Natural disasters - Lessons Learn - Lights

[firefly99]

So many natural disasters had happen since Dec 2004. With regard to lights, can someone who had survive one of this disaster, care to share the experience and lessons learnt. So that we could better prepare for "THE BIG ONE".
Is high intensity light useful or are they just battery eater with short runtime?
What are the lights that you had depend on ?
What are the lights that failed on you ?
What battery sizes ? How much battery to stock ? How long did your stock of battery last ?

Maybe we should have a sticky on "Recommended lights for disasters"
Thanks.

 

[greenLED]

I keep Infinity Ultras and a bunch of AA's.

 

[NotRegulated]

I think that before everyone gets started we should agree upon a time frame that the "disaster' would encompass so we don't get sidetracked by bug-out-of the country scenarios. 48 hours? two weeks max? I think this would set the landscape for a realistic discussion and recommendations. Also indicating whether or not you expect to be in a fixed location or on the move should help.

I think we can start off the shorter end of the discussion with this review.

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/features/storm.htm

 

[Bullzeyebill]

For lights out for a long time, I would be depending on my AA driven led lights, and charging cells in my car. Ultra's, Fenex, VIP, Elektrolumes DD Blasters with C cell adapter and C cell holder fitting AA's, Eternalights. Also, RCR123 lights, and car charger. SF KL3, BOG drop in. Long term for lanterns I could hook up Triton to car battery for charging larger cells, quickly.

Bill

 

[Cartman]

how long?

I agree. The length of disaster is something that should be considered and light for what purpose?

Every part of the country has different disasters too -- from earth quakes in the west to hurricanes in the south and east.

You also have to consider the area and post-disaster needs. Will there be wide spread disorder? Do you need a tactical light as well as a general purpose light?

 

[C4LED]

Someone should have given some preparedness lessons to the people mentioned in this article from today about Hurricane Wilma Hitting FL.

------------------

Article: Fort Lauderdale Damage Worst in 55 Years

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051024/ap_on_re_us/hurricane_wilma

"In Weston, near Fort Lauderdale, Kim DuBois sat in her darkened house with her two children and husband, with the power out and the storm shutters up. For light they used a battery-powered pumpkin lantern they bought for Halloween."

 

[Joe Talmadge]

I wasn't in one of the recent disasters, but having been through a bunch of smaller ones, from the '89 earthquake to the rolling blackouts of the '90s, I think there are a few constants:

- A headlamp is a must. Almost everything you'll be doing can be improved by using two hands. Cooking on a camp stove if the gas is off, shuffling through cabinets, etc. The length of the disaster you're planning for may determine how long-burning your headlamp needs to be, but you should have one.

- An area-light type lantern is a wonderful thing to have. Aside from being able to just hang out in a central room and see each other, and again for safety in the kitchen, it's laso a huge psychological comfort if you have kids, etc. Again, length of disaster might determine the type of lantern.

- I've never had a need for a very bright (say, >30 lumens) light in a disaster. However, I might very well feel differently if, say, part of my house collapsed and I had to SAR a member of my family, or if I suspected there were looters in the back yard. I can imagine many corner cases where a bright light would come in handy, so I'd have at least one, but would not make these the cornerstone of my emergency lighting strategy. I do think you should keep a gaggle of longer running lights, a few of which reach at least 10-15 lumens or so (that's often more than what is needed for finding things, but is about the minimum level for a lot of psychological comfort). These multi-level lights like the HDS EDC seem like incredible emergency lights: choose long running or very bright or anything in between, lithium battery that keeps for a long time, etc.


Joe

 

[CLHC]

I have exprienced blackouts, hurricanes, flooding of the type where everyone evacuates to the second floor because the water is roughly 12~18 inches below the second floor window sile(sp?) and earthquake. We were out of power and other essentials for no more than a week before needing to resupply. And that was for a household of 20 (the flood scenario).<—Yes I know, BIG family.

