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LED Lantern -- any suggestions

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by cyberpriusII, Dec 9, 2016.

  1. cyberpriusII

    cyberpriusII Prodigyplace says I'm Super Kris

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    One that you can set in the middle of a room (indoors) and get decent light and decent battery life. You know, like in the middle of the living room.

    Not really wanting to use the white gas Coleman for that purpose.

    Looks like we may be in for a long winter and that usually means days upon end with no power....wearing headlamps gets old and eats batteries. Our generator is O.K., but it is small (1000 watts) and old and I prefer to use it only for cooking and keeping the refrigerator and freezer cold.

    Usually we will lose power for three to four days at a time a couple of times each winter, but this may be one of those years when it is two weeks at a time.

    Yesterday, we had a pretty good ice storm and I managed to wrench my right hip trying to clear downed tree debris, so I am at home hardly hobbling around not accomplishing much today anyway....might as well waste time looking for lanterns.

    Oh, and please....while I want something good, I don't need, nor can I afford, something that could light up an underground missile silo in South Dakota -- no $900 Streamlight offerings, please.
     
    #1 cyberpriusII, Dec 9, 2016
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2016
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  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    maybe time for a prius inverter?
     
    #2 bisco, Dec 9, 2016
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  3. Eastside

    Eastside Member

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    At the cabin we use a solar panel charging a 12v car or deep cycle battery, and 12v LED light bulbs. Works great.

    Check out some RV and sailboat web sites.
     
    #3 Eastside, Dec 9, 2016
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  4. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    I recently bought a PODLight 4.0 to live in my car, seems hard to beat for versatility and near-indestructibility. (As of tonight, that link still goes to the "PODLight 3.0" page, but down at the bottom it describes the improvements for 4.0. I don't know if they're having delays getting the new one out into distribution channels, but when I e-mailed them and asked "hey, it says 4.0 is available in 2016, is it ready yet?" they did take my money and send me one.)

    Aesthetically, it says "utility light" more than "cozy lantern", but it does have two brightnesses of area light, plus a flashlight, plus a strobe for getting attention.
    It can run for hours on a charge, and recharge from either a 12-volt cord in a car, or a 120-volt cord in the house. The house cord can also be used with the included stand (wall-mountable if you like) to give the PODLight a known place to live.

    If it is charging from the house cord when the power goes out, it will automatically turn on.

    When charging in a car, it will protect the car battery by shutting off if the voltage gets low.

    The 'charging' cables aren't limited to charging; they can also fully power the light if its internal charge has run down. So, if its built-in runtime isn't long enough, you could just keep an old charged motorcycle or car battery around, clamp a cord to that, and run it for weeks.

    -Chap
     
    #4 ChapmanF, Dec 9, 2016
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  5. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    I picked up this one at an REI sale a couple years ago, but it is available from many retailers:
    Ultimate Survival Technologies 30-Day Lantern - REI.com

    3-D cells, 30-some hours on Hi setting, 30 days on Low setting, has worked well for our (much fewer and briefer) power outages, and car camping too.
     
    #5 fuzzy1, Dec 9, 2016
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  6. cyberpriusII

    cyberpriusII Prodigyplace says I'm Super Kris

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    I had to go to Target late yesterday to get my sister-in-law her annual present that she will not like nor appreciate (but, hey, it's a tradition) and noticed they had the UST for $18, I bought two of them. Ice is in the forecast again, so I may get a chance to try them out soon.

    I like the Pod lights. I just need to wait until about February before my checking account can take that hit. Want to get at least one of them.

    I am thinking about building an electric fence next spring, I may take the solar panel battery idea on at that time!
     
    #6 cyberpriusII, Dec 11, 2016
  7. Paradox

    Paradox Prius Enthusiast / Moderator
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    I actually just bought 2 of these about 2 months ago because we get quite a few power bumps around here that can last 30-60 minutes at a time, which is shocking to many since we're in NYC:



    Then go figure, 2 weeks later, the same ones go on sale from this seller for only $9.99 each but of course they're not available anymore because the price was so great:



    Anyways, I like the fact they're rechargeable and although I haven't did it myself, someone in the comments said theirs ran 8 hours on a charge and I also like that they also can be ran off of AA batteries 'just in case'. They're plenty bright, even on the low setting, and the fact they're rechargeable is a bonus IMO. And if you want, charge em' during the day by solar and use them in the evening/night. Rinse and repeat. Also, they can be used to charge small things like cell phones if you need to give them a quick bump in battery level.

