Power Failure Light

[bykfixer]

The puck lights aren't COB but are an LED with an opaque plastic cover over them Poppy. I did however pick up a COB pocket light to turn on when I figure on staying in the shed more than a few minutes. It's aimed in such a way that when lit it turns off the little motion sensor lights. They kept turning off while I was hanging a bubble wrap privacy curtain over the window. Yup, two layers of bubble wrap over a window lets in nearly all of the light but masks what is inside. Look through a sheet of bubble wrap sometime. It's much like looking through wax paper.

Right now the shed is near empty but soon it will house things from another one that will be demolished this summer. The other one is electrified.

 

[Poppy]

This little number from walmart might work well.
Considering that it take three AA cells, it should have decent run-time.

Also there is the FREE 3AAA ones from harbor freight.
They are also magnetic.

Oh and did I mention free?

 

[Lynx_Arc]

This little number from walmart might work well.
Considering that it take three AA cells, it should have decent run-time.

Also there is the FREE 3AAA ones from harbor freight.
They are also magnetic.

Oh and did I mention free?

I have two of these I bought from Steve's Wholesale tools with cheap HD batteries included for $3 each. Mine only have one mode though.
The magnet on the back is good, I have mine stuck to my metal cabinet.
160 lumens is almost not enough for an area flood the light is good for closer work but you almost need 300 lumens for an area work light.

 

[ampdude]

I'm the same way. I have lights in most places here and put my cheapest ones in places I almost never need one just to make them of some use. I've found that you need more than one light in some areas as there is a chance of failure especially if you have alkaleaks in some of them. I also have area lights in strategic places (dim ones) good enough to light up the house to navigate in it when there is no power.

Yes, there really is no substitute for a good source of flashlights with primary batteries. Especially lithium primaries when there's a real crisis.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

The motion sensing lights are nice for lighting up a shed, but I prefer dimmer power failure night lights for home use. 200-400 lumens is too much instant on light for keeping your night vision in the middle of the night. It's easier for the eyes to adjust to 20 lumens that's already on. For a shed, I think I prefer the toggle light switch c.o.b. lights placed next to the door. They stay on longer, and I don't need to clear a space for a ladder to change the batteries. The 4AA version of the toggle switch light is 400 lumens. The smaller 4AAA one is 200 lumens. These lights usually cost $4-$12 depending on model and where you get it from (Harbor Freight, Walmart, Big 5 Sporting Goods). Don't bother with lights that have a remote type switch. They tend to have poor runtimes as the sensor drains the batteries in a month with little to no use.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Yes, there really is no substitute for a good source of flashlights with primary batteries. Especially lithium primaries when there's a real crisis.

I disagree. I've gone from using primaries to using mostly nimh to now using mostly 18650s. In a crisis I have so much power in 18650 format that I could go months without using them up. I have about 20 20v tool batteries and 50-60 bare 18650 batteries I salvaged from laptop and tool battery packs and about a dozen power banks I bought over the years dirt cheap plus several dozen cheap power bank kits I paid from $1-$3. I just don't like using primaries any more but am forced to in some situations. I've invested in 18650 lights, headlamps, lanterns, tool lights and USB adapters and USB lighting solutions with cabling and modules and switches and such.
In other words I've substituted nimh for alkaleaks, and now 18650s for nimh and alkaleaks.
There is no substitute for 18650s other than 21700s perhaps.
In power outages long ago I relied on SLAs but they all died on me over the years and were too costly to replace and nicads ended up being too labor intensive to keep up with if you left them alone for 6 months to a year they would be dead. LSD nimh were good but it took awhile for me to gravitate away from C/D and 6V lanterns then I had to gravitate towards 18650s and that took awhile.

 

[Scotty321]

I bought a couple Energizer Emergency lights (NiMH) for power outages for my parents. However, I had a propane generator installed a few years ago, as I was worried about sump pump and backup failing if we had 24+ hours of power failure while it was raining. We also run on well and septic, so a power outage could affect our water supply.

The last time we had a power failure that encompassed multiple neighborhoods in my area for about half a day, the few houses with generators were the only lights in the area. The local grocery store had to dump all of it's frozen and refrigerated food because they all thawed and/or spoiled.

 

[thermal guy]

I have those emergency backup light bulbs. Looks and works just like a regular led light bulb but comes on immediately when the power goes out they have a small backup battery in them. You can even take them out and walk around with them " fun at parties ". They only run for an hour or two on the battery but that gives me plenty of time to get to my real lights and get set up.

