View Story | 230 comments
Comments: Expand Shrink Hide (Always) | Indented Flat (Always)
= Portable lighting =
=
The topic of portable lighting, like the Water category above, is probably worthy of an entire Diary article of its own. We shall briefly touch on the various technologies available today and some of their trade-offs. As always, feel free to post questions in the Comments below.
Incandescent: Commonly available, dirt cheap, and a VERY poor value compared to LED-based lights. Batteries are a crucial resource in a crisis, and these lights are terribly wasteful in comparision to LEDs.
LEDs: All hail the mighty LED. From lanterns to headlamps to hand-held flashlights, the power-sipping LED is revolutionizing portable lighting. What's not to love? OK, so the color of the light output can be a bit annoying, and light makers haven't quite figured out how to build good reflectors to spread the light aroud evenly, but these are minor nitpicks.
SureFire and clones: Positives: blindingly bright, well-constructed, compact, and use lithium batteries which last 10 years on the shelf. Negatives: A set of batteries lasts as little as 60 minutes, and costs at least $2.50 to replace -- and that's when you buy in bulk.
Fluorescent lanterns: Relatively power-efficient, though nowhere near as good as LEDs. Bright. Attract bugs like you wouldn't believe. Bulky compared to head lamps and hand-held lights, smaller than propane or dual-fuel lanterns.
Combustion-type lanterns: Bright, run off of commonly available, shelf-stable fuels (propane, gasoline, etc.). Somewhat portable, but get extremely hot and will cause second-degree burns, as your author can say from personal experience. VERY dangerous in situations where LP or natural gas leaks may be present, e.g. in the first 48 hours after a major earthquake, so use only in known-safe areas.
"Watching George Bush trying to govern is like watching a monkey trying to f**k a football."I'm a libertarian, pro-2A capitalist Democrat.
by AlphaGeek on Fri Sep 16, 2005 at 12:53:01 PM PDT
[ Parent ]
An aside:(Can you imagine how different things would have been at the Superdome if everyone had brought a couple of gallons of water instead of suitcases full of clothes?)
However, if folks are really interested in ensuring their own welfare, diaries like these are well worth reading. And, personally, I've found that ham radio puts me right in the middle of things when it comes to this sort of stuff, and that's a good place to be. For instance, I'm a Skywarn certified weather spotter and contribute to emergency radio nets on a regular basis. It keeps me in touch with local police and FEMA folks (ones who actually have a clue, not Bush apointees.)
Get into ham radio and stop pretending with cell phones. It's not that difficult these days.
-6.88/-5.64 * We won! We won!.... Now back on your heads.
by John West on Fri Sep 16, 2005 at 01:32:10 PM PDT
by John West on Fri Sep 16, 2005 at 01:42:00 PM PDT
"Bring it On!" is not a Foreign Policy
by demdragon on Fri Sep 16, 2005 at 01:50:34 PM PDT
What's really frustrating about the whole Katrina communications nightmare is that I have 200 high power Motorola FM rigs just sitting in storage here in MI. If folks in NO had been using them, FEMA screwups or not, things would have been very different. But I imagine that when the next such tragedy comes along they'll still be sitting in storage.
by John West on Fri Sep 16, 2005 at 01:59:08 PM PDT
That said, I do want to take you to task for the throwaway line at the end of your comment:
Bloody near everyone has a cellphone. Relatively few of the readers of this series have the time, money, or inclination to get a basic ham license and equipment. I think I took a pretty fair position on ham radio in this installment, considering that.
It's all about doing the most good for the most people -- and most people will, in fact, be depending on their cellphones in an emergency. It would have been unrealistic to assume otherwise, and I have tried throughout to help people make more effective use of the resources they already have available.
-AG
by AlphaGeek on Fri Sep 16, 2005 at 11:36:19 PM PDT
We know now without a doubt that it is up to us - and up to us only to safeguard our families.
Thank you so much for this information.
"Proud to proclaim: I am a Bleeding Heart Liberal"
by sara seattle on Fri Sep 16, 2005 at 01:51:25 PM PDT
An interesting concept.
On showers-marine stores carry an item called a sun shower, which is essentially a black bag with a hose, a clamp, and a shower head. You leave the bag in the sun, and in several hours it is warm enough to give you a quick sluice-off. And they really work.
