Micro Candle Lanterns

A lengthy ETS thread last winter about surviving being stranded in a vehicle has kept me focused on redundancies for light, heat and fire-starting. This past year UCO came out with the "Micro" candle lantern, it's most diminutive yet, and I decided these have utility for the car and home.

The Micro utilizes tea candles. Amazon currently sells the Micro lantern for $12.35 and Campmor has them for $12.99 REI has them for $12.95

Each lantern comes with two candles - one ready to light and the other stored in the base of the candle holder. UCO claims that each candles burns for 3-4 hours. Campmor sells the UCO-brand candles in boxes of six - for $3 (plus shipping)

I found on Amazon boxes of apparently identical candles -- 125 of them -- for $10 (plus shipping). Very enthusiastic customer reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/Tealight-Candles-W...3453&sr=8-1

In the bottom two photos, the UCO candle is on the right. The much cheaper version from Amazon (which claim 5 hours of burn time) is on the left. At some point I'll compare burn times.

Forty of the candles fit nicely in a quart-size freezer bag, which in turn fits perfectly in an LL Bean soft kiddie lunch box that could hold 80 candles plus a couple of the Micro lanterns.

In the car I see utility for fire-starting, light and a little heat to warm up hands. For car camping they'd be some nice ambience on the dining table. At home they light up bathrooms enough to at least not trip during a power outage.

Thanks for the reminder Dagny. I need to start getting fall/winter gear back in my SUV.

I think this lantern is a great idea. My one concern is the melting point of tea candles. They cannot be stored in a hot environment such as in a car kit in the Southern United States.

If there are tea candles with a higher melting pint, I want to know where to get them.

Jeanette Isabelle

There are beeswax tea candles, but I don't know if they have a higher melting point.

Even in winter it's too hot to store them in the car?

I'm going to go ahead and put one in my car and see how it fares. But temps here are moderating in the next few days.

This kit will be going in the car. It's an LL Bean "lunch box" - one of many I bought super cheap several years ago, they are great for car storage. Its fire orange color will make it easy to spot and remember.

In addition to what is pictured here (40 tea light candles, two Micro candle lanterns, 3 boxes waterproof matches, two boxes of Diamon "Strike a Fires" and two firesteels - a Blastmatch and Strikeforce) I was able to put some more things in before zipping it up.

I keep some fatwood sticks elsewhere in the car.

Hehe, I just bought one yesterday. Here's what I wrote regard it and UCO's other bigger tea light lantern.

It's pretty neat, smallest lantern I've ever seen. I like the chain and hook bail instead of the loop only. The lower chimney height however means it's not as wind resistant as its bigger brother. You can fit two candles inside as Spork said, but the the other one will hold 5 so its larger size is not entirely wasted (obviously you need to put the extra elsewhere in use). Overall I don't regret the $11 price, though I don't know how much I'll actually use it over other much more efficient LED type.


I would advice against buying UCO's tea candle, the wick smokes a lot when extinguished, and the melting point of wax appears to be too low, the 100 pack from any other store will work better.

there are multiple grades of paraffin, your mileage may vary.

low melting point parafin melts at ~ 130 F
medium is 130 F to 145 F
high melt point is 145 F to 150 F

beeswax is 144 to 147 degrees farenheight.

plumbers candles usually have a higher stearic acid content to slow down burn time, this also raises the melting point closer to beeswax.


most dollar store candles are cheaper, with lower melt points.....

A side point the Coghlans model is available for around 5.00

I have now put one of the cheap tea candles in the car and will see how it fares over the next few days of sitting in the sun. The ambient air temp outside the car right now is mid-80s.

Beeswax tea candles do burn longer than paraffin. My estimate is 5-6 hours. Plus they smell nice and burn much cleaner for indoor use. They are more expensive though.

At least as far as the desert Southwest is concerned, car temps will reach levels that will melt any candle. Everything I tried eventually became a shapeless blob with a wick.

I bought a few of these little lanterns for backpacking, camping etc and have been very pleased with them. If you've owned other UCO lanterns then you should have a decent idea of the quality level of the product.

Heat shouldn't be too big of a problem with tea candles inside cars, just keep them upright and the cup will hold them in shape.

I didn't like this smaller version of the UCO candle lantern at all.

