You can buy flashlights that last 400 hours on one set of batteries:
http://www.action-electronics.com/lightwave.htm
Treat flu with C: http://www.orthomed.com/titrate.htm
I have a house for sale (smiles)
Centella, thanks. I was just looking for some LED flashlights!!
Here are a bunch more I posted on another forum:
Just a small sample of what is avialable:
LED flashlights:
100 hours / $24.00 http://www.ccrane.com/index.aspx
4AA http://www.big-dave.com/New-LED-Flashlight.html
3AA $6.00 http://www.goldengadgets.com/produc…b97fc394e5bd060
http://www.action-electronics.com/lightwave.htm
In Austrialia http://www.ledshoponline.com/24_led-flashlight.htm
how about a battey charger to go with the flash light:
Where to get solar chargers
Here are just a few:
Charger that does car batteries as well as AAA and AA http://www.powerportstore.com/Solar…ng%20-%20AR.htm
AA Charger: http://www.moontrail.com/accessrs/a…ton_solarAA.php
looks like it has a battery test meter ($19.95 what a deal) http://www.omegamanenterprises.com/…erychargers.htm
In the United Kingdom: http://www.gear-zone.co.uk/eshop/So…-Batteries.html http://www.energy-advice.co.uk/shop.html http://a5.zencatalog.com/TheGreenSh…sehold_102.html
See many more: Go to : http://images.search.yahoo.com/ Search = solar charger
Hey you could build you own (posted this one elseware as well):
Build you own LED lighting
here is a post I did for another forum recently in response to the question “gas lights or flashlights?”
I agree that LEDS are the way to go. I have built several over the last 6 or 7 years, many as gifts. We tested on of the ones I made to see how long the batteries would last and they lasted about 400 hours (3 D cells at 15 milliamps). I have made some high power led flashlights as well using Lumileds 1 watt leds (45 lumens). I typically run them at 1 half to two third of the rated current for maximum led life. I prefer to bould my own since some manufacturers run the leds to the limit and end up with units rated at only 10,000 hours (not bad considering incandescent flashlight bulbs last 15 to 20 hours). If you decide to build your own, check how many hours they are rated at 50,000 to 100,000 hours are available.
Here is some theory on using LEDS:
http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_lighting_leds.html http://www.dansdata.com/caselight.htm http://www.dansdata.com/caselight2.htm
Here is another source of leds including 12 volt assemblies. Some of the 12 volt assemblies have poor hour ratings but you can put a resistor in series with them to reduce the current a little bit. I used some of the white automotive tail light replacement bulbs to convert track lighting in my living room to 12 volt low current lighting (can run off car battery in a power outage).
http://www.superbrightleds.com/
One last thought. In the event of any number of worst case scenarios I will cover all the windows at night so that no light gets out because if I have lighting 2 or 3 weeks into a disaster it will indicate that I am in that very small minority of people who have prepared and that is not what I would want to communicate to a neighborhood full of starving people because I certainly can not help them hall (hide you technology).
Centella, bless your heart!!..getting the most out of a light is a critical issue for me! (I have kids) I’m considering a head lamp for each one so they can “read” if the grid goes down. :)
I have a kid too (eight years old). Too her (and me to a great extent)flashlights are great toys and we play with them often. We have spots, floods and multicolored ones (I even made a purple one).
Oh yes, you are right lighting is a critical issue. being in the dark every night would get depressing and make ordinary avtivities difficult or impossible after the sun goes down. I pridict that if the power goes off for a few days in any metropolitan area that at least one or two people will burn their hose down with candles.
Sorry, excuse the spelling. it’s late.
What i ment was “Burn their house down”
You can go to Walgreens and buy flashlights ($5.00) that don’t use ANY BATTERIES. You shake them for 30 seconds and they will stay on for 30 minutes. They work great! They use led bulbs that last forever. They are about 6 inches in length. I have bought more expensive ones that I’ve had for several years that do the same thing. They are larger and produce more light ($39.00).
on the “shake” flashlights, you have to watch for the ones that are “fakes” that have 2 flat button batterys that run the light for some hours and the magnet is a fake. if a paper clip will not stick to the side of the light near the magnet then it is fake and they should not have batterys only a capactor to store the electricty. the wind up flash lights look better and will charge up a cell phone and has a screwdriver built in to the handle, 1/4″ drive and bits inside the body, this looks it will work much better, i found them at true value hardware and at gander mounten sporting goods.
Kychas, we were duped by the fakes too. GRRRRRR
Hubby as been making LED flashlights for the past few weeks. He found a good deal on the LED’s online, and we found some cheapo flashlights at the DollarGeneral for $.50 put all that together with some rechargable batteries, and it makes a pretty good light. Now he is starting to change all our cheapo flashlights over to LED’s.
His first test light ran for 96(give/take) hours, one LED and 4 rechargable AA batteries.
I purchased an Energizer universal charger for AA, AAA, C, D, and 9V (NiCd/NiMH)batteries at MCM Electronics (thank you for the referral, Eccles). But does anyone have a guess as to how many watts this charger uses? I’m asking because I have a 400 watt inverter and I would like to know if I could run the battery charger on the 400 watt inverter if I had to. It seems like the charger would use more than 400 watts, but I don’t have a Kill-a-Watt so I don’t know how much it uses.
Desertstar- I would be very surprised if a small charger like that one uses more than about 10 watts. if that charger pulled 400 watts, you would be able to cook on it. I would not worry about it. Your 400 watt inverter should handle it wothout a second thought.
Memo to me: Look into the possibility of using battery charger as auxiliary stove
Carrey – at 12:43
It would have been interesting to see how long the batteries would last before converting to leds. my guess is 2 hours
Thank you Eccles!
Centella- Depends on the batteries and the bulbs. Incandescent bulbs for flashlights range from standard tungsten the Xenon/tungsten to halogen bulbs. Battery life depends on the batteries, and the current drawn by the bulb.
Once, a long time ago, I converted a two AA cell pocket flashlight to use a halogen bulb intended for a flashlight that used D cells. it only ran an hour, but boy, what light it threw!
Centella – at 13:07
I was thinking more along the lines of 8 hours, but either way, not nearly 96. We have 4 kiddo’s so lights are a big thing for us too.
I have a rechargable flashlight/radio with a solar and crank backup. Listened to the weather band last night during a severe T-storm. It works fine.
Carrey – at 13:40 Eccles – at 13:18
4 AA flashlight w/350 ma bulb and 2500 Ma hour Nimh batteries = 7 hours.
Just a guess.
I have just purchased some led flashlights. I am storing these in the garage for emergency use only. My question is, Is it ok to keep the batteries in the flashlight or should I not put the batteries in the flashlight until I need them?
worried in NJ – at 21:13 - keep the flashlights in the garage but store the batteries separately. Alkaline batteries should be kept at room temperature. NiMH and Nicad batteries keep better in your freezer, but be sure to let them warm to room temperature before use.
worried in NJ – at 21:13
I was always told to never store ANYTHING with the batteries in it.
spike
As far as lights go, how about those solar powered outdoor lights. Seems to me you could bring them in at night and put them out in the morning. They are supposedly good for 8 hours, which means 6 at the most. But, they could be recharging your luminescent devices which could carry you through the rest of the night. This way you could save the flashlights for a real emergency. Not sure how much they recharge in cloudy/rainy conditions.
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