Power went out, Suggestions for "emergency lighting?

[gstrom99]

I suppose I should do the same, I expect the "Amish" stores would have them.

I bought my last one (maybe 10 years ago) at Menard's. Not carried any longer. Amzn has several to choose from (of course...).

 

[EddieWalker]

I was thinking that what I really want is some light source that could be distributed around the house that offered (1) motion sensing, (2) dark activation, and (3) rechargable batteries.(5V USB?)
(4) easy mounting for stairs etc.

I don't want to run wires for these emergency lights!

Do you have cordless tools? Mine are 18volt Makita, and I have two different LED lights that use the Makita 18volt batteries. I always have a bunch of batteries that are charged for the tools, so it's easy to use the LED flashlights when power goes out.

One of the lights is kind of a spotlight and it's super bright. The other is more of a flood light that lights up a big area. When the power goes out, we turn them on and leave them on all evening until we go to bed. One is kept in the garage so we can see when we go in there. We go in there a lot. The other is in the living room, and it lights up the entire area. Neither have ever lost there charge in a night of using them.

If I was going to spend money on battery powered lighting, I would buy a few more Makita LED lights. Amazon.com

I also have the Makita radio. With cell phones we don't need it to hear the news, but it's nice to have music on if we are waiting for the power to come back on. A 3.0 battery will last 8 hours at a modest volume.

The issue with just about every other type of battery powered light is the battery. The Makita batteries are very good. I'm sure DeWalt and Milwaukee batteries are very good too.

Usually, we wait an hour when the power goes out or check with the news and power company to get an idea how long it's expected to last. If it's a short time, we will wait it out. If it's going to be for several days, or even a week, we pull out the extension cords and fire up the generator.

 

[ponytug]

Good advice, but unfortunately it's difficult for those with large whole house generators. Although I've never had any trouble with my 11KW genny, to be safe, I put all my sensitive electronics on an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) unit. They are reasonably priced and available in a variety of sizes.

That's a great idea; I do the same for protection from poor grid power quality first and foremost. If the goal is protecting sensitive electronics, I would go for a pure sine wave, on line version that runs the electronics off of the UPS generated power at all times.

If one has never measured the quality of one's grid power, one might be surprised. I have lived very few places with great power quality, though I have worked on some sites that did. Often, the power quality degradation can be traced to some other customer on one's distribution circuit. Bad connections and poor quality electrical devices can generate a great deal of noise, as can large loads like big motors.

Two out of three generators here generate better quality power than what comes in at the meter, except for a +/- 1Hz frequency shift no load to full load.

@EddieWalker I have similar Makita LEDs as well, which love for work, and for outages.

All the best,

Peter

 

[bigtiller]

ditto on the Makita lights. Like tony says, "they're great".
I have two of the DML801
and one DML185

 

[dmccarty]

I found simple success with the lanterns.
I have 3X rechargeable AA batteries in each one.
Other places offer them with the smaller AAA batteries that only last 1/2 as long.

With a full charged set of batteries, this will shine for over 2 weeks non-stop.

View attachment 4618600
...

We have lamps that look just like these and they work great. Have had them for years. We just keep the rechargable batteries charged.

We have some motion sensing night lights that stayed plugged into an outlet. The light up when we, or the dog, walk by, and if the power goes out they turn on. We turn them off when the power goes out once we have completed our Power Out Drill which includes getting the lamps mentioned above if at night.

Our power outages usually last 1-12 hours but we have had a couple that lasted a few days, and one that was 4-5 days. I do wonder if putting in a LiFePo battery system with DC-AC inverters would cover most of our power outage problems. I think we could size a reasonable system to last for a power outage for a day which would cover most outages. Then the problem becomes how to recharge the batteries which means a generator or solar power.....

Not sure what we will do.

 

[Jstpssng]

ditto on the Makita lights. Like tony says, "they're great".
I have two of the DML801
and one DML185

I do the same, except that mine are Dewalt's. What I like is that I already have a decent battery supply, so am not keeping something on hand specifically for outages.
I just need to remember to keep all of them charged..

 

[garry1p]

I do wonder if putting in a LiFePo battery system with DC-AC inverters would cover most of our power outage problems. I think we could size a reasonable system to last for a power outage for a day

Many of the portable LiFePO battery inverters do not support true UPS. I have the Anker solix C1000 and it has a 10ms switch time and can be recharged in less than an hour.
When I tested it my internet and computer stayed on line with no problems. I haven't tested it to see how long it would last, but I suspect my 2000W system would last maybe 20 hours powering my internet, led lamp and small TV.
My point is to verify that whatever you might purchase will preform as a UPS if you plan to have your computer system on it.
None of the battery inverters will last as long as they quote and kind of pricey.

YouTube has a lot of reviews and helped me in selecting the Anker system and with Black Friday price it meets my needs. I also have a gas generator for over 5 or 6 hour outages.

 

[sd455dan]

If costly electronics need emergency power, one of the clean inverter generators seem to be a good idea. I think Champion makes a small one that runs a long time if you don't need a lot of power. Not sure if the Sportsman model at Home Depot is just a rebranded Champion...looks similar IMO. Lots of on line reviews of them.

Also like the flashlights that use 18650s.

I went overboard and put in a 12KW Hybrid inverter, 14KW of solar panels, and LiFePo storage batteries, still have the old champion 5500 watt genny to charge the 48 volt batteries through a chargeverter. Lots of power outages the year before installing the system, and now a whole year has passed without one single grid outage. We still keep candles and flashlights.

Many of the portable LiFePO battery inverters do not support true UPS. I have the Anker solix C1000 and it has a 10ms switch time and can be recharged in less than an hour.
When I tested it my internet and computer stayed on line with no problems. I haven't tested it to see how long it would last, but I suspect my 2000W system would last maybe 20 hours powering my internet, led lamp and small TV.
My point is to verify that whatever you might purchase will preform as a UPS if you plan to have your computer system on it.
None of the battery inverters will last as long as they quote and kind of pricey.

YouTube has a lot of reviews and helped me in selecting the Anker system and with Black Friday price it meets my needs. I also have a gas generator for over 5 or 6 hour outages.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I went overboard and put in a 12KW Hybrid inverter, 14KW of solar panels, and LiFePo storage batteries, still have the old champion 5500 watt genny to charge the 48 volt batteries through a chargeverter. Lots of power outages the year before installing the system, and now a whole year has passed without one single grid outage. We still keep candles and flashlights.

It looks like you purchased a rather expensive "insurance policy.