Power out

Got up at 3 am turned my little aaa light and came downstairs as usual 2 make coffee and discovered the power was out. Time 2 play with my lights:thumbsup: Happy the power is out? I must be nuts!:sick2: But, it came on less than a Hr. later. Oh well, can't win'em all. Just glad i wasn't doing a break-in.

Keith- who used 2 hate it when the power went out.

Thats 2 bad. Gud 4 u havin a gud flaslite. It nice 2 have power outage sumtimes. It r fun

I'm the same way. We had our share of power outages last year with the hurricanes and Halloween snow. Loved every minute of it. Fired up the generator and had the flashlights available.

Wish we would have more!

jamesmtl514 said:

Thats 2 bad. Gud 4 u havin a gud flaslite. It nice 2 have power outage sumtimes. It r fun

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Yea, it R nice then i went and 8 some fuuud 4 about 3 hrs. Glad u enjoyed mi adventure. Nice 2 share with pee-pel woo fel yor joey

itguy07 said:

Fired up the generator and had the flashlights available.

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Isn't the proper flashaholic procedure to fire up the flashlights and have the generator available? :twothumbs

Dr. Strangelove said:

Isn't the proper flashaholic procedure to fire up the flashlights and have the generator available? :twothumbs

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Nonono, the very first procedure is: unlock your flashlight arsenal and being confused and frustrated about which set of light you should use this time

I am enjoying most of the power outages as well

I think it's the best to have outages on spring or fall, cuz in winter the heating goes out and in da summer the air conditioning stops...

Power outages have been a lot more fun ever since I started beefing up my flashlight game.

Big step up from the candles only days :candle:

Doesn't matter to me when we have a power outage but I'd prefer the winter....

We've got a 5.5kw continuous generator and a plethora of extension cords. Can run a couple 1500w space heaters on gen power. Also have a 10k BTU Kerosene heater in the basement. During the Halloween Snow this year our power was off all afternoon and all night (came on at 5am). With 1 space heater running in our bedroom it was nice and toasty. Having plenty of flashlights and a cache of batteries made it bearable.

In the summer there's no way to run the central AC off the generator (not powerful enough) and I can't stand sweating when I'm sleeping.

That being said, I have an emergency plan that goes something like this:

1. 2 days before a storm charge all batteries
2. 1 day before, fill the generator and gas cans, and cars.
3. a few more things.

Now that I have a couple high powered flashlights it will be like we turned on the lights no matter the power outage! The TK45 will light up a room almost like a 75w bulb in a desk lamp!

yliu said:

I am enjoying most of the power outages as well

I think it's the best to have outages on spring or fall, cuz in winter the heating goes out and in da summer the air conditioning stops...

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Good point. I installed a little gas heater in the living area for just such a event. Its a little 15-25000 BTU that has kept our butts warm more than a few times during outages.

Keith

my power was out yesterday. i had lights tailstanded all over the place aimed at the ceiling.

itguy07 said:

1. 2 days before a storm charge all batteries

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Not every causes of power outages can be predictable.. for unpredictable ones, having charged Eneloops or Energizer Lithium's for all of your AA lights is best way to avoid having no light

Not every causes of power outages can be predictable.. for unpredictable ones, having charged Eneloops or Energizer Lithium's for all of your AA lights is best way to avoid having no light

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So true. Most of my stash is Eneloop or other LSD battery. I do keep a large pack of Alkalines on hand just in case. I've got a charged car jump start battery, an inverter and an Energizer 15 minute charger just in case. Also have a generator (with 10 gallons of gas waiting for it) and a kerosene heater.

So I could care less if the power goes out - we've lost it a bit with the storms this year and we've been cozy. My wife even made the comment during one of them - "You love this, don't you?" Heck yeah! It's important to be reminded of how to make do with little.

Shadowww said:

Not every causes of power outages can be predictable.. for unpredictable ones, having charged Eneloops or Energizer Lithium's for all of your AA lights is best way to avoid having no light

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I assume most western family in power outage region would have at least one car(power outage seldom occurs in skyscraper-zone/dense population zone)
Car charger could be good in case they dont have a generator.

itguy07 said:

So true. Most of my stash is Eneloop or other LSD battery. I do keep a large pack of Alkalines on hand just in case. I've got a charged car jump start battery, an inverter and an Energizer 15 minute charger just in case. Also have a generator (with 10 gallons of gas waiting for it) and a kerosene heater.

So I could care less if the power goes out - we've lost it a bit with the storms this year and we've been cozy. My wife even made the comment during one of them - "You love this, don't you?" Heck yeah! It's important to be reminded of how to make do with little.

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15-minute charger would kill the cell, most likely
Even if not, it wouldnt be long-lasting
Imagine a 4C charging current pumping electron into the light

For those with good sized generators, rather than a space heater, a dual mode portable A/C unit is a better option. $400 or so for the bigger ones. They have both heat and cooling capabilities and will generally keep up to 500-600 sq feet livable. Or an average bedroom cold enough to see your breath in summer or hot enough to sweat in winter. We have a couple just in case, take about 15 min to hook up.

jh333233 said:

15-minute charger would kill the cell, most likely
Even if not, it wouldnt be long-lasting
Imagine a 4C charging current pumping electron into the light

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I've got the Energizer one which from what I read on here isn't as hard on the cells as you would think. I've used it on and off over the years and my cells don't seem the worse for the wear. The junk cells (Duracell 2500's and Energizers from years ago) all are still junk and the Eneloops are fine.

I figure in a pinch it's worth it. After an extended outage I can always "treat" the cells to a break-in on the Maha!

jh333233 said:

I assume most western family in power outage region would have at least one car(power outage seldom occurs in skyscraper-zone/dense population zone)
Car charger could be good in case they dont have a generator.

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I put a 15 watt panel on top of my van hooked up with a Battery minder (not tender) with a desulphator, reverse blocking diode. It kicks in at 12.7 v and stops at 13.7v. My van sits a lot and this works great to keep battery topped up as well as being able to charge NIMH.
Keith

jh333233 said:

I assume most western family in power outage region would have at least one car(power outage seldom occurs in skyscraper-zone/dense population zone)
Car charger could be good in case they dont have a generator.

Click to expand...

I used a rayovac 1 hour charger in 2007 with a car cord on it but now I have 2 duracell mobile chargers with car cords. The 15 minute chargers are harder on batteries and with the fan and heat produced I figure they are less efficient also. I would typically be charging batteries when driving around to pick up stuff like food and ice for my cooler. I did like that I could put the charger on top of the dash and watch the charge indicators from inside the house.

We had some extreme winds a few months ago. The power went out just minutes before I normally get out from bed, so I got up right away, fired up my Zebra SC51c and ate my usual workday bowl of cereals. I got in the shower right after that with the Zebra tailstanding. First time I took a shower by flashlight ever. The power was back before I got back home from work, so I didn't have to fetch the camping stove.

Since it's already being mentioned, I have a Motomaster power box with 3 AC and 2 USB outputs, plus the booster cable setup -can't remember how many crank amps, but it's the biggest I could find. Oh, and it also has a flashlight on the front end (trying to keep things on topic here ) I usually use that for charging my camera and PSP when I go camping, but I figured it was worth it, especially at 60% rebate, since it can power my PSP and charge batteries during power outages and also boost my car in case of need.