The cheaper tealight candles become completely liquid very quickly as they heat up. As soon as you move the lantern, you're guaranteed to have wax dripping on the sides of the lantern...

I much, much prefer the regular size one with the UCO candles which are practically dripless, therefore allowing you move the lantern around a bit without needing much attention.

If you use the lantern on a stable surface such as a table, sure, it might work and be a nice novelty item. However, if you intend to use it in a real life situation (such as in a tent vestibule, on an uneven surface such as grass or rocks), it won't work as well.

As usual, YMMV.

I urge you to try whatever tea candles you get well before you need to depend on them. I have found some that do not burn well at all. Once the top part of the wick burns down, the candles would not stay lit at all.

Actually, for my money, the regular sized UCO candle lanterns are fine, and work well IMHO. There's not that much difference in the size, and there's less fussing around.

Agree, I have a couple of the standard UCO candle lanterns and a small supply of bees wax candles. Those are for the car/truck kit. I don't see a need for micro-sized candle lanterns.

Have you considered a candle made of liquid paraffin? While they aren't the size of a tea candle, they last 100 hours and are for most intents and purposes smokeless.

Example http://beprepared.com/product.asp?pn=CL%20C700

It has a wider base to be more stable. Could be hot glued to the bottom of a small coffee can with a rubber snap lid. You could even fasten up your own handle to hang it by. Best option I'm aware of for an emergency candle in a car winter survival kit.

Goatman,

Thank you for that link. I have not tried liquid paraffin and that candle looks very appealing. Especially for only $4.50

Have you ordered from that business before?

Clear Mist 100 Hour Emergency Candle

Remember safety first! This 100 hour candle burns liquid paraffin and is clean burning, odorless and smokeless, making it a great choice for indoor use whether for emergencies or decorative lighting. Light this candle and four days later it will still be burning. It comes packaged with a plastic storage cap, so you won't have to worry about messy spills.


I'm not going to worry about tea candles melting in the car here during fall-winter-spring.

The other UCO candle lanterns are terrific, fortunately this is not an either-or decision. I'm fond of the "original" and have several I bought nearly twenty years ago for camping and home use and one is in the car with a couple 3-packs of beeswax candles and a couple packs of their standard 9-hour candles.

I especially like the bigger "Candlelier" which burns three candles at a time -- can boil a cup of water on top of that one in a reasonable amount of time.

What I like about the Micro lantern is that it is very small and the tea candles are tiny and featherweight. And super cheap!

I could have carried a Micro lantern and some tea candles in my Miata. Am not as pressed for space with the Element.

I'm also thinking that the tea candles would be a good use of space in my PSK.

UCO also make a liquid paraffin insert for their original lanterns

http://www.survivaldepot.co.uk/UCO_Oil_Insert/p474753_1766432.aspx

Isn't liquid paraffin another name for kerosene?

Yup, it's just a highly refined kerosene. You can use regular kerosene (like you would get from a gas station) or even fuel oil, but both will burn much smokier.

We used to use lamps like that in the construction industry. They were round balls, filled with kerosene or fuel oil, with a large wick on top. We would light them and leave them on the road, so that drivers could see us at night. Nowadays we have road flares, electrical lights, strobes, ect; but I've still got a bunch in the garage.

Interesting claim by UCO:

"Beeswax produces negative ions that attract pollutants, so these candles actually clean the air."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerosene

I think its actually called Paraffin or Synthetic Lamp Oil (which was a replacement for Whale oil), as Kerosene was actually a trade marked name whose name has stuck - a little like calling a Vacuum Cleaner a Hoover.

I love these little gems as well. I keep them around for power outages at home. I went down to a local craft store and bought some glass cylinders that were meant to go around a 3-4" candle. They fit around these nicely, cost almost nothing & keep someone from accidentally catching a sleeve on fire.

The entire point of a candle is that it is solid, and can be stored in any position, is durable,and spillproof, etc. Liquids don't cut it, and don't store nicely for extended periods.

Fortunately, LED lights work quite well in these kinds of applications.

But LEDs require batteries, lack ambience, produce little heat and aren't great fire starters.

They do have their place -- in my headlamps and some flashlights.

