5 days without power. Thanks Irene.

There have been a few threads on this topic but everyone does things a little bit different. As part of a long list of things I prepared for the storm by recharging all my batteries. I also have a small stockpile of primaries so didn't need to buy any. I did notice that along with all the bottled water, gas and some food items C and D batteries where the first to go soon followed by AA and AAA.

Lost my power Sunday around 3am. Honestly the storm didn't seem all that bad but it was enough to take out power until Friday around 8 pm. The ground was soaked from a wet summer and lots of trees came down on the lines.



My DIY lantern on a 4/7 Mini AA Q3-5A was nice with the radio playing.



Some of the lights and headlamps used during the blackout.



AA flashlights.



The low on the Light T15 worked great as a general purpose light. Speaking of general purpose the old tail standing trick worked great to light-up rooms.



LED lanterns and diffused flashlights worked great for eating and playing cards when the family didn't want to blind each other with headlamps and flashlights.



That's about it for my portable light photos. Here are a few bits of knowledge which maybe useful.

1. With modern multi mode LED lights battery use is low. I used up maybe 3 LSD NiMH AA batteries and ran down a set of standard NiMH 3AAA in the EOS. Low modes provided more than enough light. Frankly I could have used even less batteries but was running some things on higher modes.

2. There must be a bunch of M@g lights around as was surprised how fast the C and D cells got sold out.

3. Lanterns and diffusers are better for hanging out inside with people listening to the radio or playing cards. Tail standing flashlights are also good as neither will **** anyone off.

4. I didn't need tons of batteries.

5. Headlamps work just as well during a blackout as around camp and can be held just like a flashlight.

6. Used 2-6 lumen modes more than anything else.

Thanks for looking.

Nice writeup. I find these kind of threads really interesting.

Tailstanding and diffusers ftw. I find a Fenix E01 tailstanding makes for a great bathroom/night light.

You're lucky your house is so white everywhere!

Wow... a 2nd gen. Glock - get with the times buddy!

A bit of a off topic question with power down for 5 days did you get major spoilage of food? That's always been my main fear in a blackout ... having to clean out the refrigerator later.

Imon said:

Wow... a 2nd gen. Glock - get with the times buddy!

A bit of a off topic question with power down for 5 days did you get major spoilage of food? That's always been my main fear in a blackout ... having to clean out the refrigerator later.

Click to expand...

Yup 2nd gen Glock and some XR-E LED lights to boot.

I had a generator which was used for just a few hours a day to keep the food good. Some people ran theirs 24/7 but the cost is just too much for me.



But it stopped working on the 3rd day so had to get ice for the cooler. One of the downsides to power lost is the pump stops working for the well. Dumping some pond water into the bowl will flush it.



More trees.





No power also means no pumps for those stations which still had gas.



No power for traffic lights.



But most of all no power means people who just a few days before said...."Do you need another flashlight" no longer talk smack.

Good observations on battery usage. Gen. 2's rule, by the way... Don't make me break out my S&W model 13 .357...

Cool photos. That one tree looks like it actually snapped off at the base and didn't just uproot. oo:

It seems like a common theme from yours and others' experiences that the D and C cell batteries go first. I would've figured the AAs would be in high demand with the more common 2AA led lights, but I guess like you said, most people must still have big Mags and 2D cell Everready lights. I NEVER would've guessed the C batteries would sell out quickly!

Nice looking Glock. What model is it?? I've been thinking about getting a Glock 21 (.45). Don't know much about them, but I shot the 21 at the range once and actually seemed to do fairly well with it.

The old-school Glock goes well with the old-school L2D I have both L1D and L2D, and I still find them to be very useful lights.

It is a G19 9mm. Easy to shoot but not too big for EDC. The LID/L2D models had nice smooth lines and tail stands easier than the LD10/LD20. I have some newer fenix stuff but they don't seem to have the same soul if that trait can be conferred to a gear item.

Woods is that station anywhere near Bridgeport CT? I think I stopped there once after getting lost after i went to look at an 55' Nomad up that way. It was a nice ride from Jersey

Honestly, I would've thought AA's would've been sold out first before the C's and D's. Last few "ahem :green:" atmospheric conniptions I been through I was lucky enough to have no lighting shortages. Plenty batteries. Even would've shared but nobody used those batteries.
Howsomever I learned to eat out the fridge first. And next time I did.

Vinnec5.

Yup that station isn't that far from Bridgeport CT.

I need to convert or make 'lamp housings' for my flashlights. Shining a flashlight into an empty gallon or 1/2 gallon milk jug was a little lame looking.

What killed the generator?
Genes in Ol' Trumbull CT?

Around here, intersections were a circus. The number of people that didn't slow down or stop for a non-working traffic light was pathetic. There were many accidents all week at these intersections. Sorry to say, but clueless drivers were in abundance the past week without power. Tow drivers and autobody shops are doing a ton of business because of those dead traffic lights.

The house is in Monroe CT which is always the first off and last on during any storm. I am not sure what the problems with the generator are. Maybe gremlins?

to Woods_Walker --

Thank you for this very interesting report.


Just curious . . . .

How did Children manage and react to this storm, and its subsequent outages.

Was there any initial "panic", during the pre-storm preparations ? ? ?

(i guess this applies to adults, as well)

No real issue with the 5-year old. In fact during the last day we had a cookout to eat up some of the food before it went bad and had two other young children over. As for panic there was some running around for bottle water, gas and non perishable foods but I got the feeling most people worked out the world wasn't going to end. The media hypes everything so much though sometimes their right.

The thing to remember, if your stores are any like ours out here in Iowa, there are a LOT more AA and AAA on display than Cs and Ds. If I had to guess I would say that there are usually about ten times the AA and AAA cells in the typical battery display around here. So even if they sold on a 1 for 1 basis, the Cs and Ds would disappear first.

Lord Bear said:

Honestly, I would've thought AA's would've been sold out first before the C's and D's. Last few "ahem :green:" atmospheric conniptions I been through I was lucky enough to have no lighting shortages. Plenty batteries. Even would've shared but nobody used those batteries.
Howsomever I learned to eat out the fridge first. And next time I did.

Click to expand...

I think the reason AAs don't sell out first is people tend to buy D cell flashlights and lanterns instead of AA based ones thinking the larger batteries give them more bang for the buck.