 

[ampdude]

I disagree. I've gone from using primaries to using mostly nimh to now using mostly 18650s. In a crisis I have so much power in 18650 format that I could go months without using them up. I have about 20 20v tool batteries and 50-60 bare 18650 batteries I salvaged from laptop and tool battery packs and about a dozen power banks I bought over the years dirt cheap plus several dozen cheap power bank kits I paid from $1-$3. I just don't like using primaries any more but am forced to in some situations. I've invested in 18650 lights, headlamps, lanterns, tool lights and USB adapters and USB lighting solutions with cabling and modules and switches and such.
In other words I've substituted nimh for alkaleaks, and now 18650s for nimh and alkaleaks.
There is no substitute for 18650s other than 21700s perhaps.
In power outages long ago I relied on SLAs but they all died on me over the years and were too costly to replace and nicads ended up being too labor intensive to keep up with if you left them alone for 6 months to a year they would be dead. LSD nimh were good but it took awhile for me to gravitate away from C/D and 6V lanterns then I had to gravitate towards 18650s and that took awhile.

The counterpoints I would argue to that would be that you must keep the batteries fully charged all the time and that tends to degrade them, but li-ions are better about that nowadays. And primary lithiums are more reliable for hot or cold weather situations and more reliable in general. They're lighter. They're better in weaponlights. They're more versatile in voltage capability. I say have a bit of both, but primaries should be part of any emergency stash. They last over 20 years and are basically fire and forget where li-ions require a little bit more maintenance and are not quite as usable in as many lights for size and voltage purposes. And if you can't find a way to recharge the lithium ion batteries because of power problems or charger or whatever, they're no better than primaries in that regard.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

The counterpoints I would argue to that would be that you must keep the batteries fully charged all the time and that tends to degrade them, but li-ions are better about that nowadays. And primary lithiums are more reliable for hot or cold weather situations and more reliable in general. They're lighter. They're better in weaponlights. They're more versatile in voltage capability. I say have a bit of both, but primaries should be part of any emergency stash. They last over 20 years and are basically fire and forget where li-ions require a little bit more maintenance and are not quite as usable in as many lights for size and voltage purposes. And if you can't find a way to recharge the lithium ion batteries because of power problems or charger or whatever, they're no better than primaries in that regard.

Actually you don't need to keep them fully charged at all as power density of 18650s is so much more than L91s.
The volume of 3 L91s is about 1.8 times the volume of a single 18650 cell and given an L91 is about 3000mah and an 18650 can be bought up to 3400mah they are about even but at almost half the volume so essentially if you were to buy 30 AA L91s you could match the power of them with 10 18650s and have room for a dozen more L91s or another 7 18650s.
So with the huge difference you could let a similar size pile of 18650s discharge to about 65% total capacity and still match the power of the L91s and likely they would weigh less to boot. I likely will always have a few lithium primaries for certain devices that is is not advantageous to use 18650s for but most things I've gravitated to the format already.
Having to manage a single 18650s vs 3-9 times lithium primaries (AA/AAA) makes things a lot easier and having to either change batteries several times more often or fumbling with 2-4 or more AA/AAAs in a crisis can be a big advantage. I've used an 18650 headlamp and work and it lasts me up to a week if I use it sparingly and several days if I use it normally vs having to swap out primaries there is no comparison.
In a crisis the less weight and bulk you have the better. Now having to add chargers into the mix will take space but once you procure a source of power it saves you from buying primaries and sometimes inflated prices at out of the way places known for high prices just to find any.
I don't forsee an apocalyptic type situations around here as in this area of the country the worse that can happen is an F5 tornado and even that didn't leave people with absolutely no power or fuel anywhere there was anything left standing. The ice storm in 2007 here had half the state without power but I had a car charger and nimh cells and I didn't use primaries in my main lighting solutions so my extra alkaleak stash was unneeded after 5 days I got power back but my neighbor down the street didn't have power at their house but they had power at work to charge things. Primaries are useful but IMO it is best to not have to count on them as your main source of backup. For the price of 3 L91s you can just about buy an 18650 and likewise.. throw it away after using without recharging it and take up a lot less space.

 

[Poppy]

Here I am trying to awaken old brain cells to draw on memories made years ago.

A single 18650 has about the same number of watt hours, as three AA cells.
An alkaline D cell under low load, ( < 1 amp) has about the same number of watt hours, as a 3400 mah 18650.

Regarding the comparison of alkaline to LiIon chemistry, alkalines do OK under low load, but when placed under load, they fail miserably at loads greater than 1 amp.

