LED torch for long life for long power outages

Hello,

New member and first time poster, I live in Port Douglas in Far North Queensland which is in a part of Australia that can be hit by cyclones. Cyclone Yasi the big one we had last year which fortunately just missed us show that a destructive cyclone can rip power infrastructure out for weeks. That said I am looking for some LED long life torch options.

Given the criteria for it's use will be when there is no power the torch needs to run on standard batteries AA, C or D cells probably as they are readily available. Size is not much of an issue it is getting long runtime that is important. In our cyclone emergency box that folks have here we would make sure we have sufficient number of batteries to say get us through 6hours a night for say 7 days so 48 hours running as a minimum.

We probably have two applications, the first would be a general light to let us see of a night, not read by just ambient light so we can make our way around without bumping into things.

The second application would be more an emergency torch light, helping neighbours, rescue etc so it would need to be durable and bright......ideally extended battery life with again non rechargeable batteries. We never use torches unless it is a black out so no benefits can be had using rechargeable batteries.

I have just started looking and I thought it was going to an easy task to select a couple of torches. Boy was I wrong. I am seeing Cree continually pop up which appears to some efficient LED yet they seem to come at a price.....so I thought would seek some advice from the experts here as to what might fit our stated applications.

I would appreciate your suggestions.

Regards,

Fleetz

Look at an Elektrolumens XP-G Fulton conversion.

The Gerber Recon or Infinity Ultra will run many hours on an AA or AAA battery, they have a spring at both ends. The Fenix E01 is a good AAA light with good runtime, these two lights are very affordable but only one level, You will probably want something brighter as well, The Quark and Zebralight offerings will provide bright output as well as low lows (moonlight mode).

I would suggest looking at the Fenix TK50. Runs on two D cells and has an impressive low power run time (That is still very usable) and bright upper power levels as well. The beam pattern on this light may or may not be what you are looking for as it is designed for throw, but there is an answer for that. I would also suggest a look at the Streamlight 3C LED. Look for it on Streamlight's web site or Brightguy.com as many other retailers have the older xenon style light in stock. This light has a single LED main beam surrounded by 6 low powered LEDs. It is as far as I can see also a direct drive light that will run for about 26 hours to 10% on the main beam and I believe 50 hours to 10% on the low seting. It offers a wider beam pattern than the TK50 and runs on three C cells. While I am not thrilled with the switch design and the low powered LEDs do have a blue tint, I like a light that will run for an entire night or more on one set of batteries and this light would do that for you. The low powered LEDs do provide a lot of light. Also reasonably priced at less than $40 here in the States. Both lights are in my stable for exactly the scenario you describe and each will let you run a full night or more on one set of cells. Yes, they are larger than the AA models that 4Sevens and others offer, but sometimes that larger size can be a plus in terms of handling during inclement weather.

Fleetz... First of all welcome to CPF

Second, having just gone through a post hurricane 5 day power outage here in the States, I have some observations. As a flashaholic I have a large collection of lights. The star of the collection for me was my Fenix TK-45. It runs for a very long time on the lower settings but can really punch a hole in the dark if you need to light up something during an ad hoc S&R or merely to check on elderly neighbors following a weather emergency.

One critical consideration under circumstances such as you describe is the ability for the light to tail stand like a candle and bounce a beam off of the ceiling. It should be rock solid stable with a nice flat base. The TK-45 runs on 8 AA batteries which may seem unwieldy but has a couple of advantages in an emergency. Since you will be storing this light for (possibly) months or more Lithium chemistry batteries (primaries, not rechargeables) pack more power and have a much longer shelf life than alkalines. Lithium batteries are hard to find in C or D cell size but easy to find in AA size.

From my experience several weeks ago with an extended power outage I found (predictably) that the comfort of having a readily available battery size was negligible because people pretty much empty the stores out of all C, D and AA batteries in the two days before the storm. Best to have an emergency supply of batteries on hand. Again, lithium primaries really shine here (long long shelf life). I would also propose that you reconsider rechargeables. Let me explain...

I went through very few primaries during the 5 day outage mostly because within 24 hours of the storm I was able to drive to locations that had power. This may not be the case for you but if it is, a good battery charger can top off rechargables pretty quickly off of borrowed power. I also made use of the charger socket in my car. You can recharge quite a few flashlight batteries before you put your car battery at risk for serious depletion. And naturally you can recharge your car battery with the car's alternator. If you really never use a flashlight except during power outages, however, you might be right that the rechargeable infrastructure isn't for you.

In any case, best of luck.

