Hurricane Charley & Emergency Lighting ???

To any CPF members who were victims of Hurricane Charley: What Emergency Lighting items (i.e. flashlights, light sticks, etc.) did you use to help you and your family post-hurricane, especially if you lost power to your home?

What emergency lighting products worked best, and what lighting items did not work as expected?

What changes, if any, would you make to your emergency lighting stock in the future?

I think it might be useful to hear about what emergency lighting worked best, and what worked "not so good," in a "real life" disaster situation.

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Stay Safe!

Really looking forward to folks' answers here - my buddy in Tampa is a non-flashaholic, but looking for suggestions since they just dodged a bullet there...I've got some suggestions but would love to hear what worked best for folks in the middle of it.
Dave

well i lost power for a couple of days and the light i used most was my vip. most of the time i had the head off in candle mode to light up a room. on low it was plenty of light to get around and see what u were doing.

Here's a little recap of my Hurricane Charley Experience... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Hurricane Charley = Jerk

You may not be getting many resonses yet because most folks do not have electricity yet. My electricity came on just a couple hours ago, been without for almost three days and many, many people are still without.

Thanks to Charlie's VIP, DSpecks FF, and McGizmo's PR917 I was able to light the way.

The McGizmo PR-T 917 was literally a life saver when my father, who has emphysema and needs oxygen to breath, called me Friday night. His oxygen making machine went off [along with the electricity] and he could not see well enough to hook up the regulator to one of his backup oxygen tanks.

I had to drive a few miles, in the worst of the hurricane, dodging downed trees and wires, but I got there in time and had him back on Oxygen with the help of the 917.

Thanks to all the great Modders out there, and a special thanks to Don for helping to save a life.

Central Florida has not seen this type of hurricane damage since 1960, I hope it is at least another 44 years before we see it again.

Well, I'm a few miles north of Daytona Beach and the hurricane passed right over us. I won't go into the details of damage, it's too depressing! I have a new respect for a few lights after 4 days without power and water (I have a well). Here's my "lifesaving list".
1. Arc LS-H , for pocketability and quick lighting in the dark (carried an extra CR123 also). Great light.
2. UK4AA LED, my night light with long runtime, for reading and general navigation. I usually use NiMH's, but this one ran off alkalines for 4 nights of intermittent usage. Another great light, LONG runtime, good for very dark situations.
3. Streamlight Jr Lux, with NiMH, for walking the dog and general short time illumation. I just like the size and the fact that it runs on 2 AA NiMH cells.
4. Streamlight 4AA 7LED for reading (I loaned out a few), worked great on NiMH. My wife carried one of these to bed each night. Great lights, nice flood for getting around the dark house. long runtime.
5. Shorelight VX2 on lowest setting was absolutely fantastic for an all night sleeping nightlight! I never liked this light, but it was a star in the blackness. A FINE light for emergency use!!!
6. Homemade 6AA mag/LUXIII to show the tree guys and the power company the damage at night. Short life but BRIGHT!
And lastly,
7. E2e/KL1 with Q3J and Fraen optic for my personal use, filling buckets in the river behind my house, using the bathroom, grabbing a beer from the cooler, etc.
The only thing I regret is not owning a lux headlamp. It would have been much easier filling buckets, hooking up generators, and doing just about anything with a bright headlamp. It will certainly be my next purchase. This week I have another JR and a SL4AA coming in, a little late for the hurricane, but I need them for the cars.

If nothing else, I learned that 123 powered lights are limited in their runtime, you don't need that kind of brightness in the pitch dark. I did use my E2e/KL1, but only in short bursts. The real winners are the lower powered AA lights (I have a MAHA cig lighter charger). They were plenty bright for everything I needed to do when it was so dark.
Rob

Robk, do you have any kind of headlamp? I've always felt my PT Aurora (3x5mm led) is bright enough for most anything I want a headlamp for. But maybe I'm missing something.

