Lighting Options

[voiceofreason]

besides LED lanterns/headlamps/flashlights that run on AA/AAA…

what options would you recommend for lighting? possibly cooking?

votive candles in votive candle holders are one option, regular candles?

what would be most practical/cost effective?

What would you use that isn't battery powered?

[Kyohte]

Oil hurricane lamps for light.

[1GIG]

I was just looking at this topic a couple weeks ago. Lots of recommendations for the Aladdin Mantle Lamps. Website HERE A little more expensive but seems to be highly recommended. I just received a shelf lamp. I haven't tried it out yet but very happy with the quality upon initial inspection. The light output is suppose to be 6-7 times as much as one flat wick lantern.

[rkba01]

Over the last decade or two I have bought quite a few of "W.T. Kirkman #2 'Champion' Cold Blast Lanterns" with reflectors from Kirkman (great people). One time I ordered a couple just two days before hurricane Ike made landfall, they arrived two days after landfall (thanks Dawn Kirkman and UPS!!!) and were put to immediate use. Within those two decades I have had the ability to gain some "real-world" feedback/experience from several true power outage events that lasted more than two weeks.

I would recommend two lanterns with reflectors for a dining table that seats 4-6 people, hang them about 3-4 feet above the table. Place hooks in the ceiling above your dining table, kitchen sink/counter, and cooking stove. When you need the lanterns hang some double loop chain with correct lengths on the ceiling hooks and you can place your lanterns where you need the light most (you can cut the double loop chain such that you end up with a hook at the end). Then over the years get some more lanterns so you end up with at least one lantern per person in your household, maybe add two extra lanterns for visitors/spares.

All my oil lanterns run on K-1 kerosene that you can buy in 5 gallon metal round-cans at the home improvement stores, etc. Kerosene stores for a long period of time. Buy one 5 gallon can and a smaller bottle for easier refill of your lanterns. Don't forget to get a proper sized funnel so you can fill the smaller bottle with the 5 gallon can.

Keep the wicks of the lanterns 'wet' (i.e. store the lanterns filled) and they will keep well, don't let the wicks dry out after they have been used. If they dry after being soaked with kerosene they tend to varnish. So just in case buy some extra wick, it's cheap insurance. Store your lanterns in a well ventilated area out of the sun or excessive heat.



I also have a few pressurized kerosene lanterns but learned that they need constant attention. If you don't keep the pressure up, the mantle will blacken with soot and you'll have to replace the mantle. However the lantern is hot and you'll have to wait until it cools down. When you have that happen when it is dark, without electric power, while cooking dinner for ten people, it's no fun. Operator error, sure, but still a pain in the behind.

I now only use the simpler oil lanterns. They don't give off as much light, but they are more reliable and need less operating maintenance. That reflector (made in USA) may cost a good chunk of money, compared to the lamp (made in China), but when you hang the lantern above a table that reflector is worth the cost. Polish that reflector with metal-polish every so often and you'll have a well lit table surface or kitchen sink and its surroundings.

We have one of Kirkman's Bunk Car Wall Lamp in the bathroom that has a permanent spot above the toilet bowl. It has come in very handy during the prolonged outages, but it is kind of a luxury item.

I typically run all of my lanterns once or twice a year, this will give me feedback on problems before a true event hits (whatever the cause may be for the power outage). The kids always like it and it gives them a good education on how to use them. Plus it gives you a good reason to start talking about the fragility of our society and our dependency on electricity and fuel.

[RHINOWSO]

Streamlight Siege.

[HeruMew]

We recently had experienced Category 1 hurricane winds.

Considering we are located in this general area (I am actually up where the "Arnold" is):


Cat 1 Hurricane winds haven't been experienced in my life thus far. People claimed to have the same sort of issues about 15 years ago.

Power was cut at 3:30AM last Thursday (07/21/16) and power outage lasted until late Sunday night.

