Hmmm. Woke up to the sound of the backup power supplies beeping. Hmmm.
A look out the window shows a couple inches of snow, but it’s the heavy wet kind.
A quick look outside shows it’s not citywide, but localized to my neighborhood.
Must be a line down somewhere nearby.
Well, I needed to run the generator anyway.
0715…annnnnd we’re back.
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Followup:
So as is normal for here in town, the outage only lasted an hour. But, there was some interesting observations. You guys remember this? Totally worth it. So much so, in fact, that I’m heading up to CostCo to pick up another one today. Why? Efficiency.
I have a very nice Aladdin kerosen lamp sitting on the sideboard. Long glass chimney, paper shade, nickel finish. A very nice, very useful item. I also have about a hundred gallons of kerosene on hand. Now, some math – one fillup of kero gives me about 8 hours of light, or 32 hours per gallon. The battery/lamp combo gives me over 168 hours of light. And that light is significantly brighter and more useful. Charging the battery back to full? About two hours of generator time. That generator time is less than a gallon of fuel. So, to put it in perspective, the Aladdin mantle lamp gives me 32 hours of light per gallon, the battery/LED combo gives me five times that and gives a light that is probably five times brighter.
So, from a practical standpoint, it makes more sense to have the battery/LED combo for emergency lighting than the Aladdin lamp.
Does that mean Im phasing out the Aladdin lamp? Heck no. But it’s not going to be my primary alternative source of light. Oh, it has other benefits…it’s a warmer light, generates some heat, doesn’t require keeping an eye on off-use battery levels, that sort of thing. But to think that it is a better choice than the LED/battery combo…well…maybe not so much. Of course, if something happened to the generator I would be left with only the charge in the battery and no way to recharge it, whereas with the lamp I have plenty of kerosene on hand. But those sorts of ‘what if’s are we why don’t put all the eggs in that one basket.
So…another jump pack from CostCo and another LED light to setup.
Aren’t those traffic lights supposed to be…yknow…lit?
We lose power all the time…old southern power grid and lots of extreme weather…helps point out what you need in immediate/short term preparedness…it tends to also help me realize what items I like best and the ones I don’t even touch…
I’m a guy who lives out in the sticks and with winter, comes power outs. I was lucky to have read the post about the Cat Battery box, so I picked up two, one to replace an old box on it’s last legs and the second to expand the capability. I’ve had to use them once so far, and they work great.
I had built one of those backup lights also but used a CFL bulb and a 75w inverter to power one but the other one is using a 12v LED bulb and cigarette plug. I just replaced both batteries in my jump starter pack since they gave out over the summer, one was being used to power the ham radio, other was just sitting in the garage. I can’t complain both batteries were the 3/4 the cost of one new jump box since was from 2001, other was from 1998. It was really easy to do.
You really should put a couple of square metres of solar cells on your roof (We live about between Fairbanks and Anchorage in terms of Latitude, and around Rome in terms of Longitude and my brother have 15 square meters on the roof of his 160 square meter house and produces most of his household (of six) need of Electricity over the year (obviously not for heat)). Maybe not get a huge solar farm on your roof and selling back to the grid (as my brother does, basically he uses the grid as a battery over the year), but two or three square meters to keep a couple of deep cycle batteries filled and maybe run some lights and radios of those batteries just because you can.
Actually, Latitude 59.5 (and yes i do have that memorised. Longitude about 16-17).
After dealing with Tropical Storm Michael (AAR is here: https://vitalibertas.com/after-action-report-tropical-storm-michael/) this year, I came to the same conclusion you did. Admittedly the battery box is the quickest one-stop solution. However, because I have spare batteries (https://amzn.to/2Qkq4or) for my Uninterruptible Power Supplies, an affordable solution is to wire them to an inexpensive power inverter (https://amzn.to/2SONp39) and use an 60-Watt equivalent LED replacement bulb for a common table lamp (https://amzn.to/2QlYJCx).
Did anyone ever find a source for a decent USB powered desk lamp? I know people say “it’s easy to make one” but I know I would burn down the house if I tried…
*forgot to add yes I know they make USB lamps that have a flexible neck that plugs straight into the USB port, and others that have giant clips so you can clip them top your desk or something. I’d like a plain old desk lamp that instead of plugging in to the wall, plugs in to a USB port…