LED Nite Lite

[Stormin Mormon]

Last night, the wind blew. The storm howled. And the little bulb in my night light blew. Well, this isn't a big deal, go get another bulb. I decided to leave it for the next day. And eventually the daylight came, and all was good.

But it got me thinking. What to do in case of a long term power cut? The flash light on the night table is OK, but it's a lot easier to see with a night light.

You'd think, wouldn't yah, that someone else had this same problem?

I'd like a light that runs for five or six days on a set of batteries. Turned off daytime, of course. It should have about as much light as a

7 watt night light. And it should be a pleasant, wide light not a penlight that shines a spot on the far wall.

I've never seen 3-D holders at Radio Shack, but maybe I can build something. And maybe an LED out of a Photon light, that has a wide spread light. And open wires, I can make something work.

But, is anything out there made for night light use?

[Reed]

maybe like this device ? (but only 8 hours on batteries)

[Jeff Wisnia]

Not great because you have to get out of bed and into it's detection zone before it turns on.

I use the GE white LED plug in nightlights, one in the bedroom and one in the bathroom and they're on night and day, power consumption is negligible. A bit less light output than a 7 watter, but enough for me once my eyes have been dark accustomed for a short time. Probably could get more light from them by putting a higher intensity LED in and reducing the impedance of the voltage dropping element.

It wouldn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out how to add a couple of NiCad cells and a trickle charging circuit onto one of those so there would be light even when the power failed. Wouldn't even need a transformer, just the impedances of a series capacitor and resistor to drop the line voltage through.

Any decent ham or savvy tech should be able to cobble one up if they can't be bought "tailor made".

Jeff

[Reed]

snip

snip

please see #3 below

3 Way Sensing - 4 way lighting

(1) Detects power outages and automatically turns on emergency flashlight

(2) Automatically senses motion in a dark room and lights the way for safety

(3) Automatically senses darkness and becomes a classy night light

(4) Power lasts 8 continuous hours in emergency situation

[Jeff Wisnia]

Missed that, I stopped at The headline.

You're right, that sounds like what he's needs, if he doesn't mind spending $35 to get it.

Jeff

[Pat]

You're answer is actually quite a bit simpler than you expect.

You wrote this, so I am assuming you were using a computer (rather than some hereto-unknown super-hero power) so you should have a battery backup. They are much better and safer than you surge protector. So go get an oversized one (if there is such a thing) and plug your computer into it and forget about it. When your power goes out, your computer safely shuts down, you can turn it one (and your modem) for info over the internet, and you can plug your low-voltage light into it. Oh, and your cordless phone.

Some have pretty good run-times. Days, no. Fairly long, yes. YRMV. let someone else do the math as to how long it will run under various circumstances.

My OLD backup (ES 725) lasted 16 minutes and 22 seconds yesterday when our power went out. High winds in upstate NY. Our power was out for about 15 hours. The 16 min. included computer, 2 monitors, 2 printers, and phone. I was not hope at the time, so it then shut the system down (instead of just letting it crash). Then it had 7 minutes of juice left (I set it that way).

Storm> Last night, the wind blew. The storm howled. And the little bulb in my

[hallerb]

I use a UPS on my satellite system and TV, before I went big screen. The satellite receiver has a hard drive in it, its a DVR, so the UPS avoids reboot time.

One day our power failed:( My wife freaked that EVERYTHING quit but the TV.

I howled with laughter, she FREAKED!:)

The larger screen TV was too big for the UPS.

[Jim Rusling]

Get a bigger UPS. :)

If it is during the day, my wife forgets about the UPS. One time she called me wanting to know why the ceiling fan quit working. I ask her about the lights on the UPS and the orange light was on.

[Pat]

I gurss everyone has a story. Mine is that I was across town working on my wife's car that wouldn't start. One of the kids called to say that he thought the power wasn't working (he was 7 or 8). I asked what he meant. He said the only light in the house was from my computer. So not knowing what to do (even though my wife was home), we went to my office, turned on the TV and called me. I told him to turn off the computer and watch TV until it died and that I'd be home soon.

Jim Rusl>

[buffalobill]