Little victories

I did a CU change in the days of Electricity Boards. I told the SEEB person that if he came back to reconnect me in two hours I could put the kettle on as soon as he reconnected me, Everything worked out perfectly and he got his 'very welcome' cup of tea,.

Well yes, but I'm not a moron. I've located the light at sitting head height so any movement of the head - whether on loo or in wheelchair - triggers it. Bearing in mind the main concern is to enable a safe transfer from on to other.

Things are very much better with lithium ion. An old fashioned NiCd would get you 1.2V at say 500mAh - that's 600mWh. A modern NiMH might be 2500mAh, or 2000mAh if you want low self discharge (3 or 2.4Wh). An 18650 lithium ion is about the size of two AAs and goes up to about 3000mAh at 3.7V, which is 11.1Wh. Lithium ion hold their charge and can deliver very high currents, which is great for things you use rarely (where the NiMH would be flat or wimpy when you needed them). They're also easy to charge from USB (you can get some cells with an integral microUSB socket).

Hand cranking gets you a pittance of power. Fine for a desert island, not that useful for much else.

I bought one of these:

(I had assumed it came without cells so I have some 18650s salvaged from an old laptop battery that measure at 3000mAh, but the provided ones work for now)

Theo

A few people had heart attacks or strokes while happy clapping for the NHS

Then you should. I think its the second or third most common cause of house fires

Yup .Paraffinor butane lamps prolly a better bet than candles, but battery LED lights better than all.

Maybe, but in the sense that guns don't shoot people....

FiL had a Tilly lamp, which was pretty good. But keeping something like that in a safe but accessible place ready for that moment of power cut is a PITA unless you have a regular schedule.

The nice thing about the stick up PIR night lights is - come winter - they tend to get tested as a matter of course.

In the early 1950s my mother bought some little clip on candles for a Christmas tree. She actually managed to light them all, attached to a small pine tree, until my father came home and pointed out the error of her ways.

Tilley Lamps give a bright light but some people struggle to light them so as a domestic emergency light there are better alternatives.

Didn't you have electricity?

Yes. But my mother apparently remembered small candles from here childhood and thought they would be charming. She may never have come across electric Christmas lights, there wasn't much in the shops in those days.

Weren't they helpful orb-carrying aliens on Doctor Who?