Dishes can be washed in salt water, and salt water soap is also sold in marine stores. Likewise salt water shampoo, although I never liked the result.
Books on long distance ocean crusing are very helpful for articles on cooking and eating without grocery stores or refrigeration. One interesting suggestion is growing your own bean sprouts from dry beans.
The portable refrigerator/freezer that works off your car or boat engine works, but consumes a fair amount of fuel.
The Origo catalytic alcohol stove is a daisy. The fuel can be stored in your house, and the stove is not pressurized so you are not risking your house when you use it. With 2 Origo's you are really cooking.
by LIsoundview on Fri Sep 16, 2005 at 06:01:39 PM PDT
Carbide lanterns are worth a look: carbide pellets last forever, they are not flammable unless immersed in water (so if you seal them in your favorite and mine (ziplock bags) they're not a problem) and they're very reliable. The latest ones have safety features that weren't available 100 years ago, but the basic design is age-old and well tested.
However, it's highly unwise to use them in tightly confined spaces, in much the same way that it is highly unwise to use any combustion-based products in tightly confined spaces. (Or even not-so-tightly-confined spaces, for any extended period of time.)
by Fred Fnord on Fri Sep 16, 2005 at 07:05:25 PM PDT
Please post a link to a product page if you have one.
by AlphaGeek on Sat Sep 17, 2005 at 12:22:35 AM PDT
I originally got my lantern from a friend. I believe it was a Premier. It's also lying deep in a vertical crack in a cave somewhere in Oregon. (Always have three light sources while spelunking.)
In any case, here's the info on carbide lamps (scroll down a bit, it's below the Davy Lamps) and here is where you can buy carbide pellets. (They also list the Minex light, which appears to be currently out of stock, but which is apparently still being manufactured somewhere in India.) I have not yet bought from them. They sell the carbide in large quantities, admittedly: the problem is that since calcium carbide is classified as a hazardous material, it can't be shipped by normal methods.
Here is a good guide to buying an old-style carbide lamp. Also check out IMO which has quite a lot of cap-lights with separate belt generators. (Which I'd never heard of before I started looking into this... interesting stuff. Maybe I'll get a generator and a cap-light.)
More useful information: the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for calcium carbide is here though if you know anything about MSDSes you know to take some of it with a grain of salt. (I wouldn't go licking calcium carbide pellets but I've never heard of anyone being seriously burned by one. Still, better safe than sorry.)
It's less dangerous all around than storing gasoline, lamp oil, lamp alcohol, or any other volatile liquid, let alone storing CNG or other flammable gas in (say) earthquake country, but it's also differently dangerous: if your entire house burns down, the pellets will probably still be sitting there, inert, when the ashes have cooled. If you have a house fire (that the carbide tablets are in) and attempt to extinguish it with water, you suddenly end up with a bunch of acetylene gas, which can make a small fire into a big one, in much the same way that a can of paint thinner or a canister of CNG could. In fact, it's probably best to handle a container of carbide pellets like you would a container of flammable gas... for obvious reasons.
And keep a chemical fire extinguisher, don't try to rely on your garden hose or something. Which is, come to think of it, a good idea in any case.
-fred
by Fred Fnord on Sat Sep 17, 2005 at 10:25:14 AM PDT
carbide is very cheap (if you don't have to pay for hazmat shipping), has a high energy density, they are bright compared to candles, and the lamps can take a beating. Be warned that carbide lamps are contankerous. Gas production can vary and the flame can go from 1/4" to 4 inches long, so keep flamables away. If you plan to use a carbide lamp, read caving books. Carbide lamps require small quantities of water to operate. In an emergency, you can use urine; it works but you won't like the smell. You can also use contaminated water. Before I could become a member of the local (at the time) caving club, I had to demonstrated that I could dismantle, reassemble, clean the nozzle, fill, and light the lamp while blindfolded. To obtain carbide, try to find a local caving club and see if they are still using it; the club I was a member of bought it in bulk. Store (particularly in bulk) away from the house as it produces flamable acytelene gas when you attempt to extinguish a fire with water. Spent carbide continues to generate gas and many a caver has singed their eyebrows by looking in their dump bottle (with a lit lamp on their head). Baby bottles are good for storing carbide and waste if you are traveling. Don't seal the dump bottle tightly (remove the rubber gasket/nipple). A survival trick used by cavers is to keep a trash bag in the helmet. Make a hole and wear the bag while sitting (knees inside bag) with the carbide lamp inside the bag between your knees for heat - but be carefull not to set yourself on fire. An 8 oz (volume) bottle of carbide will fuel a lamp for 18-24 hours. Fuel is harder to come by now and isn't likely to be resupplied in an emergency. You can buy 12 oz for $13.80, delivered. Carbide is corrossive.
