Lessons from Sandy

[Stormin Mormon]

I really like those. I got two off ebay. Then, Kmart got them, cheaper.

Those have the blue LED light you don't like?

I really like mine, they provide useful light. The three D cells last a long time, and provide a stable base.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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What I have been using for years, camping, working, in the dark, the best thing to have, at least one. Check link. If you don't have one, get one. Candles are good, and make heat, for power outages. I use kerosene for heat in those cases. I now also have gas stove.

Greg

[The Daring Dufas]

I have an older version of that LED floodlight on my desk. I bought 2 of them but a drunk got hold of one and tried to bend the bottom to make the light straight. O_o

TDD

[gregz]

Found these at Walmart. Near the checkout, and in camping. Different prices,

Another useful camping aid I have, is a saucer like, hang up led light. Multiple LEDs, and switch for combinations. Great light output, and good life from AA cells.

Greg

[Stormin Mormon]

What did you think when you sobered up?

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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I have an older version of that LED floodlight on my desk. I bought 2 of them but a drunk got hold of one and tried to bend the bottom to make the light straight. O_o

TDD

[Stormin Mormon]

I've never known anyone who used one.

Must have worked OK, you mentioned it.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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Another useful camping aid I have, is a saucer like, hang up led light. Multiple LEDs, and switch for combinations. Great light output, and good life from AA cells.

Greg

[Dean Hoffman]

Honda engine? This is one circumstance where farmers would be at a distinct advantage. Most probably have plenty of fuel on hand. A PTO driven generator should get them by for some time. I don't suppose there are many plow jockeys in Hoboken, NJ though.

[gregz]

They are bluish but don't stare at you like a 360 lantern.

Of course I always have my trusty led flashlight in my pocket in dark times. I also use it when I'm working on things when I need more light.

Greg

[The Daring Dufas]

That's exactly what I have sitting on my desk right now. I found two at a couple of dollar stores about 5 years ago and have been looking for more of them since a drunk broke one of my lights last year. ^_^

TDD

[clare]

But 40 lbs of gas produces something like a hundred times as much energy as a 40 lb battery.

But you will do it 10 times as often

Nope - not even close. A 200AH battery - that's a pretty big one - will provide 2400 watts for less than an hour. A 2500 Va generator will run about 4 hours on a 2 1/2 gallon (imperial) (lets say 3 gallon US) gas tank. Or about 8 hours at half load. The Hyundai 6500 we rented for the insurance office holds 6 US gallons and will run 14 hours at 1/2 load according to the manual.. Battery vs generator is not even CLOSE to a fair fight.

The inverter could likely run the lights for about 2 or 3 hours. A Honda 200 inverter generator could do that on half a gallon or so of gasoline

[Stormin Mormon]

Yes, with the Jeep lights, you can point them in a direction.

One lantern of mine, I finally half wrapped with aluminum foil. got tired of being blinded when I was near.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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They are bluish but don't stare at you like a 360 lantern.

Of course I always have my trusty led flashlight in my pocket in dark times. I also use it when I'm working on things when I need more light.

Greg

[Stormin Mormon]

I've seen them in Kmart, in the camping section. For ten bucks, well. I think they are a good value.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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That's exactly what I have sitting on my desk right now. I found two at a couple of dollar stores about 5 years ago and have been looking for more of them since a drunk broke one of my lights last year. ^_^

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

The light uses 3 D cells and will provide many hours of light. ^_^

TDD

[clare]

Which for the traffic lights could likely be a square wave with little or no effect.

[rbowman]

I don't remember it lasting long enough to bother my homework. Where I lived, the power going out wasn't that uncommon. The drill was to stick your head out and see if the neighbors had any lights to make sure it wasn't a personal problem. There weren't any lights in town so my father and I jumped in the car and went out scouting. When we got to a place overlooking the Hudson where you could see Albany, Troy, and all the little areas and it was black we figured it was a pretty wide spread. Other than that, it was business as usual.

[Nicholas]

These days inverters produce "modified sine waves" which is a stair-step kind of output. Not a square wave, not a sine wave, but a blend of both.

I know from experience that electric motors don't like that kind of input. They run at very low rpm with an MSW. I don't know what the root mean square (rms voltage) is but I suspect it is a lot less than

0.707 of the peak to peak voltage that you would get with a pure sine wave.

Lg

[gregz]

I should convert one some day to single warm white led module. I can still have two levels. Should be easy. I dismantled a variable brightness 360 lantern thinking I was going o convert. There were so many pieces I think I got frustrated and they are still pieces.

Greg

[Ed Pawlowski]

I phased out candles decades ago. This time I phased out the oil lamps and replaced them with LED lantern. We also have a few led flashlights.

Never needed any of them this storm, thankfully. A couple of blinks is all we had. Still cannot justify a generator. I'd do as well by setting 1000 $1 bills in the garage and burn them when needed for light and heat.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Have they improved? I bought some and they did not work well at all. Dim light for a couple of hours on a good day.

[clare]

Fully aware of this. REAL CHEAP inverters are square wave, CHEAP inverters give you a step wave, better give you modified sine wave, and high quality give you "true sine".

Similarly, some cheap generators give you a REALLY NASTY "sine wave"

- some with terrible harmonics, some with terrible power factor distortion into anything but an "ideal" load. Add poor voltage and frequency control on many cheap generators, and they can cause a LOT more problems to very sensitive electronics than a reasonable inverter.

A GOOD generator is better in regulation of voltage and frequency, with less distortion.

The new Honda Inverter series generators have an extremely clean sine-wave output with very close frequency and voltage regulation - with good fuel economy and quiet part throttle operation for low loads.

[Ed Pawlowski]

thing * Candles don't put out enough light to be useful. Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

all the time. It got its first use for Sandy and did very well; nice and bright and very convenient.

I will have to think about that. I bought this one a few months ago. Lasts longer on D" cells, but is not rechargeable.