OT - camping lantern choices

[clare]

In the last 5 or more years more likely to be NiMh unless it's bottom drawer cheapassed stuff.

[Don Y]

We have MagLites in holders (clips?) by the front and back doors. I have a flashlight hanging under my office worktable. And, one in the garage.

We had a pair of something similar (Coleman, IIRC). While plugged in, they kept the batteries charged. Also had an electroluminescent strip on the front to act as a 24/7 nightlight. In an outage, you could unplug them and carry them like a flashlight.

But, the charging circuit was notorious for cooking the battery pack (nowadays, you could probably just plop some NiMH cells in but this was a NiCd -- not easily replaceable)

Dunno. We've never had an outage of more than ~1 hr. Rough calculation: battery pack is 7AHr @ 24V. So, roughly 170WHr. CFL is 13W yields ~13 hours (assuming 100% efficiency). Guesstimate half that?

No question! As would a smaller (wattage) CFL. But, my goal is not to have to have "special" things to address unusual, infrequent events. E.g., if 6 hours wasn't enough, I'd unplug the extension cord and run it over to another UPS -- that has been *off* for all this time (you have to make sure your UPS will start in the absence of AC line voltage; some won't).

I figure at 4 days, "light" is probably the least of our concerns! :> The point of the propane lantern/camp stove was that I could always "steal" a can of propane from the torch kit, in a pinch. A gallon of white gas (for a lantern) doesn't help me when I need to sweat a joint on some pipes! :>

[Frank]

Missed the cfl part until I read your reply. Looks good but I have to agree with you. All the led lanterns I have are the multiple bulb types that are maybe only good in finding your way to the bathroom.

[Tekkie®]

bob_villain posted for all of us...

Don't forget the radioactivity from the mantles...

[Don Y]

LED lamps tend to be good at throwing light in *one* direction. When you want to light an area "from within" (as opposed to "from above" or "from the side"), you need a light source that emits light in all directions.

You can buy "corn-cob LED arrays that try to do this. Or, other configurations with various types of diffusers.

When the CFL dies in this lantern, I'll gut the electronics and retrofit a corn-cob emitter array in its place -- forfeiting the "beam" capability in favor of the "lantern" capability.

If I get ambitious, I'll see if I can find a gelled electrolyte battery to cram in it in place of the 8xD cells (which are not rechargeable).

But, I can afford to wait and see what newer lighting technologies and packages come along before undertaking those modifications...

[Don Y]

Newer LED's (the actual diodes) are much brighter. And, I think the power sources (NiMH and LiIon) are much more stable (than NiCd, for example). Couple that with smarter driver circuits (that try to control current through the LED's instead of voltage across them)

I've had several "lantern form factor" are lights that would quickly dim as the battery voltage sagged.

[clare]

It does if you have an old gasoline blowtorch sitting around - - -

[hah]

And the motto of that is "the more there is of mine, the less there is of yours" :-)

[Frank]

Looking at Coleman lanterns on Amazon, I see my classical unit is about

100 bucks and all others, gas or battery are cheaper. You can also get the lumen output of some of them and mantles are 2-3X that of batteries. I believe the classic puts out 1,400 lumens which is close to that of 2 15 watt cfl's. I just skimmed the field and may not be exactly accurate but like to see lumens posted for any light I buy. Also read Amazon reviews where some customers say some units are nowhere near as bright as advertised.

I buy nothing but LED flashlights these days and sorry I have several as they just keep getting stronger and cheaper.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

I have a string of red LED Christmas lights in my hall. These are called "Lilly's lights" since I originally put them there to avoid stepping on the little cat who often slept in the hall.

I also have an old UPS that won't put out enough power for a PC, but it will operate those LEDs. It's nice to have some light during a power outage, such as after the tornado last May. BTW, I was in the hall when it went out.

[Stormin Mormon]

Having been working on consumer electronics for 40 or so years, I disagree with your last text.

[Muggles]

The longest outage we've had was 10 days without power. The next longest was 3 days, I think.

[taxed and spent]

maybe you should get more current.

[Don Y]

I think the white gas options throw more light. E.g., I'd not put my CFL lantern up to "light a campsite" whereas it was common to do so with the white gas lantern -- especially around the cooksite. Lots of energy pent up in dead dinosaurs!

I think the only "incandescent" flashlight I have left is the Thor-X: It's a perfect example of the inefficiency of incandescent technology; it is notably *hot* in front of the beam! And, it literally *eats* batteries!!

The bigger downside, however, is that it is totally impractical to use! I can light up houses blocks away, "accidentally". :<

[rbowman]

I have an Aladdin kerosene lantern that is an excellent light source. It became problematic when the old ladies in charge decided thorium had to be eliminated to make the world safe for children. I believe Aladdin has went to an alternate. I haven't tried one but understand the light output is diminished.

[Andy]

here with a hand-me-down. Coleman twin-mantel and Coleman fuel...it's like smelling napalm in the morning!

Radioactivity from the mantles.

What a joke.

I am 60 + yrs old and still around.

I used tons of Coleman lanterns. :-)

But I think that LED lanterns are probably a better bet.

They won't melt tents as much as the white gas models. :-)

Andy

[Eagle]

Wow. The longest we have gone without power is 2 hours. The portable generators from Lowes and Home Depot sold out in one day then. lol

[Muggles]

It was hard to find portable generators here, too! lol

[Tony Hwang]

Power outage is so rare in my neighborhood, I can't even remember the last time we had it. Longest we had was like less than couple hours.

[Muggles]

All of our power lines are above ground, so if we have a bad windy storm and trees drop branches, someone is going to be without power. We had some bad spring storms that did a lot of damage all over which is when we had the 3 day power outage. A winter ice storm nearly put the entire city out of commission, and many businesses, including grocery stores and gas stations had to set up big generators so people could get groceries and pump gas. The average person either got lucky and bought a generator, had one already, or just did without power. The average length of time people were w/o power was 5 to 10 days depending on what part of the city you lived in, but some people on the outskirts of town were w/o power for 4 to 6 weeks. It was a mess.