If you don't already have a lamp, though, I am not sure I would recommend running out and buying one.
In a disaster situation, it is difficult to get resupplied with any fuel at all let alone the particular type of fuel you need for a particular device. And with Peak Oil and other petroleum supply problems and global warming, investing in petroleum based products is not a great idea. Its a bit pricy ($190 with accessories for the high end version), but I just discovered that britelyt makes multi-fuel lanterns that convert to a stove (light and heat simultaneously) and will apparently burn almost any liquid fuel including bio-diesel, ethanol, methanol, vegetable oil (third party claim), kerosene, diesel, gasoline, mineral spirits, charcoal lighter fluid, lamp oils, Citronella oil, coleman fuel, charcoal lighter fluid, used motor oil, and waste fuel (>6mo old). In stove mode, it is rather tall. Provides light, heat, and cooking. Safe for use indoors with methanol (which doesn't produce carbon monoxide), not sure about other fuels. This lantern is a multi-fuel descendent of the petromax. They say it produces 400W of light; is that the equivalent of a 400W incandescent bulb or 400W of actual visable light energy. The web site is very disorganized, incoherent and inconsistent in places, and makes some suspicious claims such as the safety of methanol (methanol is toxic when absorbed through skin), and does not list all the fuels in one place. For what they are charging, I would like to see lab reports where they burn every type of fuel claimed (and maybe crude oil, too, considering that in some situations, such as after Katrina, using crude might make sense), for one week continuously with carbon monoxide measurements, fuel tank temperature measurements, report of the number of times clogs must be cleared, report of any fires, fuel usage, heat output, light output, etc. Some fuels, such as vegetable oil, contain constituents that polymerize when heated and create clogs. I also find it suspicious that the organization that provided the intended to appear independent safety report is in the same town as the manufacturer. I also think the lantern should have extra leg attachements (or maybe modify the reflector attachment to double as a base) to reduce the risk of tipping when used as a stove. From the forums, it appears that straight vegetable oil or homemade biodiesel might cause clogs. And methanol might be a separate lantern. I also think they are abusing the patent system by patenting their design changes that are pretty trivial looking and sufficiently obvious to anyone sufficiently knowledgable in the art. Fuel tank gets hot? Make minor modifications bottom plate between the fuel tank and the burner. Replacing the seal on the pump with an o-ring? (Optionally) replacing the pump with an intertube nozzle so you can use an external pump to pressurize tank (as if that fitting wasn't used on lots of pumps). I didn't look at the changes made to the nozzle in detail but there was nothing that appeared innovative about the result. I realize they may have problems with cheap knockoffs but their abuse of the patent system could have serious negative consequences for the alternative fuel device industry and society as a whole. If these patented things are actually new to the lamp industry, it is because no one with any talent has been doing anything significant with lamp designs (at least not anyone who has the resources to bring a product to market); the same techniques are used in other closely related market segments all the time. Not that they haven't spent some time developing things but their patented "innovations" appear to be nothing more than someone finally updating a 100 year old lamp design with 50 year old technology but the patents could interfere with anyone doing truly innovative work from using 50 year old technology in other areas of the design. As many tech folks are now aware, the patent system has become more of a hindrance than an incentive for innovation. While I would like to see a true multifuel design, I am not sure if this is the company that will bring it to us (and make it widely availible) or the company that will interfere with people who really can.
-- -6.25, -6.36 Worst. President. Dictator. Ever.
by whitis on Mon Sep 19, 2005 at 10:30:33 PM PDT
wide narrow
View Story | 230 comments