This forum is spectacular, it is very much alive and full of users with their different experiences, visions and opinions.
Question #1:
What flashlight would you use to light up rooms in a home when there is a power outage? I thought of the MS08 because at its 2000lm it lasts 5 hours and at 5000 1:30h, which seems more than enough to me and it is also not necessary to turn on the fans at that power level, what do you think?
For example, I have an Imalent DT35 (with 2 faulty LEDs that do not turn on), at 2500lm lasts a long time and is quite sufficient, but I wanted more flashlights to light other rooms… or a better one to light many rooms at once.
Question #2:
What flashlight would you use to light a table tennis game room with 2 or 3 tables for training? In this case I think I need more than 10,000lm… (per table, a flashlight pointed at the ceiling that is approximately 4m from the floor). In fact, at each table we have something like 7000lm of shed led spotlights (on the ceiling) every day with electricity from the urban system, but when the power goes out it is a problem. The only flashlight that I thought would hold those lumens (10000) for at least 50 minutes is the Imalent MS12 mini…
I did a test and with a 3100lm flashlight you can’t see the ball well…
Question 1 you are probably wanting more light than really needed. I tail stand the Astrolux EC06, Sofirn SP36 and the Astrolux EA01. All three have efficient drivers that will last for hour or days on the lowest setting. For practicality you’ll only draw a few to a few hundred lumens at most. These are small portable flashlights meant to give you enough light to see and function not to be an equal replacement for grid tied lighting.
Question 2 your answer is probably to replace all your current lighting with LED replacements. Then use a portable generator for your lighting only during black outs. Table tennis practice during blackouts with intense lighting requirements should be very low on priorities.
Those are good ideas, but at my country (Argentina) good portable generators are very expensive (and very heavy to import at a reasonable cost). I agree with you, that would be the best solution. All the lights on the club are LED.
Another negative thing about the portable generator is that it is a bit heavy and big to carry in the car “just in case”, on the other hand, a flashlight is something lighter and smaller.
I wouldn’t use a flashlight to light up rooms during a power outage unless I had nothing else. I would use a lantern to light an area/room (Sofirn BLF LT1 specifically) while I was stationary, as they are better suited for it. Longer runtimes, more diffuse light over a wide area…they are more like lamps than flashlights are.
IMO, flashlights are used more for moving around during a power outage so that you don’t trip or run into things.
I have to agree with the previous poster about the second question.
I don’t know how reliable your power grid is but I believe your asking more than what current technology practically allows. Without a generator or larger batteries such as car or truck size AGM’s your asking more than what a few flashlights could offer. You stated generators expensive but what you describe really needs a 1000-2000 watt portable generator like from Honda.
A 100W light bulb outs out 1600ish lumens.
You are saying you want more then that in an emergency.
I would look at a flashlight with a 100 lumen setting. At 3-4 hours a night you should get a few days from a single 5000mAh 21700 battery.
And get a few as you will want more than one room lit up.
As for electricity power banks are getting cheaper, a 500W lithium bank should charge your lights an cell phones for a few days and cost less than a decent generator (but more than a cheap poor quality generator).
Keep it at 75% storage charge so the battery won’t die out in a few years.
A Jackery or Bluetti or a competitor plus a 100W solar panel might be a great investment if you can them on a good sale.
Or even cheaper is a 20000+mAh power bank that has USB outputs, charge your phones and lights that have built in charging or chargers that run on USB.
- you don’t typically need that much light for room lighting. I find that 100-150 lumens is enough for most things and 50 lumens is pretty bright once your eyes adjust to the dark.
If you have access to a 3D printer, you can print diffusers for your flashlights.
- I would look into building a power wall to run your auxiliary lighting with a UPS.
We experience many power outages typically lasting 2 days to a week. Inverter generators are the way to go. Hand carry clones of the Honda which are made in Vietnam are lifesavers. 2200 watts running / 2500 w surge. Cost $400 USD on sale. $300 for 1800 watt model. This runs the fridge and freezer when our Goal Zero Yeti’s run out and recharges them.
Inverter gens only run as fast as you load them so fuel consumption is very low. The Goal Zero Yetti 6000x is one of the largest “portable” power banks available, more than 10X the power reserve mentioned above. But it will only support our 115 watt fridge with nothing else in use for a mere four days. I don’t see large power banks as a wise use of $6,000 when Li-ion cells last only 3-5 years at best. Argentina grid power is 220V 50 Hz. An inverter generator with that spec will cost much more but if you can get a Westinghouse or similar 110V inverter gen shipped to you then you can run 110V led bulbs and charge most portable equipment including flashlight lanterns because today’s power adapters are universal world power compatible.
1: How much brightness you need depends on the dimensions of the room and your intended usage, walking around without bumping into things requires less light than cooking for example.
I would use a lantern, i have a BLF LT1 for this purpose but i also have the LT1S which would work for me too.
How often do you have power outages?
2: As a former competitive badminton player i understand the need for uninterrupted training but i would also want to avoid eye strain from inadequate lighting, and the distribution of the light is important too.
I assume the test you did with 3100 lumens was a ceiling bounce so the colour of the ceiling would have an influence but you probably have no choice in this.
Can you position the torch closer to the ceiling to narrow the distribution of light so more is focused down towards the table rather out to the walls or parts of the ceiling that don’t need to be lit?