At that particular time all we had were lots of candles, Coleman gas lanterns, and those non-metalic roughneck flashlights with a lot of spare batteries stored away. Wish I had the ones now back then.

Like people mentioned here, a headlamp comes in very useful for hands-free activities. I would have both LEDs and Incandescents. The HO for intermittent use when the need arises and the purposeful LO lighting for most activities. Lanterns such as the RiverRockDesign 1.5W LED Lantern and the Coleman 13W Flourescent among others for area lighting. Spare batteries and lamp assemblies for the Incandescents. Someone discussed a gas powered generator elsewhere that's great for powering/recharging electronic items.

Oh and Hey Yeah! Don't forget a PUR or Katadyn water filter/purifier!

 

[LEDagent]

This question has been on the backburner of my mind lately, especially with the talk of all these huricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, terrorism, etc.

Having never experienced a major calamity, and living in the south-west coast, earthquakes, short powerouts, acts of terrorism, and landslides, seem to be the only thing that can disrupt daily life around here.

Anyway, after watching the news lately, it seems like all disasters have a few things in common. Since a flashlights usefulness is limited to its source of energy then electricity is key.

Electricity is non existant, and access to your car for electricity is almost always not an option, especially if it's been crushed or washed away in a flood. Even if you had access to a live outlet, your chances of sharing with everyone else just to charge batteries will be pretty slim. So this rules out any rechargeable batteries, NiMH, NiCD, Li-Ion, SLA, or any of the sort.

Disposable alkalines will be your best bet, and would be an easier find than one-time use lithiums or other types. AAA, AA, C, and D will probably be the most common. Another GREAT GREAT GREAT option are those crank or shake lights.

For me, i would like 4 options to carry - all running on alkaline batteries.

LARGE SPOT/HI-POWER: Underwater Kinetics LC100 10W HID - I've had good experience with this and have achieved about 400 lumens initially, slowly tapering down to about 100 lumens at the end of 2.5hrs. It takes 8 C-cell batteries. While this sounds demanding, its' at least the strongest option for light IMHO.

SMALL FLOOD/SWITCHABLE: I still have my custom Arc LSH with AA-battery tube, and dual-stage kroll switch. While it's switching meathod is crude in todays standards, it has proven reliable for me. At 750mah i can get about 1.5hours with alkalines, and at low power i can get more than 5 hours with the equivilent light of the Arc AAA.
I also have a headband holder that fits the AA body, so i have an instant headlight too. I do wish it would aim easier however. There are better options out there, but this form factor is practical for me. If anyone can recommend something with this versatility AND achieve more than 10-15 hours on low...that would be the ultimate light.

LARGE FLOOD/SWITCHABLE: Streamlight Tasklight 3C. I'm sure there's something better, but i only have experience with this size of light, and it fits the bill. It takes 3 C-size batteries and has the option of 3-LED, 6-LED, 1-Xenon operation, and it can be stood on its end. It's heavy and sturdy enoegh to be used as a substantial club as well. On 3-LED with Alkalines, I was able to get 2 days of "light a small room" and 2 more days of "reading maps" type of light output. The other options were nice, but I would reserve this as the "days on end without electricity" duty.

SELF POWERED: I was given a cool Brookstone/Sharper Image 3-LED crank light. It's switchable for 1-LED or 3-LED operation. At full crank on 1-LED, i can get about 5 minutes of full power (Arc AAA as reference), and about 2.5 hours of real usable light for reading (dimmer than Infinity AAA). There are others out there that have FM-Radio capability sold here on the forums, and i would definately get something with a radio for emergency use. This can go on indefinately! Even if the internal capacitor or battery goes out, you can crank all day long for light, given you don't get tired or the crank breaks.



So what does everyone think about this setup?
Keep in mind, these are lights that i have in my arsenal, so that's all i can give as a reference - So look at these lights as a reference to there form factor. I'm sure there's something better now than Arc LS that uses AA, or HID's for high-power/low energy requirments.

