Lighting Suggestions in Case of a Blackout

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  marcusv on 13/01/2017 - 17:56

  Last time I had a blackout I used some of my photography gear. I placed one of these on a cheap light stand like this

  The good thing about the light is that is is dimmable so you won't blind your baby. It takes regular AA batteries and I always have charged eneloops on hand.

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  havebeerbelywillsumo on 13/01/2017 - 18:32

  First up I'll say this is something I haven't studied so this is a what I do flying by the seat of the pants…..I have a collection of torches (CREE & Nitecore with those Li-on rechargeables) so they come into play immediately however the charge(s) will be as is so long term not ideal. Also have a stack of charged Eneloops…these are for ready use whatever whenever, as the Eneloops hold their charge extremely well. These would be handy for long term power of lights, as they are so handy normally that it is so easy to justify always having a charged swag of them constantly on hand.
  I also have a mid range (ie in a case not those powerboard sized thingies) UPS for the PC. In a pinch I can carry this weighty bastard around and it would run a desktop light or two for days (have done it once for a few hours). The con is that it is heavy and now is no longer available to power the PC but you did say "lighting" was the priority here. Also the lead acid battery(ies) degrades over time so, yes it is always fully charged as it is always trickling from the 240V BUT if old that charge may be an illusion as the battery can no longer hold a considerable amount of power like it did when newish
  Miscellaneous…hand cranking…yes it works but it is a royal pain as a lot of cranking is required (have had quality torches and a radio in past) IMHO it is only usable in a true survival situation/emergency.
  Like the larger Nitecore Tiny Monster range as it is quality gear. Also dimmable down to days of usage (if charged up)and you can tailstand them on a higher setting for tons of light (but they will drain quickly) and you have the utility of a torch configuration. Also those rechargeable keychain Nitecore torches are absolutely fantastic, can be given to littlies and lo price means you can get a number of them without breaking the bank. Same thing as the Tiny Monster, dimmable for long term use.
  Having said all that a proper lamp(s) would be best for long term situation. Use Google to find options is my first thought. eg camping, survival sites??

• 

  bluesky on 13/01/2017 - 18:45

  +1

  Bought one of those car battery jumpstarter/power station from a past OZB deal for quite cheap. It has a few functions - like tyre pump, jumpstarter, led light. During blackouts, the led light can last very long - like hours. It is not this one, but similar sort of thing as this. And cost a lot less.

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  mskeggs on 13/01/2017 - 22:52

  +1

  We have reasonably frequent blackouts, worst was for four days in winter.
  We have the jump starter pack running an led globe on a wire, so we can hang it from the main room light fitting. Much better than a flashlight. (We actually have three of these).
  But we use this setup several times a year at camping, so spending $80ea was ok.
  For your needs I strongly recommend a box of 30 aaa alkaline batteries ($10 or less at the hardware) and three or four hanging led bulbs like these: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/172382217872

  For under $20 outlay you will have light for four rooms for several days, probably weeks of normal usage, that will work instantly when needed and will last at least five years in a drawer, but really more like 15yrs in the real world. By having plenty of lights and batteries you have built in redundancy. In my camping use, these little lamps run for over a week with 3aaa batteries turned on 5 hours per night.

  If you think you might want to have power for multi day outages, you need more, but for most urban people this will be plenty.

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  cheepwun on 13/01/2017 - 23:33

  I figure that ideally I would have a lantern or two suitable for (dimly) lighting a family room, bedroom or kitchen and a collection of small torches. While I'm gradually updating my rechargable battery collection to LSD, most aren't.

  Increase the eneloop purchases, first and foremost. Personally I wouldn't put a cent towards disposable batteries. I wouldn't buy torches for the purposes of general indoor home lighting either. Lanterns, yes. Headlamps, yes. Torches are close to useless for general even lighting indoors unless you can make use of some focusable torches pointing upwards at the white ceiling. Headlamps are very useful for hands-free light, reading, doing chores, etc.

  A small solar camping set-up will do wonders for recharging things day & night. I'd look into that next. Something like a 50Ah deep cycle AGM battery & 120W-160W panel(s) and 10-20A solar regulator seems like a good place to start with solar. 12v lighting would be easy. A cheap inverter would be useful to go along with it too, to run low-wattage 240V stuff. A multi-chemistry charger that accepts a 12V input also is quite useful. (Nitecore, etc.)

  If you buy devices that take C or D cells, AA-to-C and AA-to-D adapters are available on ebay for your AA rechargeables, such as:
  AA to C http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/8pcs-AA-to-C-Size-Battery-Convert…
  2x AA to D http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/4pcs-2-AA-to-D-Size-Battery-Adapt…
  3x AA to D http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/5-Pcs-Parallel-Connection-3x-1-5V…

  It's also handy to have some battery-operated motion-sensitive lights so you can get around at night without bumping into things.

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  Wantone on 14/01/2017 - 02:05

  Part if my Ryobi 18v collection, i have the LED Hybrid Worklight. They last for the whole summer night with my 5Ah battery.