Stress_Test
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2008
- Messages
- 1,334
It's been a bit over a year since the multi-day, regional power outage that struck here after some big storms went through. I wrote a thread about it back then (it was called "5 nights with no power" or something like that). Here just recently, we had another localized power outage, due to a critter that got fried in a substation, that lasted about an hour, so I thought I'd share some notes on this one too.
It was about 9pm or so, and I was in the kitchen. There wasn't much warning; the light dimmed for about half a second, then poof! My first thought was "oh great, here we go again!" My second thought was, "what now smart guy?!" since I don't keep a light in the kitchen, and I didn't have one on me. I had to laugh at the irony that despite having a dozen or so decent lights, I didn't have one within reach when I needed it!
I thought I'd left one on the dining table in the next room though, so I very slowly and carefully made my way there and ran my hands over the table (it was completely pitch black, especially since my eyes hadn't time to adjust). I had indeed left a light there: a first generation Mini-Mag LED!! More irony! I had been dinking around with it just for old-times sake since it was my first attempt to purchase a "good" light back in 2008. This is the MiniMag with the cursed "sudden death" shut-off when the batteries get low, so after turning it on, I made my way quickly over to the staircase where I keep another old-school Mag, a 3D with the LuxIII module. Old school, but good for times just like this. My "good" lights were almost all upstairs, by the way.
I took a minute to get my bearings now that my immediate lighting needs were met. Went around and switched things off so they wouldn't get zapped in a surge when the power came back. Weapons and ammo check; we've been having a dramatic increase in robberies and break-ins lately in my city, so better safe than sorry. Gathered up the high-powered SHTF lights and placed in strategic locations. TK30 in second bedroom which faces the street. TK11 and TK12 in the master bedroom which faces the back lot area. The rationale being that in the event of a disturbance, riot, whatever, I'd be able to light up the front or back outside area if needed.
I took two Fenix E01s and used them for general area lights, one upstairs in the master bedroom, tailstanding, and the other one placed on the staircase, pointing towards the front door, the idea being that in the event of unwelcome visitors, they'd already be illuminated without me having to actually have a light in hand. I used only these low power lights because I didn't want to attract attention by having a bunch of light show through the windows, and because I'd learned last year that it's best to use minimal light inside in order to better see what's happening outside.
With the basics covered, I settled down in the second bedroom (overlooking the street out front) to observe what was going on outside. It was overcast, but the other areas of the city had power still, so there was some sky glow from light pollution. It was still very, very dim though. I didn't do any running around outside this time, because my allergies were acting up and I was feeling under the weather.
At this point, I wish I could've reported that the local neighbors learned their lesson from last year's week without power, but alas, that didn't seem to be the case. I saw a couple of people moving down the sidewalk with what appeared to be a D-cell incan of some sort, with nearly dead batteries; the beam was extremely weak. Another local resident, a girl in her late teens, and her friend, drove up and got out of the car with what looked like one of those 8 5-mm led cluster lights, the kind that run on 3AAA and are sold for a few bucks at the checkout counter. It had better output than the couple with the incan, at least. They also had only the one light between the two of them. Next I saw a guy across the street, with one little kid, moving down the sidewalk with no light at all! Not even a cell phone. With no cars going by or anything I could just barely make out their outlines when they were moving. When they stopped I couldn't see them at all. I guess they could see enough at least to make their way to their front door. I can't imagine walking around like that out there in near total darkness, especially with a little kid too. I suppose they had come home and didn't have a light in the car (surprise), but you'd think they would've pulled the car up to the curb in front of the building so the car's lights could at least give some illumination for them to get inside and lay their hands on a flashlight, candle, zippo, whatever.
I don't see how, in view of last year's terrible storms and the lengthy power outage, that people didn't seem to take even the simplest preparation to have decent emergency lighting. I mean, 10 minutes worth of searching on the internet would've shown them that there are lights well above and beyond their old half-dead incans or the el-cheapo $3 5mm led. And local stores such as Home Depot, Lowes, and even Target carry decent lights that are much better than the old junk I saw in use. We even had a state tax-free day on the purchase of emergency preparedness items (including flashlights) for the very purpose of raising awareness and increasing preparation, but apparently not everyone got the message.
On the positive side however, my parents got some good usage out of some of the lights I had given them. One of them was a multi-mode (Rebel LED) Mini-Mag that I got cheap during a Black Friday sale. My dad said he used that one to take a shower, and discovered that even the high mode has some pulse width modulation going on, which surprised me.
Anyway, the duration of this power outage was short, at least. After about an hour and a half, the power came back on. This outage was much less dramatic than the last one, but again proved that relatively basic, simple lights (by our standards at least) are really all you need for general indoor use in such situations, where as the fancy high-power stuff is more for emergencies or just playing around (though I would want the higher powered stuff for outside use). The E01s and the old Mag LEDs were the only lights I used this time. It was nice to have the others on standby if needed though!