For long runtime, the Anglelux or Blaster 1R are interesting alternatives to the UK 4AA. I'd sure like to see a low cost version.

Good thread. sounds like most experiences confirmed what alot of us already know. In an emergency it's the dimmer long runtime lights often see more use.

Which to me begs the question, since 123 cells have very long shelf life and don't leak like akalines, which 123 powered lights have the longest runtimes?

GregR

The Arc4+ runs for 100+ hours on 1x123 at level 16. Is that really what you wanted to know? Personally I think if you want a runtime champion, you're better off using good old D cells. The 1 watt Anglelux or Blaster 1R will run for 30 hours or so on two alkaline D's.

paulr, no I don't own a headlamp, thta will be my next purchase!

Double_A we need to document long runtime 123 lights. I have 96 NiMH AA's which served me well, but I also have about 60 123's, but didn't know what to put them in! I always have 20 or 30 AAA's, AA's and D's Alkaline for backup. Believe me, they came in handy - my kid's flashlights are LuxI and III powerered by D cells. I prefer AA's, cheap and readily available.
Rob

[ QUOTE ]
paulr said:
The Arc4+ runs for 100+ hours on 1x123 at level 16. Is that really what you wanted to know? Personally I think if you want a runtime champion, you're better off using good old D cells. The 1 watt Anglelux or Blaster 1R will run for 30 hours or so on two alkaline D's.

[/ QUOTE ]

Paul,

No, I'm not interested in expensive semi-custom made lights, like the ARC 4 (which I have never owned).

This thread was started out offering practical information and I'd like to keep it that way. I have one of the AngleLux 1 watters and gave a second one to my dad, they serve me well. I also have several of the UK eLEDS that are very nice and run off of AA's. But I like to stash away lights for extended periods. 123 cells are seem better suited for this purpose. I've had far too many lights ruined when regular alkalines leaked.

Perhaps I should point out my sig line below which I've had since the beginning it explains my philosophy....

I don't know what this thing is with alkalines leaking. Maybe you're using the wrong brands. Or is it a matter of temperature extremes? I haven't had serious problems with alkalines leaking, especially in larger sizes like D's.

There are also L91 AA lithiums, which are a bit pricy but give you the flexibility to use AA lights. A CMG Ultra is supposed to run 20+ hours on an L91.

I'm not in Florida, but own a Streamlight Twin Task 2L (takes 2 123's) and it has a very long run time.

I haven't tested the manufacturers claim of 28 hours on the 3 led's or the 2 1/2 hours on the xenon, but would imagine it's pretty close.

Roy's runtime plots have it's brother the ST TT 3C (3 led) at 33 hours 36 minutes.

Ok, back on topic.

Mike

[ QUOTE ]
paulr said:
I don't know what this thing is with alkalines leaking. Maybe you're using the wrong brands. Or is it a matter of temperature extremes? I haven't had serious problems with alkalines leaking, especially in larger sizes like D's.

Wow either you've had great luck or mine has been rotten. about every two years I lose a flashlight due to alkaline cell leakage (Duracell or Energizer). The last one was a PT Attitude, but I've lost a couple AA maglights, a AAA maglight and a couple D cell lights in the last 7 or 8 years. A couple were in my truck, but the rest were stored indoors in a drawer or shelf.

I did have great luck with the lithium AA's they lasted 10 years in storage and still powered my Icom 2m/440 HT just fine.

GregR

From what I understand from news reports, there are still hundreds of thousands of people without power, so I think we should receive more and more feedback to this thread as additional CPF members get their "juice" restored.

Something for the "next" time....

Something else I can offer as a suggestion is what my Dad calls his electric candle.

About 10 years ago he purchased an emergency light from one of those tiny ads in the back of Popular Science. He spent $8 on what was a battery holder with an amber LED. He liked it so much I made up well over fifteen of them for him to give away.

