Storms pounded the place where I live last night, and - predictably - we lost power for about five hours. Rather than sulk, I took the opportunity to field-test, as it were, a new toy of sorts. In lieu of candlelight to see by, I rigged up a 1W white light-emitting diode (LED) to a rechargeable battery pack (with a current-limiting resistor, of course).
WOW.
I’m not an LED or flashlight geek, so I neither know about, nor really care, how lumens relate to “candlepower”. The LED, rated for 35 lumens, and intentionally driven somewhat below it’s maximum ratings for safety and efficiency, was easily twenty times as bright as a candle, and ten times as bright as a reasonably powerful flashlight. It lit a 16×24 room to a very comfortable level. Not bright enough to read comfortably, but more than bright enough to walk around, see and read the knobs on the (also battery-powered) scanner I was listening to. The color was also much cooler than candlelight, very close to a true white, with hints of both blue and yellow.
On four rechargeable nickle-metal-hydride (NiMH) AA batteries, it ran fine for five hours; in theory, it could run for as long as thirteen hours on a single charge and set of batteries, though ten might be more realistic.
Two or three of these babies - which sell for around $8 apiece, online - should be more than sufficient to light a modest-sized room to comfortable levels; if you merely don’t want to bump into things or step on the pets in the dark, by carefully locating them, the same number would probably be adequate for a small house. Forget incandescent or liquid-fuelled lanterns for emergency lighting… give me a couple of these high-powered LEDs anyday!
