In the spirit of getting different lights for different use cases, what should I get to do a ceiling bounce at say the dining table while eating dinner as a family?
I just got a bunch of these.
They use 3 AA batteries (Eveready alkaline included). The good thing about these is that they do not have a rechargeable battery that wears out from constant charging. These are good for situations where power failures are infrequent. Since they do not draw power from the batteries unless the power goes out, the batteries will likely last several years and are easily replaced. If you do have frequent outages, then you may want to use nimh batteries.
One dumb design feature is they do not have a switch setting to disable the nightlight. The brightness can be set to low or medium - but that applies to both the nightlight and the power failure light brightness. This can be fixed by replacing the photocell with a resistor.
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Very interesting design, thanks.
I’d be worried about the alkalines leaking. Have you tried them with low self discharge NiMH batteries like Eneloops?
Multi-18650 or 21700 light with a flat base to tail stand, thermal regulation is important if you’re running on a higher mode, as it’ll be “unattended” and you won’t be able to feel it overheating. Many lights on the market nowadays have this feature.
I’ve used battery powered fairy lights in a power cut too, makes the room feel cosy, get a string that’s not too long (else it’s un-weildy) and preferably one of the ones that comes with 4AA battery holder rather than 3*AAA.
Would thermal regulation support be documented in the product description? And do any of these tail standing lights run off power banks too?
Yes most lights advertise “thermal protection” “advanced temperature regulation” or “thermal stepdown”. You need to check the last one isn’t a basic timed stepdown though, these are less common nowadays but used to be pretty normal for a light step down to a lower power level after an arbitrary timed interval, this is less good than active temperature monitoring as if you’re in a hot area, the light could get too hot, or, if your in a cold area, then you loose output when the light could physically have had handled it due to the cold.
With 3-4 18650 or 21700 it’s unlikely you’ll need it to run off a powerbank, save the charge for phones etc.
I’m not familiar with the current popular offering of “coke can” style lights, I’ve one of the original BLF Q8s which is ideal for power outages.
If you’re okay with powerbanks, get one with an assload of capacity and one of these…
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VRRQ4R4/
It’s obviated by the motion-sensing nightlight I got plugged into the socket where the usb adapter was, but it’s still hanging off a planter-bracket.
Dims, brights, anything in-betweens, quite handy in a pinch.
Yeh, plus, if people keep at least a few cells topped off vs 30% storage capacity, you’d have an assload of runtime to go with.
Whenever we’re expecting anything from heavy snow to monsoon rain or high winds or anything like that, I always top off my lights and some extra cells, and spam a bunch of people to do likewise.
Also, if I got my Cometa handy, ie, The Big Blue Lighthouse, I’ll have that ready so the lit button (which can be seen from space) can guide me to it, plus I’ll lock my TS10 so it has that bright epilepsy-blinker vs the dim aux lights when unlocked-but-off.
A few Christmases ago when (ironically) a Christmas tree keeled over and took out the block’s powerlines, I used my Zanflare lantern on medium-low to keep things lit in the living room all night long. And I wasn’t expecting any cataclysms, so it wasn’t even topped off.
Oh, I also got The Rockpal and another different-brand Rockpal, so I got usb, 12VDC, 120VAC, and some built-in lights, etc., just in case. I make sure to at least try to remember to top them off when possible.
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We don’t normally keep any lights on while sleeping in the house. That’s why this request does not compute. If I am going to sleep and the power is out, and I’m not running the generator, I do tend to stick one of my armytek wizards on the refrigerator running at one lumen. I also keep an armytek wizard on the nightstand and grab that anytime I get up at night turned on at one lumen.
So if you commonly keep some lights on in the house at night, then I can understand why you might want some other lights to come on automatically. This can all be done with flashlights. A wizard pro at 5 lumens will run for 10+ days. Depending on how many areas you need to light up you might need two or three lights. There are other choices also as long as they will go down to 1 or 5 lumens. I like the armyteks because it’s a 120° beam. So depending on where you put them or how you’re holding them they light up a lot of area.
I also think the better solution might lie in locating some motion sensor lights with on/off switches, or some flashlights with long run times (even aaa lights), all with regular rechargeable batteries in them.
It seems like the plug in blackout lights might prove to be no real advantage and not a permanent solution, unless you want to replace them every couple of years.
Yes, they work with Eneloops.
Thanks!
I have a bunch of Eneloops but no primary lithium batteries because of the cost
I don’t need night lights either but most emergency lights seem to have nightlights too. What would be useful is to have enough light to find our way to flashlights/headlamps of which we have a few.
And,now that I read about it, a tail standing flashlight to do a ceiling bounce for a family dinner etc. would be a useful addition. Haven’t figured out which one though, since I have a 768WH Ecoflow River 2 Pro, I thought something that could run off USB too might be useful.
Lightbringer’s suggested LED bulbs on a USB cord might do the trick.