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Emergency Lighting
The electricity goes out and you are suddenly surrounded by eerily silent darkness. You frantically search your memory for the last place you saw the flashlight. Fumbling around in the dark, you desperately hunt for a light source. Are you ready to light your world without electricity?
These are some of our favorite emergency and everyday lighting devices. Experiment with them everyday so that you are familiar with them when disaster strikes and they become a critical resource. Visit our post Brilliant Ideas to Literally Light Your World During a Power Outage for some great detailed information on emergency lighting.
Make it fun and enjoy life!
Emergency Lighting Devices
Battery Powered Lights
Battery powered lights are a great standby for emergency lighting. You may want to consider light sources for each of your various lighting needs.
YIFENG XML T6 is a tactical flashlight. It has a 1000 lumen LED bulb and takes 3 AAA batteries.
PETZL – TACTIKKA Headlamp is a bright 350 lumen light and can run up to 160 hours on one charge. It has a core rechargeable battery or can be powered by 3 AAA batteries.
Naturehike makes a great Ultra Bright Mini Hands-Free LED Clip-on Hat Light. It is rechargeable, 150 lumens, and waterproof.
Lighting EVER produces a much brighter 1000 lumen Portable LED Camping Lantern. It is powered by 3 D batteries which will provide 3 days of light on high and 6 days on low.
Energizer makes an LED clip light for reading and personal task lighting. It produces 11 lumens and will run for 25 hours on one CR2032 battery.
Chemical Light Sources
Chemical light sticks are great fun idea for a short-term, disposable light source. Providing glow sticks for children during a stressful emergency will provide a great deal of comfort. Glow sticks may help you be seen if you are stranded by the side of the road.
I store a wide variety of light sticks and we have fun with them all the time. These are some that you may want to consider storing for everyday fun as well as emergencies.
Safety Light Sticks will glow for 12 hours. Individually packaged for storage.
ChemLight military grade light sticks will last for 12 hours. Individually packaged for storage.
Novelinks sells a package of 50 glow sticks for significantly less. They glow for 10-14 hours but are not individually packaged.
Party Light Sticks are the most popular choice at our house. They are incredibly cheap and a big hit for night games.
Solar Powered Lights
Solar lighting is a truly amazing way to light your world using renewable energy. We are big believers in the power that rechargeable solar devices have to keep you in light during an extended power outage. We keep our rechargeable solar devices in a south facing window.
Our favorite brand of solar lighting is Hybrid Light. They are high quality and will last for many years to come. If you use the promo code PROVIDENT you will get 20 percent off your entire purchase. If I could only have one light, it would be a Hybrid Light. Most of their lights are capable of charging USB devices and cell phones.
Hybrid Light sells the Atlas Rechargeable Solar LED Lantern. It produces a 25-400 lumen light for up to 100 hours on one charge.
Hybrid Light produces a 75 Lumen LED Head Lamp. It can be charged with 10 hours of sunlight or 1 hour via a USB port. One charge will produce 25 hours of light.
LEPOWER makes a 1500 lumen Outdoor Solar Motion Sensor Security Light. It is rechargeable by amorphous silicon solar panel with 15 Ft cord so the light doesn’t have to be in direct sun.
Hybrid Light produces a 160 lumen LED Waterproof Flashlight which is a favorite at our house. The manufacturer states that it will last for 7-25 hours on a single charge, but ours have never failed to give us light. We keep them in a south facing window when not in use.
Goal Zero sells the Guide 10 Plus Solar Recharging Kit with Nomad 7 Plus Solar Panel which enables you to charge AA and AAA rechargeable batteries. It can also be used to power your phone, camera, and GPS.
Manually Powered Lights
These are light sources that require some kind of human energy input for them to work. Frequently, you will find products which use solar power along with manual cranks to enable the device to function without sunlight. Manual devices can become annoying if the emergency lasts for any length of time. These are a few manually powered light sources you may want to try.
AGPTEK sells a lantern that we have been quite pleased with. It is pictured on the right. It has multiple ways of charging including; hand crank, car charger, USB charger, polysilicon solar panels or 3 AA batteries.
FosPower makes an Emergency Solar Hand Crank Portable Radio LED Flashlight that is a valuable tool for your evacuation or survival kit.
HaveLight makes a waterproof flashlight that is powered by shaking.
Perpetual Light Sources
Perpetual light sources do not have a limited usable life. They will last close to forever. The sun is a perpetual and supreme light source. Natural lighting through windows is a type of perpetual light source. It is amazing and should be used whenever possible. Other than the sun, perpetual light sources tend to be dim, although their dependable, long life makes them worth exploring.
We have been pleased with UV Paqlite’s products. They can’t replace traditional light sources, but they are a fantastic sustainable light source. Check out these options:
UV Matlites are mats that create a soft glow that can be charged by ambient room light.
The Mule Light is a 300 lumen flashlight combined with a forever glow stick to increase the life of a battery by over 60 times what you may expect from normal usage.
Tooblite is rechargeable glow stick that emits a soft light for up to 12 hours.
Flame Light Sources
Finally, let us review the age-old, dependable light sources that use a flame to produce the light. Anytime there is an open flame great care should be taken to prevent accidents. Fire may not be an option in some type of scenarios. It is wise to plan for an alternative lighting source.
The fuels burned can be dangerous and must be stored carefully. Check out our post How to Safely Store Fuels for
Propane lanterns are fueled by a one pound bottle of propane. A propane lantern will produce 967 lumens. A one-pound propane bottle will run for 7 hours on high and 14 hours on low.
Dual fuel lanterns can run on either white gas or unleaded gasoline. They produce 700 lumens and will run for 7 hours on high and 14 hours on low on 1.3 pints of fuel.
Coleman 1-Mantle Kerosene Lantern will produce 784 lumens for 5.5 hours on 2 pints of kerosene
Liquid emergency candles can burn from 100 to 115 hours and produce approximately 13 lumens of light. These self-contained candles are designed with a plastic base and filled with liquid paraffin.
Lighting Your World
We hope these recommendations are helpful to you. Remember that you don’t need to have every cool lighting device available. Take a little bit of time to consider what your lighting needs might be, then develop a plan. Get to work and purchase what you need so that your family won’t be left in the dark.