To top this all off, here in Duluth, our average temp is anywhere between 55-75 in the summer; we were experiencing that Mid-Country heat wave. We hit 110 with 90% humidity on Friday. It was hellish, to say the least.

Here are some pictures of our damages:






In all honesty, these pictures do not the damages we had in our area justice. I will try to get some pictures from my Sister-in-law. Her property is destroyed and she is still without power today.

It was a great "get-your-feet-wet" run, I can say I am very happy I am a relative prepper. We had the pool for toilet water, had a stockpile of water jugs and those cases of water came very much in handy.

The community banded together, business' that had power gave out ice and water that they could. I spent some time helping neighbors clean up and getting friendly with some of the elderly folks who wouldn't have given a youngin like me the time of the day less than 48 hours before. It was a good event, I got a chance to open carry for a good reason, we had break ins rampant after the first couple days. Due to power reserving, we kept the house pretty dark, wasn't taking any chances.

I will, probably, wind up opening a new thread with specific info and posting more detailed pics of our damages in our area. However, I have to say, I have added these items to my lists:

Fuel Lanterns - One Propane / One (at least) Kerosene / One LED lantern
--Candles just didn't cut it for us. Since I had a stockpile of 18650s, I ran a flashlight stood up on the end cap. It worked great, our drop cielings are nice and bright, one 18650 gave us a whole evenings worth of light. Out of my stockpile, I wound up using about 40% of my total batteries (I planned on not conserving until I hit 50% stock) so for 4.5 days, not bad.

[rkba01]

You're going to like that kerosene lantern.

If it is a flat wick non-pressurized lantern you will find out that with very little maintenance it will always be there in case you need it. In the last two decades I have had to replace wicks on lanterns that I use regularly (used up due to yard mood lighting) and one time on a lantern that I accidentally stored 'dry' (it 'varnished'). I got a 33' roll of wick allowing me approximately 50 lantern wick replacements. Five gallons of kerosene will let me burn 4 hurricane lanterns simultaneously for 6hrs a night for about 20 nights. Kerosene does not go bad and stores easily with the lanterns in a shed.

Downside of the hurricane lanterns is the limited light output, just enough to read by if you're close. But it gives great light for regular simple tasks such as walking from room to room, prepare and eat your dinner, bathroom duties, taking a shower, etc.

Quality battery operated head lamps are critical to fill in for the precision tasks that need more light. And during an event you will walk around with one on your head as long as the world is dark. And that world is dark, very, very dark. When a large city looses power it becomes pitch, pitch dark.

So you will also need quality tactical flashlights that illuminates with ease out to a 100 yards. Hand held and weapon mounted. You want to be able to see what that noise was in the corner of your yard and you want it to be a decisive beam that will allow you to identify it with 100%. When to use a hand-held vs a weapon-mounted depends entirely on the situation, typically you can feel it in your gut which one is more appropriate. But that's food for another thread.

[HeruMew]

You're going to like that kerosene lantern.

If it is a flat wick non-pressurized lantern you will find out that with very little maintenance it will always be there in case you need it. In the last two decades I have had to replace wicks on lanterns that I use regularly (used up due to yard mood lighting) and one time on a lantern that I accidentally stored 'dry' (it 'varnished'). I got a 33' roll of wick allowing me approximately 50 lantern wick replacements. Five gallons of kerosene will let me burn 4 hurricane lanterns simultaneously for 6hrs a night for about 20 nights. Kerosene does not go bad and stores easily with the lanterns in a shed.

Downside of the hurricane lanterns is the limited light output, just enough to read by if you're close. But it gives great light for regular simple tasks such as walking from room to room, prepare and eat your dinner, bathroom duties, taking a shower, etc.

Quality battery operated head lamps are critical to fill in for the precision tasks that need more light. And during an event you will walk around with one on your head as long as the world is dark. And that world is dark, very, very dark. When a large city looses power it becomes pitch, pitch dark.