A bit of trademark semantics then

Seems to me what we have is a kerosene lantern masquerading as a candle. Nothing wrong with that s'pose, but why not just get a real kerosene lantern? It guess it has a nice price point, but how bright is this Emergency Candle compared to other kerosene lanterns?

The Dietz #1 Large Fount Little Wizard is a little over three times the price (3.544 times to be precise), but look how much more you get as an investment.

They all have their place, although I don't like the liquid candles/lamps for vehicles.

How do you tell you are talking to a nail bender who can talk well, vs a master woodworker? One hammer vs 20.

The very best implement is unfortunately technologically obsolete - a carbide lamp. They are fabulous firestarters, do not require batteries, and produce both heat and light.

They do require calcium carbide, which must be kept extremely dry. It is harder and harder to obtain.

I wondered about that claim. If an ion attracts a pollutant, where does it go then? If the air in a car is like bath water: both the clean water and the dirt are still in the tub.

The "candle lanterns" put out light and heat comparable to candles due to the small wick size.

I have a couple of Dietz lanterns laying around but many times I don't need that much light and don't want that much heat. I'm much more likely to get them out when I need a lot of light for a particular reason OR appreciate the heat they throw. The one that sits on top of the hutch on my desk does look nicer that the other items we discussed.

I have a dual fuel Coleman lantern and a propane Coleman lantern too but I don't recall ever using either outside the confines of car camping.

I picked up a couple of the Rock River brand LED lanterns a few years ago and I've primary used them inside tents when car camping, during brief power outages and during tornado warnings when we get in the storm shelter.

a good idea by a contributor (who works in Mexico) on Blade Forums... he added 3 tea candles to an Altoids tin... the top of the tin acts as a reflector, and has 3 "power" settings...

an old previous mentioned example... back in my Scouting days we used paraffin poured into Gerber baby food jars to make tent candles, they were fairly resistant to wind... sort of a mini hurricane lamp... also used shoe polish tins filled with paraffin and wicking to make small stoves to use with GI metal canteens, canteen cups, and stands...a couple of wicks in a shoe polish tin for glass free candles...a block of paraffin supplied fuel for both

Love the Altoids idea. Great way to contain any melted wax mess in the car, too.

I have a few of the liquid parafin candles I referenced. They don't compare to a lantern, they are simply candles and should be compared as such. The container they are in are plastic. They can drop and be just fine. If you abused it, I'm sure the top could pop off and create quite a mess. But do the same thing with a wax candle and it will break/crack/smush.

I've purchased via http://www.beprepared.com (Emergency Essentials) before and they are trustworthy. I've always had good experiences anyway.

I've always wondered what the freezing point of liquid paraffin is. If you can find out, let me know. Here are a few details.

Someone mentioned putting these in glass containers to house them. I think the idea of a container is a good one. It would protect the flame from wind and bystandards from burn. Glass would permit more light to escape, but it can also break. In the context of a car winter survival kit to provide warmth and light, I would recommend a tin can. It does block some of the light, but if you are in a car wreck or your gear bag gets smashed undersomething else, there is less/no broken glass to deal with. For use in a home, glass may be preferable.

If you get it wet, it releases acetylene, which will happly explode in atmospheric concentrations ranging from something like 8 to 95%. I can think of reasons why people choose not to use carbide lamps...

I never could get into candles myself. I know people love them, but I don't use flames around my tent.

This Cree LED lantern for $25 will run on low for 48 hours with 3 AA batteries ... and I can even use it in my tent.

http://www.amazon.com/Small-Package-Brig...475&sr=1-30

It looks like the same lantern that Target sold as a Rock River a few years back, which is what I have. Great little lantern. Tough as nails.

Have some paraffin and some empty tins and I'm going to try these!

With all the synthetic materials that are everywhere in the camping world (unless you purposefully avoid them), I recommend being VERY AWARE that flame and these materials are a dangerous combination. Tents, sleeping bags, 'fleece' materials, jackets, underwear, etc., the list goes on.....
Some of the very thin tent materials have almost a 'flash' to them with a flame ignition.
Even worse, this melts and drips onto the skin (tent above) and solidifies and makes a very deep burn on that spot. This from just one drip. Most things burning will be many, many drips! Also they have found out that flammable vapors (gasoline, alc, etc.) go into the material and then if they get ignited the whole t-shirt (or whatever) will melt to the individual wearing it. Very large deep burns result.
There is a start of a swing back to natural fibers that will 'burn', but at least it doesn't MELT onto you. HUGE difference in the burn depth on the skin. Always wear a couple of natural fiber layers against the skin before putting on the polar fleece and other synthetic layers, especially if you have any possibility of being around flammable vapors (filling up the car?)