    The two links I provided are to Amazon so in case they don't show up, which happens if one is running an adblocker I think, search amazon for ' Etekcity 2 Pack Portable Rechargeable LED Camping Lantern, 4400mah USB Power Bank '.
     
    #7 Paradox, Dec 11, 2016
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  8. cyberpriusII

    cyberpriusII Prodigyplace says I'm Super Kris

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    I have had buyer's remorse (plus the fact I really could not afford the UST lamps I bought the other day as I spent too much on new furniture in November).

    So, I ended up leaving the UST with Target today.

    I have to look into the Etekcity stuff, as well as give the other suggestions a second glance.

    We supposedly have a very nasty storm ready to hit Wednesday night (right when I need to be on the road at midnight to the Eugene, Oregon airport), so hopefully our power will stay on and I will stay on the road.

    As for my midnight drive on Wednesday, I think I will take our Camry since that has no traction control and we have tire chains for it. I hate using chains, but I also hate being in a ditch. Put the chains on before I leave the house or take a chance of having to put them on alongside the road in an ice storm....decisions, decisions.

    Please, no blizzard, no ice storm, no sleet, no snow.....
    kris
     
    #8 cyberpriusII, Dec 12, 2016
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  9. RobH

    RobH Senior Member

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    Harbor Freight has some absolutely cheap LED lights. The newest $10 one is really bright for a one direction light. They frequently have the $4 version on a free coupon with another purchase. I must have a dozen of them. Primary problem is the magnets fall off, but a little glue fixes that if you can find the magnet. I've also got a $25 GE camping style lantern from Costco that you could just put on the floor in the middle of a room.

    I think the hardest part of a power outage is missing the dozen+ leds mapping a room. Let's see, the dim blue one above the bright red one is the DVR above the media computer. The collection of green ones are a bunch of USB chargers for fitness watches, tablets, phones, add-on computer speakers... There's a series of red ones flashing across a Christmas snowman plugged into the kitchen laptop.
     
    #9 RobH, Dec 13, 2016
  10. bhtooefr

    bhtooefr Senior Member

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    I've got one of these:


    If that didn't work above, search for B012DH2KG4 on Amazon.

    Not a lantern per se, but it'll illuminate a room quite well (and it's magnetic), and takes 3 of whatever AA you feed it.
     
    #10 bhtooefr, Dec 13, 2016
  11. bobzchemist

    bobzchemist Active Member

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    I got one of these on sale for about $120, when I first got my Prius:


    I'd bet that hooking it up to a USB-powered LED light would be a good alternative to buying a light with its own battery.

    Similar ones are a bit less expensive, but I didn't know about them at the time. I was worried about jump starting another of my cars from the Prius, so I figured keeping this charged would be the best alternative.

    Since I changed the battery, I've kept the old one charging in the basement. Hopefully, it won't be needed.
     
    #11 bobzchemist, Dec 13, 2016
  12. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Danger, Will Robinson! I looked at the Amazon listing for that guy, and saw that while it is very well reviewed, some people have also been receiving more-or-less-obvious counterfeits, which range from failing-to-deliver-the-promised-capacity to melting or catching fire. So it sounds as if the actual product from the original manufacturer is quite good, but the buyer has to beware of a serious knock-off problem.

    There seem to be some pockets of real deviousness in the world of offshore manufacturing. I started a project about a year ago to put LED lights in my basement, and only last month did I find a source for suitable AC-to-12V power supplies whose UL listings weren't falsified. Meanwhile I came across lovely sites like this one where some of the cheap ones have been taken apart to see what's really inside....

    -Chap
     
    #12 ChapmanF, Dec 13, 2016
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  13. bobzchemist

    bobzchemist Active Member

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    I'm 90% sure I got mine from the manufacturers listing on Amazon. Now you have me worried...
     
    #13 bobzchemist, Dec 14, 2016
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