A Question about lighting For City and Apartment Dwellers

[Pal334]

After getting through the Dark side from Hurricane Sandy, I saw some unique approaches to "emergency lighting". Our preps were along the more "traditional lines", kerosene and gas lanterns, candles and of course a generator. But I did see a Senior citizen, who lived by himself in an apartment use a unique (at least to me) approach. He had a pair of 12 volt car style batteries. He watched the news and when he saw Sandy coming, turned up his charger and topped both batteries off. He was running a couple of LED style lights and a small radio off these batteries for almost 5 days without any problems. His main concern was light for reading. His opinion was that using any combustable type fuel was not safe in an apartment complex, and of course a generator was completely out of the question. My question, after that long run around the bush is;;;;; What provisions are you City Dwellers and apartment dwellers making for at least short term lighting in the event of a power outage? Just a hint,,, start thinking seriously about it now, later maybe too late.

It should be noted, his "setup" including two new batteries and an inexpensive charger and two LED lights probably cost less than $100. And takes up almost no space n his hallcloset

[hunter63]

The is a great idea, and with a small solar set up, could run a long time.

One thing to remember is simply the mind set that you can't just use everything you did in the past, even with a big gen-set....an apartment, no way.

One needs to identify what is important at the minimum, sounds like he did just that.....Everyone first step is to do an "energy audit', to see what you absolutely have to have.
thanks for posting

[techiedude]

I went through Katrina and noticed how even people with generators could not get gas or had to wait long hours to get some. I had a small 400 watt inverter and my car batteries. This gave me some lights but it too was limited to the gas to run my car. So afterwards i looked for a way to fix my problem. I researched and came up with charging my batteries with solar. So now after learning how to make solar panels and getting the charge controllers needed so not to over charge my batteries. i also bought off ebay 2 inverters a 2000 watt and a 3500 watt which gives me the power to run most anything i need. I had to purchase 5 100 ah deep charge batteries but for less than 1000.00 i wont be with out power unless the sun don't shine. If no sun for a long period i use car to recharge batteries. I fully recommend anyone who wants to be self reliant to get into solar. If you look at my avatar i am making solar panels....

[kyratshooter]

I once operated from an RV from April til October using a deep cycle marine battery and a single small solar pannel. I used 12v florescent lights, led units were not available then. I did not have to use extra charging for that entire time.

When winter came and the days shortened I installed the battery as a secondary in my truck and charged it as I traveled to and from work. The only time I had to use reserve power was when I ran the 12v TV for too long, usually on weekends.

[2dumb2kwit]

For repeated use, without going high buck, golf cart batteries are said to do well. Like a deep cycle marine battery, they are designed to be run down and recharged. Regular car batteries are not.

Then again, the OP was about apartments, and I don't know about lead acid batteries in that environment. Those things can put off some nasty fumes.

[Echo2]

deep cycle batt....inverter.....small solar cell.....LED Christmas lights.

Works in the outhouse.

[2dumb2kwit]

The is a great idea, and with a small solar set up, could run a long time.

One thing to remember is simply the mind set that you can't just use everything you did in the past, even with a big gen-set....an apartment, no way.

One needs to identify what is important at the minimum, sounds like he did just that.....Everyone first step is to do an "energy audit', to see what you absolutely have to have.
thanks for posting

You're 100% correct. Most people have no clue just how much power they use.

[Echo2]

also a few solar cell lawn lights....works well

[Wildthang]

Kind of off the subject, but I read an article about a man in New York that got tired of huge electric bills because his small house was total electric. So he bought a small cast iron wood heater, and signed up for every Publishers Clearing house and merchandise magazine and junk mail source he could think of and he also bought a large mail box as well.
So when he got home after work every night, he would burn pounds of junk mail and warm his house, and would feed the heater until bed time if he had enough paper. It cut his electrcity bill to less than half!

[KhonHd]

At my camp I have a 165 w solar panel and two 100ah batteries. The lighting is all 3 watt LED. About $10 each from eBay shipping in... The 3 watt is equivalent to 25 watt incandescent, which surprisingly is enough light for most things. I put two lights in most rooms. 3 watts on a 12 volt system draws 0.25 amps. One 100 ah batter will run 400 hours (one bulb) until it is dead. That 50 days if you only use it 8 hours a day. Now you can only flat line a battery so many times before it is permanently damaged. I have AGM batteries and if I recall correctly is is good for 400 discharges to 20%.