TK60. TK41 is still good but TK60 would pack more serious power. You can buy those 2AA->D adapters and use 8 x AA if you run out of D size.

http://www.fenixlight.com/viewnproduct.asp?id=95

With NiMH 9000 mAh you are looking at about 400hrs at 10 lumens. Alkalines if i am not wrong are even higher in capacity but only when you slowly squeeze the juice out (ie low current), when you require them to deliver the amps their capacity loses big time. But I guess 10L and 110L is absolutely perfect for the best alkalines and you should even get longer run times. You can survive through 2 months with your 6hrs / night requirement. 0.1 lumens stuff are not that useful in a true blackout, actually it is very stressful to do things at that low a level unless the situation requires that (eg tactical usage, in which you probably would black tape and bring that down to 0.01L or maybe even lower)

Do check out HKequipment, i can't post the link here though. They always offer really good prices for Fenix, esp since you are from Australia. (USA stores, you need to factor in the shipping as well, probably $30 or so for such a light....USA customers usually get "free" shipping as its already factorered in). Email them directly, do not go through their web or Ebay store.

If I were in your situation, this is what I would get:

One (or two) of these:
http://www.xtgtechnology.com/AA-and...ging-Cell-Phones-iPodsmp3s-and-More_p_26.html

Two of these:
http://www.zebralight.com/H51F-AA-Floody-Headlamp_p_44.html

One of these:
http://www.sunwayman.com/html/products/201005/26.html

And a dozen of these:
http://us.sanyo.com/Battery-Products/XX-AA-4-Pack
(A dozen batteries, not a dozen 4-packs of batteries.)

Plenty of light for the night, batteries can be topped of during the day, no risk of corrosion (alkaline batteries are terrible for "disaster kits"...terrible period).



I might also add one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0045WFX7O/?tag=cpf0b6-20
(and another 8 batteries for it)

Quarks have excellent runtimes especially in the lower modes. i use mine as a nightlight and it will remain on the entire night, and i can keep doing this all week long without having to recharge my eneloops. we just recently had a typhoon here in the Philippines and power was out for the greater part of the day, my quark served us well, of course i also have other lights like my lumintop L1C and my Fenix Tk35 (which is excellent because of its 109 lumen / 16-hour runtime) you may want to consider more than just AA C or D for better runtimes. 18650's run really well (both bright and long)

dosei-45 said:

Plenty of light for the night, batteries can be topped of during the day, no risk of corrosion (alkaline batteries are terrible for "disaster kits"...terrible period).

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Well you are not supposed to put the Alkalines into the light and let them sit there for a couple of years. LOL! You put them "outside", and insert them when there is a need. Meanwhile you use rechargeables or whatever. Like for my photography usage (earn $$ from that), I have 4 packs of 4 x AA for my flashlights and they easily last 3-4 years in the bag. "Emergency use", in case i made a mistake to charge properly (not that i have forgotten to charge).

Or you can get 2AA -> D adapters and use Lithium AAs like Energizer Ultimate Lithiums, if you really need a light that just "turns on" in a sudden emergency.

Or just the TK41 with 8 x AA and lithiums.

I'm no expert, but I think a lot of the suggestions you are getting are way overkill for what you have described. Basically, you are looking for a general all-purpose around the house light, which would occasionally be used to walk around outside in the dark.

a) You don't need long throw. If anything, you would prefer a "floody" light in the house -- something that illuminates a wider area rather than a pencil beam. This means that you don't need a large lens.

b) You need a light with at least two modes: a bright mode for outdoors and at least one low mode (for reading at night or conserving battery power indoors).

c) You don't need massively long run times because you are using the lights at home where you can have a drawer full of batteries on hand. As long as you can change the batteries, a run time of 5 hours and a run time of 10 hours and a run time of 100 hours are functionally equivalent.

d) You can get everything you need in a light powered by AA or AAA batteries, with the additional abilty to keep a couple of sets of lithium batteries in your emergency kit -- very long run times and very long shelf times.

e) I think you'll find that, if the power goes out, you would rather have two smaller lights than one super expensive light. That way you can leave one in the kitchen while you take the other to the bathroom. You might consider one with two AA batteries and another with one AA battery or even one AAA battery that can be used on a keychain. Or get a couple of AA lights, one for the kitchen drawer, one for your car. Both can be pressed into service during a power outage.

Just to pick one brand, the Fenix E05, LD01, E11, E21, LD 25, LD10, and LD20 are all lights that would fall into these categories. The 2-AA lights are all plenty bright to do everything you want. Something like any combination of LD25, E21, and/or E11 would be excellent.

