Emergency Back-up lighting

[Mac McQuinn]

As we lose power in our area quite often, I keep a team of lights to fall back on. I'm currently looking at some modern
replacements and could use some suggestions. I'm considering the "Streamlight" brand and the "Siege" line of lanterns
specifically. It appears I'm not going to be able to source a USA built product as everything I've looked at is of Asian
manufacture. With this in mind, I hoping to purchase from a USA company who stands behind their product, offers
replacement parts and a good warranty. Any help would be appreciated.

Mac

[Ed Labadie]

LED lighting from whoever makes your cordless tools......

Ed

[David Bassett]

... hoping to purchase from a USA company who stands behind their product, offers
replacement parts and a good warranty. ...

I think all LED manufacturing is overseas now. I'm not sure if any design remains in the US either.

Other than the actual LED, most flashlights are also made in Asia. I thought Streamlight was made in USA, but been a while since I was looking. Surefire is the only other company that comes to mind. I'm pretty sure they're still in the US, but unless you need something bombproof, literally, the don't seem cost effective to most shoppers.

We have several "lines of defense". First we have "emergency" flashlights which live in bases in electrical outlets. They go on when the power goes out. We've a couple different brands of generic no-name sets and they've all been good for their purpose. Since they're little better than night lights, they're to let us get to real lights safely.

Next we have classic flashlights to grab and carry around. We use these regularly for general tasks and run on rechargeable batteries. (Eneloops.) We have several different models of 2AA Energizer lights that have been very reliable. Plus random others. I also have a Maglite LED 2D light that's surprised me. Much brighter and sturdier than the reviews would have you believe. (Yes, you can do better for search & rescue.) I got it on sale on a whim. I figured it be good if I needed whack something, even if it wasn't great. It lights the (sub-urban) fence line from our porch, will light a room when bounce from the ceiling, and seems to run forever on it's D-size cells.

Then for living without power, if it doesn't come right back on, we have Rayovac Sportsman lanterns which, at the time I got them, were very well reviewed and in practice very convenient for lighting an area. My only two complaints are they take 3 batteries which are a little fiddly to get in correctly and off isn't completely off. (They have a electronic switch and a LED beacon that flashes and helps you find them in the dark. Maybe good for camping trip, but you need to store them without batteries in your emergency supplies.) We have both the 3AA and the 3D. More light from the D version, easier to get rechargeables with the AA version.

Also, for individual tasks we have headlights. (Bad in groups, if you look at each other, but good for reading, cooking, etc.) All of ours are AA based Energizer headlights of different models. I think we have a couple 1AA and a 3AA.

Hope this gives you some ideas and you find a solution that works for you.

PS- like the cordless tool LED idea too. One of these days.

[John Lanciani]

LED lighting from whoever makes your cordless tools......

Ed

+1. All the majors have nice area lights available.

[Izzy Camire]

I have an LED Streamlight lantern I have had for several years. It works great and I am very happy with it.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

After being without power for four months from Irma and Maria, my Milwaukee LED lighting kept us in the light and we only had to run the generator to charge batteries. I have both the 12v and 18v, and both are excellent.

[Mac McQuinn]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. My current arsenal;
(2) Maglite AA Flashlights-good solid lights although roll around too easy
(2) Maglite Triple D Flashlights-good solid lights although roll around too easy
(1) Coleman Propane Lantern-nice although due to propane, can't use inside
(2) Old School Eveready Double D Flashlights-not bright and switches are not always reliable
(1) Milwaukee 12V Ni-Cad Flex head flashlight-Freshly rebuilt Batteries, works well as long as batteries are fresh.
(1) B&D Snakelight, Double C- relatively useless as the batteries have a very short life span

Only one of these are LED, (Maglite Triple D)
As I like the Lantern the best for stability & flood lighting and the Milwaukee for stability and the type of light it produces,
I think a Lantern with LED, either in rechargeable or D size batteries will provide the light I'm looking for. A couple of these
and replacing the (3) oldest, poor performing flashlights should suffice. BTW, other than the Milwaukee Drill/Light combo in
Ni-Cad, I don't own any cordless tools.

Thanks again,
Mac

[John K Jordan]

As we lose power in our area quite often, I keep a team of lights to fall back on. I'm currently looking at some modern
replacements and could use some suggestions. I'm considering the "Streamlight" brand and the "Siege" line of lanterns
specifically. It appears I'm not going to be able to source a USA built product as everything I've looked at is of Asian
manufacture. With this in mind, I hoping to purchase from a USA company who stands behind their product, offers
replacement parts and a good warranty. Any help would be appreciated.

Mac

Besides hand-held lights if you have frequent power outages you might also consider wall-mounted emergency lights in the shop, basement, etc. These are incredibly cheap these days at an electrical supply house. They are normally hardwired but I added a cord to one and plug it into a receptacle. (odd, but when I lived in town we had frequent outages - after moving out in the sticks the outages are rare!)

As for hand-held lights, I've had a bunch of various brands and this is my all time favorite, the Fenix LD22:
https://www.amazon.com/Fenix-Flashli.../dp/B01418RAZY

I have a half dozen or so of these, in the shop, cars, bedroom, for hotel rooms. Besides getting around it the dark I use them to peer into woodturnings, check for surface scratches, to check on the peacocks, candle eggs, to find dropped legos, in dark closet corners. They are not cheap but I watch for Amazon price reductions on camelcamelcamel and only buy them when they drop below $40.

Some reasons I like these:
The use 2 AA batteries, available anywhere, easy to carry spares, don't need charging.
The light is slim and fits nicely in the pocket. The size and shape are such that I can hold it comfortably between two fingers and operate the rear switch for momentary use.
There are four brightness levels from quite dim but enough to see to walk around the farm to bright enough to check on the animals out in the fields and spot peacocks high in the trees. Fenix claims over 14 hours of light at the lowest brightness and I can believe it.

The user interface is perfect:
- It has a rear momentary+click on/off button and a separate mode button on the side to change brightness levels
- The on/off button does it right - a soft press for a momentary light and a harder press to hold it on. I dislike lights where the press always turns and holds the light on.
- It does have the nearly useless strobe and SOS modes but they are hidden unless you press and hold the side mode button for a couple of seconds. I dislike single-button lights that switch modes depending on the delay between presses and I refuse to use those that cycle through the strobe modes with the on/off switch- I give those to kids.

I also like the Fenix headlamp - a single AA battery, quite small and light weight, comfortable band, several brightness modes, especially useful around the farm and under vehicles and such when I need both hands free:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UHZXAYG

I can't comment on the warranty and support since I've never had a problem with on of the Fenix lights.

JKJ

[Jim Koepke]

When our power goes out it can be a big problem. We live in an area where we get our water from a well. We also do not have a gas line to the house. The wood stove could heat something for dinner if it was really needed. For light we have multiple battery powered LED Christmas candles, flashlights and regular candles.

When more light is needed a white paper bag is used in a shop made fixture:

100_6797.jpg

This was made in my shop during a power outage. Here's the story:

https://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthr...e-Power-is-Out

Last time the power went out we decided to go into town to have dinner and watch a movie. We only got a few miles when traffic was stopped. We found out the power was out because there was a side of a hill that came down and brought some trees with it. We turned around and headed for the coast to have dinner in another town.

jtk