R C Ds

[ARWadsworth]

I have a sub station in my garden and live in an urban area and I suffer from frequent power cuts. No need to live in the sticks to appreciate a genny.

Adam

[Dave Liquorice]

You have to find it (or one of them) in the dark?

[Dave Liquorice]

I do live in a rural area and remote, about as remote as you can get in England. But regular power cuts we don't have, if you discount short, 1 to 2 secs, outages the last power cut was, erm, can't remember. Put it this way been here 5 years had 3 perhaps 4 cuts...

Trouble is unless the genny is autostart and switch over you still get plunged into darkness... As the place is done up thought is being applied to new wiring for the time when a generator input is installed. Spurs for fridge/freezers etc, strategic lighting on seperate feeds etc

Beat me to it, I know several people who live close to cities or in urban areas who have many cuts year. Our power considering it is overhead all the way and the line crosses a rather exposed hill at

1,900' is very reliable. The road that crosses close by the line is closed at least a couple of times each winter due to snow and we haven't had a "proper winter" for years...

[Lurch]

On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 00:21:19 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice" strung together this:

Extract from the Tamlite fire and security catalogue;

NON-MAINTAINED EMERGENCY LIGHTING

An emergency lighting circuit consisting of an inverter P.C.B; abattery pack and lamp. The lamp only operates when the normal mains supply to the luminaire fails. On mains failure the secondarysource of supply is normally from a self contained battery pack,however other sources may be used.

MAINTAINED EMERGENCY LIGHTING

An emergency lighting system with a lamp which operates both on a normal mains supply and also in emergency mode. The circuit consists of a choke, starter, inverter P.C.B; battery cells and lamp. In mains operation the lamp may be switched ON and OFF without effecting its emergency mode of operation. In emergency operation the secondary source of supply is normally from a self contained battery pack, however other sources may be used.

SUSTAINED (OR COMBINED) EMERGENCY LIGHTING

An emergency lighting system in which the luminaires will housetwo (or more) lamps, one of which is energized from the normallighting supply which can be switched "ON and OFF". The secondlamp is only operational on the failure of the normal mains supply.The luminaire is made up from two circuits in order to provide theindependent operation. In emergency operation the secondarysource of supply is normally from a self contained battery-pack,however other sources may be used.

[N. Thornton]

I used to use gas for backup lighting, lot more practical. Now Ive got the proper unit thingy.

Regards, NT

[Dave Liquorice]

But you still need to be able to see to find it and light it. When I say it's dark up here I mean dark, really dark, no detectable photons at all. Not like a being in a town or city where light pollution means it is never dark. Even during a power cut there will still be sky glow from unaffected areas.

I've yet to find an electric device that produces suffcient light to easyly cook by, has a good (at least 6hrs) runtime and can be "recharged" without the mains or costing an arm and a leg in dry cells.

Gas on the other hand produces loads of light, has excellent run time and can be "recharged" by simply clicking another, cheap, cylinder onto the base.

[N. Thornton]

Not at all, as long as you know where it is, ie its never moved and easy to get to, you can walk slowly in total blackness to it. Be sure to get one with built in sparker, dont want to muck about with matches and a hissing gas thing when you cant see anything.

what about a couple of non maintained emergency lights with a bigger battery put in them? Or gas plus a separate light by the cooker?

yes, and the biggest advantage in my eyes is its reliable. Batteries and bulbs just dont match the reilability of a gas canister at all. And £1 per decade in gas isnt bad, and the equipment cost is far lses as well.

Regards, NT

[Dave Liquorice]

I know where the lamp is, it's never moved but we have rugrats. So it's not kept in a really easy place to get to, not to mention the trip hazards that rugrats leave lying about...

It has but I can't say I've practiced lighting the thing with my eyes closed. Good reminder, thank you.

I'll be interested to see how well the "forever flashlight"s do. Powerfull magnet slides through a coil when you shake the torch, the induced charge is then stored in a capacitor and drives a white LED. No batteries to die or delicate bulb filaments to break. The coil wiring is very fine but that doesn't move.

30s of shaking produces 5mins of light, not particulary bright but more than enough to move about with and do small tasks. Like finding and lighting the gas lamp and issuing the 12hr light sticks to the kids...

[N. Thornton]

right. I guess one standard non-maintained fitting would give you enough light instantly to enable you to get a decent gas one going.

NT