big incan but was unable to see what exactly. One of these big things with a handle on top.

Looked at my place from outside and it has that nice glow from the inside.

etc said:

. . .

The Gerber Infinity Ultra is kind of almost worthless, I put it in rooms rarely visited. It offers some lite but really not enough to be very effective, but enough not to run into the wall. ...

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Thats been my experience also. A power led would provide more light for longer. Its one of those things that works well in theory, but once you really need to use it you either need more light or less light for longer. It just doesn't fit into any specific role IMO.