 

[Learjet]

What I do is put nimh rechargable cells in everything. They are not much dearer than alkaline cells anyway. I have a 12V 1-10 cell battery charger that happily runs off a gel cell. (have it for my electric R/C plane hobby) With a large gel cell you could keep recharging for ages without any AC power. You could even get one of those solar rechargers for the gel cell and charge it in the daytime if needs be.

These options would probably cost little more than a good quality flashlight and you'd never run out of power.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Laurence,

It is my humble opinion that you are selling the rechargeable lights a bit short...

I would not evocate running out and buying rechargeable lights to build a disaster kit, but if you use rechargeable lights every day, it is easy to add a few extra batteries to give you lots of run time in a disaster.

For example, the SureFire U2 will run over 40 hours on low using a Li-Ion cell. An extra battery or two will have you in light for an extended amount of time.

I have taken rechargeable lights on 8 day camping trips where there is no electricity at all. In a group of around 10 people with everyone "playing" with the lights every night, I never had to change batteries.

Rechargeable lights are not the best for search and rescue operations, but for daily "get around the house" use they should be just fine.

So, from my perspective, if I can get 8 days of camping use from one battery, and I have 3 extra batteries, I am good to go in a disaster.

Plus, it just so happens that the U2 will also work with primary cells, and I happen to have a bunch of those as well.

Tom

 

[Joe Talmadge]

So what does everyone think about this setup?

My initial thought is you should take the advice of nearly everyone who reports about useful lights in a disaster, and get a headlamp. I preach with the zealousness of the converted on this one.

I'm iffy on the self-powered light. Don't know what the current state of the art is, but it used to be a lot of work for very little light. Even for a longer period of months, I think you're better off with any number of other options -- a photon freedom and a handful of 2016s, or an eternalite, etc. They may not run literally forever, but will run an incredibly long time on their lower power options.

I think your small flood is the most useful light and a fine choice

A large flood is a must. I don't know your light, but if it works as well as a lantern to light up a room (perhaps stood up on end), I think you're good.

I think a powerful spot is good insurance but usually won't be needed. But when it is needed, it's really needed. Your big HID might be fine if you're always at home base, but if I were you I'd also have a small handheld xenon light, so it could always be on you. You can get a Streamlight Scorpion for cheap enough.

 

[Hoghead]

I agree with the recommendations for headlamps.

If everyone has a headlamp that's all that's usually needed unless you have children to young to wear a headlamp. With small children present, I recommend you add a floursent lantern for an area light in addition to a headlamp for everyone.

We also use Infinity/Infinity Ultra, ARC AA, ARC AAA, Photon 2, etc. on a neck lanyard. I like to match the Infinity or ARC AA for use with AA headlamps and ARC AAA for use with AAA headlamps for battery commonality.

We have bright lights and we use them, but I think headlamps are great during a power outage because they free up your hands and are used for hours at a time instead of the usual momentary use of bright lights.

 

[Brangdon]

I agree about the importance of headlamps. I like the Zipka+, because it is small, easily bright enough for most close purposes and its batteries can last a long time (100+ hours).

I also agree that nowadays, stockpiling primary cells is a viable strategy. I don't really trust rechargables because they can self-discharge if left on the shelf long enough. Recharging could be tricky in an emergency. I don't trust wind-up ones, either, as they tend to be mechanically complex. I recently bought some lithiums that claim to last until 2020, and I suspect they'd last longer in practice. I also bought some normal alkali that claim to last until 2012. So you can just buy a batch of batteries and you have a solution for a long time.

I have dabbled in solar-powered recharging, but it doesn't seem to be a cheap option. You can buy a lot of batteries for the cost of a decent solar panel. And of course, they don't work well at night, which is when you need your torch to start working.

