Home lighting for power outage

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johno1234

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#3041205 24-Feb-2023 10:47

Why not have a change-over switch installed for the lighting circuits (assume all low draw LED) and an inverter plus relatively inexpensive lead acid 12V battery bank on a battery conditioner?. Should be a lot cheaper than a full solar setup and run the lights for quite a long time plus offer an output on the inverter to charge up the phone.

neb

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#3041254 24-Feb-2023 12:50

Bung: My first encounter with a Tilley lamp was in the Tararuas. We arrived at a hut where some others were just putting a new mantle into a lamp. When it was lit I was very impressed with how bright it was but then one of the original party must have noticed something wrong as he grabbed it and ran to the door and threw it out just as it burst spraying burning kero everywhere.

For emergency lighting you definitely don't want any of the pressure-based-feed lamps, they're far too fiddly for such a situation - you may have someone who's never used one before trying to light it in the dark, which they'll never manage with one of those.

tweake

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#3041382 24-Feb-2023 15:10

Scott3:

A 100-pack of amazon basic AA's is NZ$43.78. (Free shipping to NZ from Amazon AU if buy another qualifying item to bring the total to over NZ$53.65).

10 year shelf life.

Pair with a cheap, fairly low-power torch or lantern, and you will have lighting for weeks.

On phones. large power banks likely offer the best value.

Suspect they take multiple day's to charge in the sun, but there are solar versions available too:

https://www.equipoutdoors.co.nz/companion-wireless-16000mah-powerbank-with-solar-panel

you will find that those batteries will be leaking within that time. i have a few items that the batteries have leaked already. also its going to take a lot of AA batteries to get decent light output.

the solar power banks, many are fake or the cells are so low output it would takes weeks if not months to recharge (also some will overcharge the battery on solar). hence why you really want a big separate panel, proper charger etc.

tweake

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#3041407 24-Feb-2023 15:13

johno1234:

Why not have a change-over switch installed for the lighting circuits (assume all low draw LED) and an inverter plus relatively inexpensive lead acid 12V battery bank on a battery conditioner?. Should be a lot cheaper than a full solar setup and run the lights for quite a long time plus offer an output on the inverter to charge up the phone.

a mate used to have that setup. wired the light circuits through a large UPS that had truck batteries. the problem is the batteries do not last well, need to be maintained etc.

when it worked it was great. only house in town to have lights on.

tweake

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#3041408 24-Feb-2023 15:17

neb:
allan:

A tongue-in-cheek response, but for a totally non-tech approach, I have one of these OCS Original Candle Lantern 😀

Beat me to it, I was going to say "paraffin lamp". Never needs recharging, and a 1L bottle will run it more or less forever. If you want maximum safety, get a proper hurricane lamp, and when you've got time read up on the ingenious design they use. Edited to add: In terms of runtime, a typical hurricane lamp will run for about 12 hours from one fill, and you can refill multiple times from a 1L bottle.

we have used those before, by god the smell. tho i understand you can run them on other cleaner burning fuel.

latter on we had gas camping lights. they work really well. not sure if they have any with the standard cooktop cartridge's. those cheap gas cooktops are great for power outages.

however you need to make sure you have some windows open for ventilation when ever using gas/fuel burning appliances. more so in modern housing as they are more air tight.

neb

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#3041410 24-Feb-2023 15:25

tweake:
a mate used to have that setup. wired the light circuits through a large UPS that had truck batteries. the problem is the batteries do not last well, need to be maintained etc.

Not sure in this case if the UPS is set up to run off external battery storage but if not then be careful wiring in more battery capacity than they were designed for, they may run OK for the rated 15 minutes at 50% load but not six hours at 50% load.

And yeah, lead-acid cells are a pain, unless you replace them regularly by the time you actually need them they'll no longer hold much of a charge. You can find a ton of UPSes on TM with the description "seems to be OK but it won't power anything any more, may need new batteries".

richms

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#3041535 24-Feb-2023 18:45

I got a nightlight unit that is also a removable flashlight that comes on when the power goes out. That lets me see to find other things.

Other things include a few USB chargable garage worklights, ones that use my ryobi batteries and a couple of sets of small USB powered festoon lights that are normally deployed outside when needed. And I have a crapload of useless powerbanks that only do .5 to 1A so are ideal on small lights.

If its off for much longer I would get out the generator and charge all my power tool batteries, and now I have the tesla get that back up as much as possible off a 3000w generator. Its not that good as a powersource with no V2L or V2G capabilities, and a "12v" outlet that is more like 16 and only on when the car is awake, but if it came to it then I would just enable sentry mode to keep it alive while charging stuff off it.

Richard rich.ms

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Hammerer

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#3041564 24-Feb-2023 19:10

We have a portable generator for running our fridge/freezer. But we’ll mainly use USB adapters for our 18V Ryobi and Ozito power tool batteries so we can run USB LED lights and charge our phones and tablets. Chances are we’ll be helping the neighbours too so having a small portable power source is useful. If we need to we can recharge the batteries from the generator.

USB Adapters:

https://www.ryobi.co.nz/products/details/18v-one-usb-power-adapter-tool-only-r18usb-0
https://ozito.com.au/products/usb-charger-for-cordless-power-tools/

There are many USB lights like:

https://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/clip-on-usb-table-reading-light-black/35587589

D1023319

524 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#3041777 25-Feb-2023 15:19

Bung: My first encounter with a Tilley lamp was in the Tararuas. We arrived at a hut where some others were just putting a new mantle into a lamp. When it was lit I was very impressed with how bright it was but then one of the original party must have noticed something wrong as he grabbed it and ran to the door and threw it out just as it burst spraying burning kero everywhere.

OMG - scary but i havent seen that.
I often use a burner to preheat the tilly

D1023319

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#3041778 25-Feb-2023 15:21

Scott3:

Are you already in a battery power tool ecosystem? It's my main emergency light plan. (but primarily serves as a work light)

Yes I have moved to ToolShed XHD batteries -
Am really impressed with them...

D1023319

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#3041824 25-Feb-2023 15:24

johno1234:

Why not have a change-over switch installed for the lighting circuits (assume all low draw LED) and an inverter plus relatively inexpensive lead acid 12V battery bank on a battery conditioner?. Should be a lot cheaper than a full solar setup and run the lights for quite a long time plus offer an output on the inverter to charge up the phone.

Out of interest - I have charged a CCA620 lead acid battery - I think = 85ah
so far with 4x 5w 12 Led's they have run for 34 hours (with no recharging).
I agree lead acid is not ideal - its just that i keep it when i sold my ute as it was brand new.

I also have two Eaton UPS 3S 550 that i use to protect my electronics in the house - I can use those

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