[PAPrepper]

Just thinking about light for my house when power is compromised. I was thinking candles for constant light however they can be messy. What about lanterns with smokeless oil? That seems a good alternative. Any suggestions or thoughts?

As far as flashlights, there are so many. Suggestions, I see a lot on Amazon with CREE LED's.

What is best to keep in mind as far as power source? meaning CR123 or some other battery? Is there one rechargeable that is better than another and how long will it hold a chare without being used? Don't want to get caught with no power. Maybe some dry cells as a back-up?

 

[warrior4]

The nice thing about candles is that they don't require any batteries. Downsides are yes they can be messy and there's the obvious fire hazard. Anything battery operated is of course limited by its battery life. If the power goes out you're not going to be able to recharge your re-chargeable gizmos from the grid so unless you've got a solar powered charger you're going to have to stock up on batteries. It would probably be a good idea to have both candles and battery powered light. Although when SHTF you may not want to do much after dark anyway to avoid unwanted attention. Light and noise discipline are good skills to hone.

 

[rickkyw1720pf]

Nothing you mentioned is the way to go IMHO, The best choise is LED headlamp and a way to recharge it. Lanterns use a lot of fuel and what good is it to light areas you are not looking at. Flashlights or good but must be held, A head lamp allows use of both hands so you can do things like wash the dishes, in fact it is my light of choise for working on cars or equipment. 3 AAA batteries will last a couple of days before needing recharging. There are so many ways available to keep your batteries charged that would be a new post. I would also suggest a lot of those garden lights that Walmart sells as cheep as $2 dollars. Leave them out in the morning and twist the heads off and use them just like a candle except they can last for years. I have found 2 in each room will give you enough light to get around comfortably at night. If you get a good headlamp once you get used to wearing it you will find yourself trying to turn out the lights when you walk out of a room.

My favorite head lamp now is the Nano Reactive headlamp, it is programmable and has a light sensor that adjust the light depending on what you are looking at, if you look out an open field it will give a lot of light but if you look at a map it will instantaneously adjust the light for reading. Some of the cheaper LED head lamps work good also and everyone in the family should have one. A good flashlight is still a must but you will be using it a fraction of the time you will be using a head lamp. Make sure what ever light you buy is an LED whether a flashlight headlight or even an electric lantern, because of there low power consumption and 10,000 to 100,000 hour life expectancy.

 

[LunaticFringeInc]

I got a cool azz latern that's LED's and 2 x 9 watt florescent tubes that uses 4 x AA batteries, I have a lot of rechargables I use, that is the cats meow in my opinion. I got it for camping but thought how great it would be at home in a power outage. Paid about 19 bucks for it at Academy Outdoors. I can use it as a flash light, or a beacan or a single or two tube florescent light. Its not the same as the one being sold a walmart, its a lot better! The other thing that's great is those 1 dollar solar lights for your yard or walk way sold at walmart. They are weak but make enough light to make it through the house without breaking your neck. Just don't forget to put them outside so they can recharge again. I have a couple of oil lamps but I use them only in the winter as they give off heat. They wont warm a room up but they will knock the chill off a room and make cold days/nights more bearable. Those religious candles at walmart will do the same thing when its cold out. Once they are used you can recycle them using melted candle wax and a 12 inch stick candle as the new "wick". They burn a looong time too! I think they are up to 1.45 each but you can probably find them at the dollar store for a buck each still possibly. But that's just what Lunatics solution to that problem is....YMMV.

 

[Boss Dog]

Oil Lamps, candles and flashlights are all good for doing what you need to do in the dark. You need to have a lot of supplies for each platform, and you should have each on hand. I think we will just go back to the old way of; when it gets dark outside, go to bed soon afterward. The chickens are up early and there's a lot of work to do.

 

[MrsInor]

Have several oil lamps, a couple of bins of candles (mostly picked up at garage sales), many flashlights and batteries. I think Boss Dog hit it though - go to bed when it gets dark.

 

[PAPrepper]

I still rely on my old Coleman lanterns that run on the Coleman fuel. They burn forever on a full tank of fuel, give off no smoke and are simple to repair if need be. Also have the Coleman stove that runs off the same fuel as well. Just keep extra mantles and a few gallons of fuel on hand and you'll be good to go!

You sure that is safe to burn in the house? Sounds like that would give off a whole lot of fumes.

 

[PAPrepper]

I do have one. Good idea.

 

[kjoberk]

All 5 of us in my family have and use headlamps. My husband and I have ones that have a little flip down red filter. I also buy candles like it's my hobby. One, I love smelly candles. And two, you don't need anything to burn them other than a fire source. I have mason jars that I use to contain them. The lip always goes way up over the flame so there's little chance of a fire hazard. More just spilling wax, which really isn't a big deal to me.