It was about 9pm or so, and I was in the kitchen. There wasn't much warning; the light dimmed for about half a second, then poof! My first thought was "oh great, here we go again!" My second thought was, "what now smart guy?!" since I don't keep a light in the kitchen, and I didn't have one on me. I had to laugh at the irony that despite having a dozen or so decent lights, I didn't have one within reach when I needed it!
I thought I'd left one on the dining table in the next room though, so I very slowly and carefully made my way there and ran my hands over the table (it was completely pitch black, especially since my eyes hadn't time to adjust). I had indeed left a light there: a first generation Mini-Mag LED!! More irony! I had been dinking around with it just for old-times sake since it was my first attempt to purchase a "good" light back in 2008. This is the MiniMag with the cursed "sudden death" shut-off when the batteries get low, so after turning it on, I made my way quickly over to the staircase where I keep another old-school Mag, a 3D with the LuxIII module. Old school, but good for times just like this. My "good" lights were almost all upstairs, by the way.
I took a minute to get my bearings now that my immediate lighting needs were met. Went around and switched things off so they wouldn't get zapped in a surge when the power came back. Weapons and ammo check; we've been having a dramatic increase in robberies and break-ins lately in my city, so better safe than sorry. Gathered up the high-powered SHTF lights and placed in strategic locations. TK30 in second bedroom which faces the street. TK11 and TK12 in the master bedroom which faces the back lot area. The rationale being that in the event of a disturbance, riot, whatever, I'd be able to light up the front or back outside area if needed.
I took two Fenix E01s and used them for general area lights, one upstairs in the master bedroom, tailstanding, and the other one placed on the staircase, pointing towards the front door, the idea being that in the event of unwelcome visitors, they'd already be illuminated without me having to actually have a light in hand. I used only these low power lights because I didn't want to attract attention by having a bunch of light show through the windows, and because I'd learned last year that it's best to use minimal light inside in order to better see what's happening outside.
With the basics covered, I settled down in the second bedroom (overlooking the street out front) to observe what was going on outside. It was overcast, but the other areas of the city had power still, so there was some sky glow from light pollution. It was still very, very dim though. I didn't do any running around outside this time, because my allergies were acting up and I was feeling under the weather.
At this point, I wish I could've reported that the local neighbors learned their lesson from last year's week without power, but alas, that didn't seem to be the case. I saw a couple of people moving down the sidewalk with what appeared to be a D-cell incan of some sort, with nearly dead batteries; the beam was extremely weak. Another local resident, a girl in her late teens, and her friend, drove up and got out of the car with what looked like one of those 8 5-mm led cluster lights, the kind that run on 3AAA and are sold for a few bucks at the checkout counter. It had better output than the couple with the incan, at least. They also had only the one light between the two of them. Next I saw a guy across the street, with one little kid, moving down the sidewalk with no light at all! Not even a cell phone. With no cars going by or anything I could just barely make out their outlines when they were moving. When they stopped I couldn't see them at all. I guess they could see enough at least to make their way to their front door. I can't imagine walking around like that out there in near total darkness, especially with a little kid too. I suppose they had come home and didn't have a light in the car (surprise), but you'd think they would've pulled the car up to the curb in front of the building so the car's lights could at least give some illumination for them to get inside and lay their hands on a flashlight, candle, zippo, whatever.
I don't see how, in view of last year's terrible storms and the lengthy power outage, that people didn't seem to take even the simplest preparation to have decent emergency lighting. I mean, 10 minutes worth of searching on the internet would've shown them that there are lights well above and beyond their old half-dead incans or the el-cheapo $3 5mm led. And local stores such as Home Depot, Lowes, and even Target carry decent lights that are much better than the old junk I saw in use. We even had a state tax-free day on the purchase of emergency preparedness items (including flashlights) for the very purpose of raising awareness and increasing preparation, but apparently not everyone got the message.
On the positive side however, my parents got some good usage out of some of the lights I had given them. One of them was a multi-mode (Rebel LED) Mini-Mag that I got cheap during a Black Friday sale. My dad said he used that one to take a shower, and discovered that even the high mode has some pulse width modulation going on, which surprised me.
Anyway, the duration of this power outage was short, at least. After about an hour and a half, the power came back on. This outage was much less dramatic than the last one, but again proved that relatively basic, simple lights (by our standards at least) are really all you need for general indoor use in such situations, where as the fancy high-power stuff is more for emergencies or just playing around (though I would want the higher powered stuff for outside use). The E01s and the old Mag LEDs were the only lights I used this time. It was nice to have the others on standby if needed though!