All this is kinda predicated on the torches lasting a long time when you use them. For a big disaster, the mains power could be out for weeks. I would aim for at least 100 hours of light. A torch with a life of 2 hours isn't really viable here - I'd not want to keep 50 sets of batteries. 10 hours isn't really enough either. A shelter-in-place survival light ought to last 40+ hours, and the longer the better. Question: does anyone know how long Katrina victims were without electricity, in the worst case?

There are roles for more short-lived lights, too. Some disasters strike unexpectedly, so you should have at least one light on you at all times, and especially if travelling underground or in elevators, or anywhere without natural lighting. Hopefully 10 hours battery life would be enough for that, supposing you are going to be rescued by then. On the plus side, after the first hour or so you can start conserving power to make it last longer. On the minus side, if you also use your light for casual reasons the battery might be 90% flat when the emergency happens, so longer is always better. Multi-level lights are good for extending run-time.

I like the Photon Freedom x2 for every-day carry. It's small enough to keep with me, it claims to last 10-12 hours on full, and is multi-level. I also carry an Orb Raw, which is not a survival light but it's fun and using it keeps the Photon's batteries fresh. It can be important to have more than one torch if you are in a group, because some people react really badly to darkness and will insist on taking your light. Or they might need to borrow it so they can see while they are digging you out of the rubble.

I don't know much about search and rescue. I imagine multi-level lights are good here, too, because anything really bright enough for S&R is going to have a short runtime. I have a U2 on order to fill the S&R role.

I don't know much about families, either. I live alone and I find a headlamp does away with the need for a communual area glowlamp, but your milage probably differs.

 

[gbaker]

So many natural disasters had happen since Dec 2004. With regard to lights, can someone who had survive one of this disaster, care to share the experience and lessons learnt. So that we could better prepare for "THE BIG ONE".

Maybe we should have a sticky on "Recommended lights for disasters"
Thanks.

I've been through Hurricane George and Katrina (i.e. I stayed at home) and ran from Elena and others. My wife has always kept numerous cheap flashlights and of course we go through the ritual of determining which batteries still work.



Oddly enough after being w/o power for 5 days I was surprised at how little I used the flashlights. Sure for the bathroom break they were useful. But frankly we found ourselves going to bed at dark. Possibility because I was rather worn out from cutting up carpet, moving debris to the street, etc etc.



Being located at the top of a tee intersection I was in a good location for viewing down the length of 3 streets. I did wish I had a better flashlight with long distance throw. Fortunately I never saw any looters in our neighborhood.

By the way during the Hurricane, should you stay, a flashlight could be very useful since there is the 50/50 chance it will be at night. Afterwards I was more concerned with water, toilet paper, and gas.

 

[Learjet]

Off topic I guess but for those with medical problems like diabetes, heart trouble or whatever, don't forget to keep a good supply of meds on hand. Not much point surviving a hurricane only to keel over from a heart attack afterwards.

 

[gbaker]

So many natural disasters had happen since Dec 2004. With regard to lights, can someone who had survive one of this disaster, care to share the experience and lessons learnt. So that we could better prepare for "THE BIG ONE".

BTW quipped to Survive has several different lists for survival situation (for instance kits for cars and kits for diasters). See http://www.equipped.org/disastertoc.htm

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

If search works, try my handle. I reported on Rita and we were 10 days without. A generator played a MAJOR role, but LED lights and Flourescent Lights got the lions share of use!

I still have PLENTY of AAs and AAAs, and a 12 pack of Ds got the Fl. Lanterns ready for next need.

Both of the Streamlight ProPoly LED lights are GOOD stuff!

 

[evanlocc]

I keep Infinity Ultras and a bunch of AA's.

No Doubt !

 

[firefly99]

My initial thought is you should take the advice of nearly everyone who reports about useful lights in a disaster, and get a headlamp. I preach with the zealousness of the converted on this one.

Yes, I am looking for a suitable headlamp. Recently, my water heater switch broke. Replacing the water heater switch was made difficult due to the need to hold both screwdriver and E2D, tightening tiny screws, etc.