 

[PAPrepper]

Being in hurricane country, very familiar with long term power outages. Have plenty of candles on-hand, they're dirt cheap and there's a reason people used them for thousands of years - they don't require any maintenance or fuel (short of oxygen). Lanterns and Coleman lamps work great but storing enough fuel to use them long-term is a bit of a pain, however, we have half a dozen glass "hurricane lamps" which burn oil and they are invaluable when the lights are off for weeks at a time - it's worth getting a few of those and putting away a few gallons of the fuel - it never goes bad.

I LOVE the Cree LED lanterns and flashlights - those bulbs are amazingly tough and they put off a tremendous amount of light while using very little power. IMO you want to stay away from rechargable battery units, because what are you going to recharge them with? All of my flashlights and LED lanterns are CREE bulbs and they use everything from D-cells to AA's to C123's. The C123 Lithium batteries last a very long time in flashlights but they are expensive and will be hard to find in a SHTF scenario. Lately, I've opted for lights that can operate on D, AA, or AAA batteries, just to get some standardization with other devices such as radios, walkie talkies, etc.

Take care! :wink:

Can you tell me what kind of candles you have? Do you buy specific long lasting type candles? Where do you get them?

As far as the flashlights, are you saying the 123 is the best route as well as lithium being the best way to go?

 

[BetrayedAmerican]

I know not many would think about this and if they do they will think it would stink but there is a very long burning candle... Stick a wick in a can of sysco and it will burn for days.

 

[kjoberk]

Also I've heard that crayons burn well? I've never actually tried it, though I should since we have a ton of them!

 

[paraquack]

I have the Coleman stove and lantern. The "DUAL" fuel type, gasoline or white gas. Now they have a tri-fuel, can use kerosene too. Coleman warns that these units produce carbon-monoxide when being used.

 

[PaulS]

I have candles, oil lamps, Aladdin lamps, and a dual fuel "Coleman style" military lantern. I also have lamps made from the solar powered yard lights. Mostly these are for short term power outages because I don't want to try to store the many gallons needed to keep them going for three or four years.
The military and Aladdin lamps use mantles and I can use alcohol very effectively in them for "space" lighting. The yard lights are for "task" lighting. Those times when yo need to see what you are doing or where you are going. The danger of using anything burning for lighting is, of course, fire. The danger increases if there is a nearby gas line that might leak. Reloading ammunition would be disastrous if you were using a burning light with which to load powder. The LED yard lights are best under those conditions.

I have a couple of gas stoves (gasoline) and a charcoal grill that can be put into use if the natural gas is unavailable for any reason. I also have an alcohol stove and a one burner military multi fuel stove that will burn any liquid fuel including alcohol, gas, diesel, kerosine, etc.

 

[1skrewsloose]

I've been looking into some of those crank radio/flashlite units. Not as handy as some, but had a crank/solar powered radio for use at the beach and is still working after 5 years. Worked good when we were camping too.

 

[budgetprepp-n]

I still like the idea of a small solar set up. for under $300 you can have leds in every room

 

[Prepadoodle]

I would go with led lanterns and rechargeable AA batteries. All of my battery powered devices (except my tablet) use AA batteries. I have a solar panel that will recharge my AA battery packs, and these can output a 5V USB voltage, 6V, or 12V to power my 180W cup inverter.

I use 3rd Gen Sanyo Enloop 2000 mAh AA batteries that can be recharged 1800 times, so my lighting needs are covered for 5-7 years or more.

Amazon: 3rd Gen Sanyo Enloop AA Batteries

 

[PAPrepper]

Why do you need the 5V USB voltage, 6V, or 12V to power my 180W cup inverter. What is that?

What kind of flashlights do you have?

 

[Verteidiger]

I carry one of these with me everywhere I go:

 

[Prepadoodle]

Why do you need the 5V USB voltage, 6V, or 12V to power my 180W cup inverter. What is that? What kind of flashlights do you have?

I put together a system that will charge my AA batteries, phones, and laptop from solar or virtually any AC or DC source I can find. The system uses battery packs, each with 2 banks of 5 AA cells that can be connected in series to output 12V or in parallel to provide 6V, and I can run the 6V through a 5V regulator to power a 5V dummy USB port for charging my handheld devices.

The "cup inverter" is called that because it is designed to plug into the cigarette lighter and sits in the cup holder of my car. The one I have now (an ENERGIZER 180W Cup Inverter) has a 120VAC outlet for the laptop and a couple of USB ports for charging or powering other devices.

The flashlights don't plug into the system, but the system can recharge batteries that can be used in my lighting stuff. I have a couple of Energizer Weatheready 360 Degree LED Area Lanterns and Dorcy 41-2510 Floating Waterproof LED Flashlights along with a few other LED flashlights that take AA cells.