Do you have the option to place a white board above the table to reflect the torch light better?
Do you have the option to hang a couple of torches facing downwards with diffusion, one above each side of the table?
Splitting the lighting into 6 specific sources aimed exactly where the light needs to go would be more efficient than having one source to light the whole room.
LED strips are also an option here for uniform lighting over an area, if you are able to hang a board with LED strips on it near the ceiling these could be an option. It depends on your electrical abilities though as you would need to sort out a separate battery solution for them. Are power banks available to you?
Thanks Marc E, (1). Home: the idea of lighting the house also has to do with the fact that my wife has retinitis pigmentosa and that makes her need a lot of light during a power outage, at the level of an Imalent MS08 or MS12 mini I would say… so I bought those. The lanterns that I saw do not illuminate enough, just 800 lumens.
Power outages in our neighborhood happen during strong storms, depending on the weather of the season, it can be 4 times a month or 1 time every 2 months.
(2) Club: We have white PVC ceiling. I am a coach in a table tennis club, with which I am in charge of a group of players (we have 7 tables). Every afternoon we have to set up the whole “circus” with the 7 tables, 22 dividers and so on, which takes us 20 minutes. Once we are armed we can warm up and then we do exercises and games. If the power goes out after setting up the tables and warming up, it’s a big problem because we’ve done a lot of waited work, and we waste the effort that each player makes to go to training.
So it would be nice to be able to resolve the situation, so that the 10 or so players don’t go home feeling like they wasted their time. It could also save us in the middle of a tournament with players from other cities!
The room is divided into two parts, a huge one where 8 tables would fit, and another where 2 tables would normally fit but placed to save space 4 would fit: This is that smaller sector with a lower ceiling:
There we would set up the 4 tables if there was a power cut. With being able to play games for 50 or 60 minutes we would be happy and the day would not be wasted. 2 hours would be ideal…
I did the test with the Imalent DT35 at just 3200 real lumens in the large room with a high ceiling, so the light was not enough. I have to do the test in the sector with a low ceiling. I suppose that with 10,000 lumens it would be enough to illuminate at least 2 tables with the light bouncing off the white PVC ceiling.
“Do you have the option to hang a couple of torches facing downwards with diffusion, one above each side of the table?”
It would be very nice, I weighed it, I could tape them to the lamps in the room… but they would have to be at least 5000lm well diffused flashlights… and the lamps are very near the tables, maybe 2m or less from the tables.
“Splitting the lighting into 6 specific sources aimed exactly where the light needs to go would be more efficient than having one source to light the whole room.” I agree…
“Are power banks available to you?”: in my country they are called UPS, they are very expensive because the country’s economy makes prices double (to give you an idea, an Imalent MS12 mini here is sold at USD 720 against the official price with discount from imalent of USD 368) That’s why I import it, but a UPS is heavy and expensive to import).
The cheapest UPSs are of dubious quality, cheap products from China that are sold here for twice the price. I don’t want to fall for those scams and I don’t know what brands and potencies I should have. It would have to sustain at least 4 100w led bulbs for 2 or 3 hours.
I have a gasoline generator in my house (3500). It is too heavy to carry elsewhere.
2 years ago we had a 17hs long power outage and we were a bit upset, hahaha. So it is not enough to have a generator in my house. We have to have lights too. The Imalent DT35 fulfills the emergency function at home very well.
Here’s another vote for some 12v LED strips. Powered by a few whopping big deep cycle batteries.
This will put light where you want it - over the tables. The direct lighting will give more contrast to the balls/tables vs a ceiling bounce.
They can be recharged with a high amp charger to get them back into shape in a hurry, then the trickle charge will keep them topped off for the next outage.
The strips are relatively cheap. The batteries could be made up of what you care to spend on the project.
All the Best,
Jeff
marcosgg,
no habla español
But appears to be a strip using 5050 LEDs spaced close together.
That should put out plenty of light. I’m not sure what the cost translates to. But if it’s relatively cheap, you might get a strip and hook it to a car battery to see how you like it.
I would bet a 6 or 8 foot strip on each side of the table - running length wise with the table, would provide enough light.
I couldn’t tell what color temp the LEDs are. For the sport room, I think the bright white (Higher K) would be best at making the balls stand out from the table.
Get a couple of lengths of square aluminum tubing to act as a mounting surface and a heat sink.
Cut the strip in half and stick it on the tubing.
Makeup some easily connections for the wires and batteries.
I’ll bet some sort of temporary mounting to the ceiling could be made up.
The aluminum tubes with the LEDs weigh next to nothing.
Put them up over one table.
Then when when the lights go out - you keep playing. Let the others sit in the dark and watch you!
All the Best,
Jeff
Flashlights will use battery power more economically and efficiently when they shine at a lower setting, such as 1/2 or less of the maximum. I’d get several Sofirn Q8 lights and ceiling-bounce the beams at about 1/3, roughly 1600 lumens (which is equivalent to the old standard 100W incandescent bulb). You’d have about 5 or 5.5 hours of runtime with good cells (four 18650 per flashlight).
I like your plan! I will be testing both MS08 (maybe 4000 lm for 1 hour or more?) and MS12 mini (real 10000 lumens for 50min) by this month and learning what else should we need. But that plan is good because sofirn q8 is cheap and looks good.