I'm just giving you the Fenix models because I'm sure they are available in Australia and they are easy to lookup on line. The newer MAGLIGHT LEDs are fantatic for this sort of stuff, too. Either the XL50 or XL200 in a AAA light or the latest Cree MiniMag LED in a AA version. All of these models can stand up on their tails and have the lens removed to light up an entire room like a candle -- a very handy feature in a power outage. All of these also have bright and low modes. In the US, the MiniMag LED can be purchased for under $20 and the XL50 for under $30. They would last forever in the uses you are describing. both have deep smooth reflectors and can throw a narrow beam a long way outdoors compared to most small pocket size AAA or AA lights.

hwc - thing is, you can tailstand the throwers for usage in the house. In fact I have been doing this for my TK70 for literally several hundred hours now (as I have been pushing this light to be able to use 2 x LiCo). If you want a "closer" light, just wrap a very thin ply of tissue paper on the head and secure with rubber band, like your photo flashes.

If one don't want overkill, get the Smallsun 4 x D models on Manafont. 16 bucks shipped. Think it's XR-E....not too bad at least it's Cree! If you want flood, there are flood to throw "zoomies". If you want smaller AA, there are zoomies around too. Get a mix, budgetlights are fun.

You can get 4 flashlights and quite a lot of D cells for $100 for the whole system, and better redundancy than say a single Fenix.

Long run times flashlights like TK41, TK60, TK70 are good for a reason. You can choose to have 400hrs, 300hrs, 200hrs or 100hrs, and then you vary the intensity accordingly. I am sure the family prefers a 20 lumen light, than a 0.2 lumen light (only good for really upclose stuff). As for having a full drawer of batteries on hand in the house, that's a good idea but make sure it is well and properly stocked. It is all too easy for someone to "borrow" the AA for the remote or some other devices and not buy and return it. Unless if you are stocking like 20 packs of 16-cells/pack. LOL!

So all bases are actually covered.

2100 said:

hwc - thing is, you can tailstand the throwers for usage in the house. In fact I have been doing this for my TK70 for literally several hundred hours now

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Oh sure. And you can drive a tractor/trailer semi truck to the grocery store, but...

The TK70 is a $230 flashlight that is gigantic. I really don't think the original poster needs a 2200 lumen light for indoor use during a power outage!

400 hours without changing the batteries? At six hours per night, that's a two month power outage! I think that the hassle of changing batteries in his flashlight is going to be the least of his inconvenience if his power is out for more than two months!

hwc said:

Oh sure. And you can drive a tractor/trailer semi truck to the grocery store, but...

The TK70 is a $230 flashlight that is gigantic. I really don't think the original poster needs a 2200 lumen light for indoor use during a power outage!

400 hours without changing the batteries? At six hours per night, that's a two month power outage! I think that the hassle of changing batteries in his flashlight is going to be the least of his inconvenience if his power is out for more than two months!

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Of course you have points in your own right. You also mentioned "indoor use".

Well, pls do re-read the first post as you might have missed stuff. I do believe OP said (1) Bright, need to be enough for rescue (ie outdoors) and help the neighbours. (2) Size is not an issue. (3) Dependable + Durable. Well the last point i guess is debatable, so i'll leave it to one's imagination and comfort level since he did say search+rescue/emergency situations....and not only a black-out light.

Also a 4th point which the OP mentioned but did not go into details or specifics, (4) Cyclone, ie wind + water. You want a IPX8 light, a good one should you hit the need to go outside during the storm or even after the storm (floods or stuff) with water damage to property and lingering floods. If you are going to be ready for an emergency, it is better to be over-prepared. Subject to budget of course. That is when your good IPX8 flashlight really kicks into use. Budget lights do perform, but usually lack in this area. I have like coming to over 50 budget lights already.

400hrs at 10 lumens is just a ballpark figure. He mentioned 48hrs minimum. So that's like 90 lumens for 48hrs if we scale it. Just in case we better spec it to be double so that's 96hrs. Murphy's Law man. What if the cells are not that good already? We need the "buffeR". So that's definitely not a lot.

So I am not like answering from a flashaholic's dream, BIG BIG and BRIGHT BRIGHT and must be branded. (actually do check out BLF, I dig budget lights).

But anyway I have also listed some budget lights options. But seriously if he does value the need for a dependable light, having 2 x TK60 and backed up by 2 budget lights, or any other combination, is not out of the question. Not sure about the budget though, so throwing some ideas around. Some guys here buy stuff in much more quantity/quality than that, of course then they are flashaholics/enthusiasts.

Oh yes, if i may share with your the story of my Jap colleague who happened to be affected by the March earthquake/tsunami, a long running light is a must. It's not easy to find the batteries. Even when you are relocated, the first few nights is literally blacked out....so it's a good number of hours. You don't even know where you are aiming if you are out in the open answering nature's call!