These are real simple and consist of a 2-D cell holder one of the ultrabright amber LEDs and a current limiting resistor. I simply drill two tiny holes throught the plastic on top of the holder and drop the leds leads through the holes, after a very fast check of polarity. Bend one side toward the contact and solder. Solder the appropriate resistor to the other lead and then the free end of the resistor to the other contact. (I usually do this on the spring side since there is more clearance for resistor on that side.) There is no switch, I slide a thin piece of plastic from a pop bottle between the battery and contact to turn it off.

This works great and lasts a long time!

GregR

P.S. I have used White LED's, but they require three cells, whereas Amder uses only two. Tip on soldering...the plastic on these holders can melt easy. If you find when soldering the contact the plastic softens, insert a battery on that one side before soldering, the battery absorbs heat and supports the contact.

Amber leds are pretty dim though. Using three cells and a white led sounds more promising. Also, for those who want to use lithium: two L91 AA lithium cells (they are 1.6-1.7 volts or so) should be able to run a 5mm white or green led at useable brightness for more than a week nonstop.

Another thing you can do is get one of those 2AA headlamps at Walmart for <$10, and put in an amber LS. Can be worn for hands free use or pointed at the ceiling, and they will run all night long - even off NiMHs.

The storm missed me but I have an oblique suggestion. In Cresson H. Kearny's book, Nuclear War Survival Skills he mentions problems encountered when whole familys are forced to sit in the dark for extended periods.

He wrote that some familys have members which absolutely freak out in the dark, either due to age or phobias. Kearny suggested going to an auto parts store and buying the tiniest 12V bulb available and hooking it up to a big car battery to give those people a point of reference so they wouldn't freak out. Of course, a modern version would utilize a tiny LED and not an incan.

The whole idea was not to really provide any usable room light with this rig, only a small point of light to keep the kids from becoming upset in the darkness. The battery would have the ability to keep the tiny light lit for weeks. (Probably months with an LED)

It seems that this could be handy with some groups.

I was in Englewood, Florida for Charley. We weren't hit bad, the left hand inner wall passed north about 6 miles due east of us. Our block suffered no damage and never lost power or telecommunications. The other side of town (ESE) was hit much harder.

Being a flashaholic, my family was extremely well prepared for loss of power. Over-prepared in a sense.

I was able to equip some neighbors (my son's best friend's family) but they never needed them.

I've had alkaline cells leak inside flashlights. So, I usually don't keep alkaline cell powered lights loaded.

I think the Energizer Flourescent Folding Lantern 4xD is an excellent light for power outages. Every storm season all the alkaline cells are replaced and the old ones are given away to neighbors. Each of our lanterns has 24 spare D cells kept in their packaging.

I think the Princeton-Tec Aurora 3xAAA LED headlamp is the cat's meow. Everybody in the family has their own. 3 levels of output and 2 strobing rate modes. Hands-free which is a major plus when cooking or working without light. On low, you can read for atleast a couple of days.

Infinity Ultras (1xAA) are superb. A great, inexpensive personal task light. Waterproof and it'll light up a whole room. With the clip you can attach it to the bill of your cap to serve as a headlamp. With the lanyard you can attach it to a belt loop and put it in your pocket or wear around your neck.

For less than $80.00 you can purchase a Pelican M6 Xenon Incandescent and a Pelican M6 LED from The Battery Station and have just about all the rest of your emergency lighting needs well covered.

A 3D Maglite modified to Direct Drive of a Luxeon III using either Hotbeam's or Yaesumofo's heatsinks is an outstanding flashlight for this type of scenario. Check Roy's runtime plot of the Mr. Bulk DD3DIII....after 7 hours it drops to about 500 Lux at 1 meter and runs that way for over 30 hours, off 3 inexpensive alkaline D cells. This is one of the best mods I have. I have Mr. Bulk do mine, but I hear it is one of the easier mods to perform. I think you can still purchase one of Hotbeam's D cell Hotsinks in Configuration #2 (which comes with a Luxeon III TWOL already installed).

Britt