So you will also need quality tactical flashlights that illuminates with ease out to a 100 yards. Hand held and weapon mounted. You want to be able to see what that noise was in the corner of your yard and you want it to be a decisive beam that will allow you to identify it with 100%. When to use a hand-held vs a weapon-mounted depends entirely on the situation, typically you can feel it in your gut which one is more appropriate. But that's food for another thread.

Thanks for all the great info here!

Thankfully, I am a flashlight/18650 buff. Headlamps and flashlights (laser pointers/phone charging packs/weapon lights/etc), from custom made from parts kits, or cheap China made, those are in plethora. After this last storm, I will be boosting my current stock of 18650 up to 50, within the next month or so. I also found that I used my "pocket" lights a lot more during these times and those use up alot of juice quick on the 14500s, so I will jump my lowly stock of 10 of those up to 20 or 30 as well (sadly, these are the pricier ones). I use quality Li-Ions in my weapon sight as well (uses AAA or the 10440) but the only 4 I have never leave my rifle stock compartment unless they get a replacement and recharge.

My current weapon mounted light is an 800 lumen Rigid Industries. They market it as a high quality "beam thrower" it's not quite as "adjustable" as I would like compared to some models (such as "zooming" the light to a specific point) but considering a weapon light isn't really designed for that, it gives me a throw further than I can determine, and gives out a great flood otherwise.

Did you go with any specific brand of lanterns? It sounds like, based on your explanation, that stocking up on some kerosene and lamps will be a very worthwhile investment; I can certainly agree that the flashlight on it's endcap was a bit overkill for some rooms. It worked, very well, but with the sacrifice of that "precision" light ability if I used up all my juice to preemptively. Or, potentially, using up a backup light source if I run out of oil or etc.

[rkba01]

Did you go with any specific brand of lanterns?

Any quality brand will serve you well. Just remember this is 100+ year old technology, so it is not flashy and shiny. It's old-world stuff that works reliably at old-world speed.


Kirkman's lanterns are great. Kirkman has been around for quite some time and their people are great to deal with.
http://www.lanternnet.com/Merchant2/...e=WTK-Lanterns


I also have a couple of the smaller Feuerhand lanterns. The Feuerhands are still made in Germany, according to Feuerhand's website.
http://www.lanternnet.com/Merchant2/...rhand-Lanterns


Like I said, I would start with 2 lanterns with reflectors. Add some extra wick, throw in an extra clear globe, and extra fuel cap and you should be set for success.

Cheapest source of kerosene is agricultural kerosene but may or may not be hard to find locally. It is typically available at the home improvement stores and sold as heating fuel. The bigger lantern will burn approx 1.2 oz/hr. The smaller Feuerhand lanterns burn approx 0.5 oz/hr, but give off less light. So you can easily calculate how much kerosene you need to stock depending on your anticipated situation and needs.

Get ~20-30 feet of double loop chain and a dozen screw-in hooks, place the hooks in the ceiling above the dining table, coffee table, kitchen sink, stove. Keep spare hooks and double loop chain on hand so you can place them where ever you need them. It will become obvious once you are out of power.

Polish the reflector and clean the glass of the globes to maximize light output.


Info on refurbishing/cleaning old lanterns: http://www.endtimesreport.com/cleani..._lanterns.html

Lighting, by Miles Stair: http://www.endtimesreport.com/lighting.html

[rkba01]

We recently had experienced Category 1 hurricane winds.

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/new...ay-be-out-days

Yep, that damage looks familiar. It feels like driving your house down the interstate at highway speeds. In a hurricane that wind lasts for several hours, during hurricane Ike it lasted about 8 hours. It makes you feel very very small.

Neighbors come together helping each other out. Barbecues/dinner parties, the fridges need to be emptied out. Discussion of the day is sources that still have ice and maybe even dry-ice. Extra lanterns end up being borrowed by neighbors, even gifted at times.