Best standby lighting for a powercut?

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kiwifidget

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#323874 28-Jan-2026 21:04

Well, maybe not best, but at least highly adequate.

I'm at mum's (rural Bay of Plenty prone to long power cuts) looking at 2 gas powered lanterns sitting on the coffee table.

We are not experiencing a powercut at the moment.

They are just still sitting there from the recent storm event.

They can light up a room well enough to walk around and not bump into anything.

But how safe are these things?

I'm guessing you wouldnt walk around with one in your hand.

Torches are always at the mercy of batteries. Batteries are always flat, this is the way.

And lets not talk about candles.

Is there any standby lighting that is always ready to go?

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#3456826 28-Jan-2026 21:07

A couple of these or similar?
Torpedo7 Rechargeable USB LED Lantern in Grey | OUTDOOR/CAMP

I also some much smaller ones suitable for a small tent but enough to dimly light a room

nzkc

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#3456829 28-Jan-2026 21:17

Not had experience of them, but there are wind up torches and lamps.

E.g: https://www.mountainwarehouse.com/nz/wind-up-lantern-p7270.aspx/

tweake

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#3456830 28-Jan-2026 21:18

have used the gas lanterns while hunting. they work ok but not suitable for moving around with. they can be rather fragile when hot.

i typically use 7ah 12.8v lithium battery with an led light. battery doesn't go flat sitting around. you can get battery lanterns but they usually have tiny batteries in them.

if they have long power cuts, then usually have a generator so run fridge/freezer and water pump. that also can recharge the batteries.

notesgnome

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#3456831 28-Jan-2026 21:27

I have a rechargable work light. I can't see anywhere currently selling it.

It has two panels with the option of having one or both lit.

As people have said, it needs to be kept charged (this is where some sort of light with a normal battery wins as a battery can sit waiting to be used with little degredation and easy to replace).

That said, provided I charge it regularly, then it's ready for normal as well as emergency use.

richms

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#3456836 28-Jan-2026 22:18

I have many lamps that use my powertool batteries incase of an outage.

The ozito batteries and charger combos are dirt cheap for what you get, and there are lamps on aliex for a few dollars, but the legit ones from bunnings are not terribly priced like the other powertool brands. Like all powertool company lighting, its aweful, giant blue and yellow rings, flicker when dimmed. CRI that looks like you are using a laptop screen to light the room up, and very poor beam control or uniformity. I say that its best to avoid powertool brands for speakers or lighting but at the cheap end of the market and easily available batteries and chargers they are kinda hard to beat.

Richard rich.ms

gzt

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#3456840 28-Jan-2026 22:34

kiwifidget: Is there any standby lighting that is always ready to go?

Battery lanterns are nice to have around. Many are water resistant. You do need a stock of batteries. Good quality alkalines are good for seven years or so in the cupboard.

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SepticSceptic

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#3456843 28-Jan-2026 22:38

I quite like the gas lamps. Really bright, though adjustable, and the gentle hissing is quite soothing.

Additionally, you can use 9kg bottles with a 2 or 3 way adapter with a pole so you can also cook on a portable gas range, and have the lantern high up.

Always carry a spare mantle.

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#3456844 28-Jan-2026 22:41

No doubt there is fine print about using gas lamps in well ventilated space and many other hazard warnings. Using them inside for any length of time without ventilation might be a bad idea.

richms

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#3456846 28-Jan-2026 23:00

When I hear of people using gas inside I think its as sensible as bringing the BBQ inside. You don't do that because of the fumes so why is it ok for light or other cooking to do so? Generally power outages and dark are in winter when you least want the added venting needed to get that crap out of the house.

Richard rich.ms

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#3456848 28-Jan-2026 23:13

Petroleum lantern. 😁

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#3456861 29-Jan-2026 03:18

>When I hear of people using gas inside I think its as sensible as bringing the BBQ inside.
>You don't do that because of the fumes so why is it ok for light or other cooking to do so?
>Generally power outages and dark are in winter when you least want the added venting
>needed to get that crap out of the house.

I'd guess that half the houses in NZ - a mere 100 years ago - had never known anything else...

That was certainly true in the UK - they were electrified at 6% in 1919 and hit 66% in 1930.
(Yes I know Reefton had power to the pub in 1866 - but that was a 'Richard Pearse' moment.)

But I'll bet that the State of California has determined that even candles are a major risk to your health...

(Edited to make '2030' read as intended: '1930' ;-)

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#3456873 29-Jan-2026 08:14

I use C or D cell powered LED lanterns. They're quite bright with multiple power levels and it's easy to keep a couple of spare packs of batteries around. I have a lot of NiMH rechargeables so I have these sleeve things I got from Ali Express that lets me use the AAs in devices that need larger cells. The lanterns aren't expensive, K Mart has some similar but not sure how much I trust their quality.

I also have an 80W solar panel that charges a couple of 12V AGM batteries, and adapters to charge my AA cells from the 12V batteries. My big solar system doesn't work in an outage unfortunately, but I think I have a long enough cable that I could plug one of my larger 400W cells in to charge my batteries if there was ever an extended outage.

scuwp

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#3456876 29-Jan-2026 08:42

I have Ryobi one+ work lamps that take any of the one+ batteries. Easily light up a room and last for many many hours. I am seriously considering investing in a generator and getting a power supply circuit installed to run the essentials for longer term outages.

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sidefx

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#3456877 29-Jan-2026 08:59

richms:

I have many lamps that use my powertool batteries incase of an outage.

The ozito batteries and charger combos are dirt cheap for what you get, and there are lamps on aliex for a few dollars, but the legit ones from bunnings are not terribly priced like the other powertool brands. Like all powertool company lighting, its aweful, giant blue and yellow rings, flicker when dimmed. CRI that looks like you are using a laptop screen to light the room up, and very poor beam control or uniformity. I say that its best to avoid powertool brands for speakers or lighting but at the cheap end of the market and easily available batteries and chargers they are kinda hard to beat.

I do this with EGO tool batteries. The camping invertor I got from them is limited to 150W, so mainly use it for fibre, phone charging + laptop during power cuts. Not so much lighting but have been thinking I should get some USB lights to use with it.

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wallross

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#3456900 29-Jan-2026 10:23

scuwp:

I have Ryobi one+ work lamps that take any of the one+ batteries. Easily light up a room and last for many many hours. I am seriously considering investing in a generator and getting a power supply circuit installed to run the essentials for longer term outages.

+1 for the ONE+ work lamps (see what I did there!). Or any other rechargeable power tool range, if you have the batteries, well worth getting a light or 2. Might not be as an attractive option for your Mum if she does not own any such tools already though.

We purchased one of the Ryobi One+ "LED Shoplights" abut 6 months ago and have found it incredibly handy for all sorts of uses (the best one is late night Jigsaw Puzzling!!). On low setting with 5Ah battery, it is advertised as getting 12 hours run time. On full power is it really bright!

They also do a Lantern, which they reckon you can get 56hrs from a 5Ah battery on 100 Lumen setting, plus it has a USB port built in as well.

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