[jfeatherjohn]

I seem to be very old school. In the apt, I use oil lamps for lighting, plus flaslights as needed. I reharge via small solar chargers, plus my crank weather radio,whish is also solar.
I need to do some research. I don't think I want lead acid batteries inside, but I do have a couple of gel batteries that I use for the trolling motor on my raft.
Does anyone know about the safety of gel? I have them and know nothing about them.

[Echo2]

I seem to be very old school. In the apt, I use oil lamps for lighting, plus flaslights as needed. I reharge via small solar chargers, plus my crank weather radio,whish is also solar.
I need to do some research. I don't think I want lead acid batteries inside, but I do have a couple of gel batteries that I use for the trolling motor on my raft.
Does anyone know about the safety of gel? I have them and know nothing about them.

The fear of the batts is they generate hydrogen.....if you ventilate your space....a couple batts isn't going to be an issue.

[Echo2]

PS:....use some common sense when setting them up.....put them somewhere they wont tip over....and in a good batt box is best....just in case one were to leak.

[Echo2]

This will run a pile of LED lights.....and a fridge....for a while....

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[Cast-Iron]

I seem to be very old school. In the apt, I use oil lamps for lighting, plus flaslights as needed. I reharge via small solar chargers, plus my crank weather radio,whish is also solar.
I need to do some research. I don't think I want lead acid batteries inside, but I do have a couple of gel batteries that I use for the trolling motor on my raft.
Does anyone know about the safety of gel? I have them and know nothing about them.

Sealed deep-cycle batteries, either AGM or GEL, are probably the best battery for an enclosed environment. Chemically they produce little if any vented hydrogen gas with normal use. So they would be much safer to use in a non-vented application. If used with low wattage LED lighting and photovoltaic chargers/controller and dc/ac power invertor, they offer a backup lighting system which could last for years if needed.

[mwp]

one way we have chosen to have lights at least for the kids is I went to Lowes and bought some solar yard lights including a couple of spot and flood lights. i built a simple rack from a 2x6 scrap with holes drilled in it. I keep the lights charged every day. I have tried them at night and they work great. It keeps me from burning my lamps and creating heat in the summer and lets me shut down the generator. Quiet is nice sometimes. mwp

[Rick]

I went with a marine battery on my solar and wish I'd have gone with the AGM. If this one conks out that's what I'll get. Even a single battery would run a couple of LEDs for a long time. If you have solar for recharge then you should never have a problem. I'm running 24X7 charging several radios and batteries off my rig and it lasts a couple of days if things are cloudy. If I get some sun it doesn't have a problem keeping up.

To that, I have a lot of gas lanterns, several kerosene lamps, a number of candle lanterns, a generator and enough fuel to last 6-7 continuous days. Oh, yeah, a couple of bacon grease candles too.

[KhonHd]

Mine are AGM and are safe for in door use.

[LowKey]

When it gets dark, I go to bed.
But I do have a solar powered small battery charger for things like an LED headlamp for going outdoors in the dark to tend the generator if needed.

[ElevenBravo]

For an apartment dweller a lot of options are already off the list. Its hard to get away with a EU2000 running on your patio for any length of time before either someone complains or your are a blip on there resource radar.

Id suggest getting the biggest UPS you can afford, open it up and disconnect the annoying buzzer that beeps every minute to remind you the UPS is active. Then get an LED light, it consumes way less energy than CFL. Get one that is of the lowest possible lumens but yet provide the light you need. A 40w bulb can light a room well enough to see, a 150w in the same room will allow you to do brain surgery. But honestly, do you *need* that much light? Id suggest a long extension cord and another low power light for the head, then you can shower etc with some light and still have light in the main quarters.

A UPS has a specific built smart charger and AGM batteries. This translates into, the batteries are sealed and wont leak or emit gasses. The charger will properly charge and maintain the batteries insuring the longest life from them. Also, the UPS will always be there charging and maintaining the batteries. If an event occurred that was not anticipated you wont get stuck with low batteries because you didnt pull them out to charge.

The amount of time on a UPS will be limited and charging will not resume until mains comes back on line, but with a hefty sized unit and conservation of use, Im pretty sure you can drain a week of service out of it. If you need more time than that, Id examine other options.

This is the simplest option I could come up with.

HTH,
Andrew