emergency light

[Ed Pawlowski]

Commercial codes have required emergency lighting for decades. I've added a couple of inexpensive ones at home.

First one I bought is an Energizer from Tractor Supply. Plugs into any socket and maintains a charge. If power goes out, light goes on. Yesterday I was in Home Dept and bought a $10 Capstone Eco i Lite that does the same thing and has a night light. What is nifty is it has an induction charger so no contacts to make when taking it out or putting it back in the holder. Charge is supposed to last 4 hours.

Of course, I have other flashlights and an LED lantern, but if the power goes out suddenly, we won't be in total darkness trying to find a light.

[gregz]

Back about 25 years ago, they made a nice automatic, and removable, florescent plug in light. Works very well, nice and bright. Of course, eventually the batteries failed. I repacked the unit and ran so many more years. After the second failure I guess I gave up. I think I still have those things. At the time they were inexpensive, about $25.

And there was the harbor freight florescent lights with the gel cells. Batteries cooked in a couple years. I wonder if they still sell those from the 80's.

Greg

[The Daring Dufas]

I have CFL desk lamps plugged into the UPS units on our computer equipment here at The Crotchety Old Farts Lair so the lights stay on when the power goes out. I have dozens of UPS units and use them for all sorts of things. I work on computer systems and folks toss the UPS units when all that's needed is a replacement battery. I took a load of bad AGM batteries to a recycler Friday and got $40.00 for them. A small UPS for a computer will run a 13 watt CFL for quite a while. ^_^

TDD

[Stormin Mormon]

That's one way to do it. Another way, is to carry a small light in one's pocket. For example, I've got a squeeze "photon" light on my keyring. A Harbor Fright free light in my bathrobe pocket.

In the military, a pistol is what you use, to fight your way back to your rifle. A Photon is what I use to light my way back to my lantern.

See if I can remember where are the spare mantles for my Coleman lamps. Propane is much needed heat, during winter storms like this.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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First one I bought is an Energizer from Tractor Supply. Plugs into any socket and maintains a charge. If power goes out, light goes on. Yesterday I was in Home Dept and bought a $10 Capstone Eco i Lite that does the same thing and has a night light. What is nifty is it has an induction charger so no contacts to make when taking it out or putting it back in the holder. Charge is supposed to last 4 hours.

Of course, I have other flashlights and an LED lantern, but if the power goes out suddenly, we won't be in total darkness trying to find a light.

[Stormin Mormon]

Reminds me. I've got a 12 volt UPS, been meaning to buy a marine trolling battery, and wire that in as the battery.

I'd like a light, that uses small bit of power to hold open a relay. When the power goes out, the relay relaxes, and powers a battery flash light. No nicads to replace every few years.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

I have CFL desk lamps plugged into the UPS units on our computer equipment here at The Crotchety Old Farts Lair so the lights stay on when the power goes out. I have dozens of UPS units and use them for all sorts of things. I work on computer systems and folks toss the UPS units when all that's needed is a replacement battery. I took a load of bad AGM batteries to a recycler Friday and got $40.00 for them. A small UPS for a computer will run a 13 watt CFL for quite a while. ^_^

TDD

[DerbyDad03]

Years ago when I was in the Coast Guard and stationed in Alaska, we had a 1/4 mile long tunnel that led from the main station to the transmitter building. There was an emergency light at both ends. We had a bicycle with a large basket that we used to bring supplies to and from the transmitter building. One dark night when I was on duty, we lost power and I had to get to the transmitter building ASAP.

Since the lights only lit a small portion of the tunnel at both ends, it was pitch black for most the middle section. I hopped on the bike, leaned the basket against the wall, and peddled as hard as I could towards the light at the other end. For a few hundred feet I was riding in pitch black with only the light at the other end for comfort. It was pretty spooky! I was very familiar with the tunnel and knew (assumed?) that there would be nothing for me to hit, so I just kept peddling until I could see again.

The next day I spoke to the safety officer and he put in an order for some wire and few more emergency lights to line the tunnel and eliminate the dark sections.

[gfretwell]

Why didn't you have a head light on the bike?

[Stormin Mormon]

I wondered the same thing. And some horizontal stripes on the walls, so you can maintain your sense of horizon.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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Why didn't you have a head light on the bike?

[DerbyDad03]

...that's a question I can't answer.

I was there for one year and this was the only time we ever lost power to the entire station. What other's did before me, assuming it had happened before, I can't say.

I know that while I was there, we set records for on-air time, so maybe the crews before us didn't care enough to ride a bicycle in the dark. I can't say, all I know is that it was quite an adventure and they didn't argue with me when I suggested a few more emergency lights.

[Pete C.]

If the power goes out here there is plenty of light from the monitors and LEDs on all the computers in the office on UPS. There are flashlights in most rooms anyway so you don't have to look far for one.