LightWalker said:

The Gerber Recon or Infinity Ultra will run many hours on an AA or AAA battery, they have a spring at both ends. The Fenix E01 is a good AAA light with good runtime, these two lights are very affordable but only one level, You will probably want something brighter as well, The Quark and Zebralight offerings will provide bright output as well as low lows (moonlight mode).

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+1!!!!!
My Infinity Ultra was my most used light during the many weeks of power outage that we suffered through after Ike... Truly all you need to get around, and you can let the kids use it without fear of it being destroyed when you get it back...

From my experience, I much prefer a headlamp in situations where the power is out. For hanging around home, a tail standing light is great, but for doing any kind of work with your hands, a headlamp is invaluable.
This again, is simply my preference.
I have a few headlamps by Zebra light, Princeton Tec, etc. but my recent favorite is the Spark ST6-460NW. This headlamp takes both 18650 rechargeable and CR123 primaries. With the frosted lens in, it is a great flood light. I would prefer the dimmest setting to be dimmer, but it is a great light. I would also recommend going to lithium batteries for any emergency light and I keep lithium AA and AAA in all my lights that are going to sit and wait for an "Oh Crap!" to happen. Shelf life is better than alkaline, they don't leak, and they are lighter in weight.
I prefer the neutral colors for emergency lights because they render color better, which is a nice thing to have when dealing with wounds, skin color (is someone actually pale or is it my light?).
Flood will serve your purpose much better than a laser that punches through the darkness to illuminate one tiny spot far away.
Specs on this headlamp are as follows:
Super: 460lm/1.4hours (will never use it)
Max: 300lm/2.5hours (will hardly ever use it)
Med1: 140lm/8hours (almost too bright with night adapted eyes)
Med2: 45lm/28hours (lot's of light for a long time. Very useful level)
Low: 8lm/8days (with night adapted eyes, it's bright enough for close up work i.e. within a room in a house)

I have 4 or 5 power outage flashlights distributed throughout the house: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?251693-Superbrightleds.com-s-PR2-W1-WVR

$6/ea, last-all-night-and-then-some runtime.

You could also put a PR2-W1-WVR in a standard 2xD cell light and the thing could run all night for a week. At least.

So my big "aha" moment with flashlights during an extended power outage came when I realized that I wasn't just going to have to tough it through one night but rather attempt a sense of partial normalcy living in a house designed to function with electricity. I've always endeavored to keep most of the house dark (that is WITH power!) and keep one or two rooms reasonably well lit at night. There is no doubt that I can easily maneuver in the dark rooms with around 20-30 lumens of light. When I'm done with my task, however, I return to the well lit rooms. With no well lit rooms in a power outage, the aforementioned partial normalcy is missing. Remember folks I'm not talking about minimal survival situations but rather nominal comfort during a long power outage. For me, a light that I can burn for a minimum of 3 hours (5 ideally) at 200+ lumens becomes an immense comfort and allows me my one well lit room.

shao.fu.tzer said:

+1!!!!!
My Infinity Ultra was my most used light during the many weeks of power outage that we suffered through after Ike... Truly all you need to get around, and you can let the kids use it without fear of it being destroyed when you get it back...

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I like the fact that they will run on an AA or AAA, most remotes and many kids toys will have one or the other. The new Inova X1 is a good affordable AA light, I've seen them at Target for less than $20, it has a 6 lumen low with a 40 hour advertised runtime and a 55 lumen high for 1.75 hours.

http://www.inovalight.com/x/compare.php

WOW.....what a forum thanks folks. Lots of great suggestions which I have started wading through

I like the idea of this one http://www.amazon.com/CREE-Lumens-Mu...pr_product_top suggested by dosie-45 only Amazon won't ship this one to Australia. This style will service one of the application nicely.....just gotta find a supplier that will ship to Australia.

Will keep looking through the other suggestion and drill down on the torch for emergency applications with a throw.

Thanks for getting me heading on the right tracks!!!:twothumbs

Regards,

Fleetz

Try Coleman, Black Diamond, Dorcy, Energizer, Rayovac, etc. There are a lot of them out there. I know Coleman has a presence in Australia.

http://www.colemanaustralia.com.au/

http://www.colemanaustralia.com.au/Gear/Lighting/Electric-Lighting/Electric-Lighting.aspx

http://www.colemanaustralia.com.au/...away-and-headlamps/4aa-pack-away-lantern.aspx

http://www.colemanaustralia.com.au/...y-And-Headlamps/4D-LED-Pack-Away-Lantern.aspx

REI has several:

http://www.rei.com/category/4500056

Any store/website that caters to the needs/desires of backpackers will have them...