A 3D lantern with a modern LED pushing out 100 lumens will last as well as a 3- 18650 LiIon soda can light that is also outputting 100 lumens.

IIRC the 3D alkaline light will perform fairly well up to 300 lumens, but beyond that there is no comparison to LiIons.

So I guess... primaries vs rechargeables is dependent upon the personality of the user. If the user is a flashaholic, he will likely periodically monitor the status of his battery stash and periodically top his rechargeables off. OTOH if he is one who leaves alkalines in lights long enough that they leak and cause damage, he may be better served by keeping a stash of primaries, but outside of the light.

Like Lynx_Arc, I have the ability to recharge my 18650s in my car if needed. But if the outage is that long, that I need to recharge, I'll already have my generator running to save food from spoiling.

Perhaps a blend of the two is most prudent.

Personally I rely on 18650s for the most part, but I do have about six 3D cell lanterns (yes a stupid number I know). I have a number of unopened packages of D cells in reserve (some are out-dated, or nearly so). During a power outage, I gave away a 3D lantern to a neighbor, who wasn't sure if he had a working flashlight, and an auto-on, plug into an outlet, emergency power failure light, similar to the one posted above.

IMO the auto ON light is a very often, not included essential, in most households.

 

[thermal guy]

" the auto ON light "

Absolutely. This is what you need so you can get your plan into action.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I seem to recall some flashlights having a find me mode in the past. I made a lantern with a flashing red LED I can turn on to find it in the dark

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

While I don't consider the newly released Maelstrom MXS Standby a budget light, it does have an automatic on feature whenever the charging base's power source is cut.

With that stated, here she is -

 

[Dave_H]

I have those emergency backup light bulbs. Looks and works just like a regular led light bulb but comes on immediately when the power goes out they have a small backup battery in them. You can even take them out and walk around with them " fun at parties ". They only run for an hour or two on the battery but that gives me plenty of time to get to my real lights and get set up.

I also have some of these, 60W and 40W equivalent. I have not done much testing, but they seem to work OK.

The 40W from HD consumes 8-9W when charging internal battery (7.4v 6.6Wh Li-ion), dropping to 5W. It claims 500 lumens on ac dropping to 300 lumens on standby. On the surface that seems not too bad, but the light distribution is not great. Compared to regular 40W equiv. LED bulb this one is larger, heavier, more expensive, and not as good optically. All this for 1-2 hours of standby in a fixed location. They were on clearance, understand why now.

Luckily around here power outages are rare and usually don't last long; and like many I keep flashlights various places around the house, plus variety of fixed or motion LED nightlights (ac and battery), solar lights on window sills, and small lanterns mostly running on salvaged alkalines.


Dave

 

[Dave_H]

Recently I got a good deal on a Westinghouse-branded (in Canada) pair of nightlights with motion detector,
backup-battery for power fail, and a small flashlight. Pair were had for $10 plus tax. May be available from other
retailers under same or different brand.

(usual disclaimer: no connection to retailer or manufacturer/distributor etc.)

https://www.gianttiger.ca/1005599/p/1005599

I opened this one up as usual to see what's inside; removed two TORX screws. Inside are six SMT LEDS: two cool
white for emergency light, four warm white for nightlight and motion light.

Unlike a lot of similar products, the specs are fairly good. It uses a 250mAh Li-ion cell, claims up to 8 hours
standby light (not confirmed).

This one had three modes:

-power-fail only
-night light always on with motion detect increasing brightness.
-night light with motion detect, normally off.

Dave

Found link to better description and specs:

http://www.westinghousebattery.com/products/4-in-1-rechargeable-power-failure-led-night-light/

 

[Poppy]

Dave_H,
It looks like you found one that checks all the boxes, and at an incredibly low price!
Good hunting! :thumbsup:

 

[Timothybil]

You can still find the ones with SLAs in them if you look hard enough. Back when I still lived in a two story house with little kids I looked into getting one of those and swapping the incans for LEDs. We moved out before I got around to it, so it never happened. Since then I have had small apartments where that many light heads weren't needed, and I always had a light next to the bed. These days I have a bunch of the Sofirn C01S AAA lights so there is one in a pocket in each pair of pants/pjs, and a Tool AA beside my bed. The Tool and the GT Micro I have also do a good job of ceiling bounce if I need more light.

 

[vicv]

Let's be honest. We're never far away from our smart phones. They have a flashlight. Still, these are a good idea And I have a few of these stationed around my house

 

[Vemice]

Not a budget light but living in south Florida I just got one of these.