As a former fireman, Candles cause a LOT of unintentional fires in homes. Now we take them camping with us?

Use with GREAT caution,
gimpy

Oh, and spread the word to those you care about!

I hate to bump such an old topic but it's probably better than starting a duplicate new one. I have the original UCO with the 9 hour candles and really love it (aside from the fact that it's flimsy- one of the three "posts" broke off within two weeks, but partly I am to blame for getting impatient while reassembling it). Lately I've been thinking of the Mini and/or Micro UCO. A week ago I bought some beeswax tealights to try, and although they're expensive I really like them and think they'd be good in the UCO.

But I wanted to ask one more question: Has anyone tried a liquid paraffin tealight for fit in either UCO? I read a few pages back about them being good items and they are, but are too large for the UCO. But in fact an 8 hour candle is an exact replacement for a wax tealight. I measured a few different brands of tealight candles and they're all 1.5" in diameter. My only issue is that I've been burned before relying on measurements provided by online vendors. The brand of 8 hour paraffin at Amazon lists them as being 13/16 High x 1 1/2 Diameter- if the measurements are accurate that should be exactly the size of a wax one. However, another 8 hour brand from a candle vendor is listed as 1.375"(D) x1.375"(H). That's probably close enough but I'm a bit leery of the fit.

Can anyone with either small UCO explain the candle holder? Like how it grips the candle and how much play there is?

I'm a chef and have worked with these paraffin dealies for 20 some odd years. I can't recall ever seeing one leak and they almost never fail before they run out of fuel. I think that sealed in something that would contain a possible spill they'd be great in the UCO...if they fit.

Phaedrus - here are some close up pics of the micro candle lantern candle holder. As you can see, three metal prongs that are part of a metal ring secure the candle. It fits the candle not quite snugly. The prongs could be bent to adjust them tighter or looser.

a pack of tea candles and several small glass canning jars would be an inexpensive alternate... mini hurricane lamps

it may be a Florida designation, but hurricane lamp is just a candle in a glass jar, so the flame is well below the top opening and no bottom air vent....can withstand a pretty good wind without blowing out

In the winter months Walgreens often has a bag of 40 tea lights on sale for $3.00. At our Dollar General I found citronella tea lights in boxes of 10 for .50 cents on clearance. I only bought four boxes however. Live and learn eh?

Wow, thanks Dagny! That really helped! It showed me what to buy. Okay, here's an update. I purchased two dozen of these 8 hour liquid paraffin candles. They arrived today and despite the dimensions given on the website they are indeed the precise diameter of a tea light. My feeling is that these really should drop right into a UCO Micro or Mini. Maybe tomorrow I'll have time to snap a pic of them one atop the other to show the sizes of them both. The liquid one is a bit taller, but probably not enough to make a difference in use.

I'll probably order one from Amazon soon and try it. Worst case I have another lantern and I'll just use it with tea light candles. Best case I can use either wax or fuel cells. Now, can anyone advise me which is preferable, the Mini or the Micro? I understand that the Micro is collapsible, which should somewhat protect the glass and make it more compact. Yet the collapsible part was the point of failure in my Original UCO- one of the pillars snapped off cleanly after one week of use. The Mini may be more robust, aside from the exposed globe. It seems the Micro is far more popular, though. Has anyone here actually used the Mini?

You make some excellent points, and I meant to address them. I understand they're a fire danger, and I don't really plan to use them "camping" so much as have them as a survival item. In this case the flammability is one of the reasons I want to carry them. If you can't get a fire started with an 8 hour fuel cell you don't belong in the woods.

If I do use the product outdoors I'll take considerable care to design a plan to do so as safely as possible and minimize all possible risks.

Okay, I was too excited to wait! Here are a few pics.

First is the 8 hour paraffin next to a beeswax tealight:



Here's one with the wax part of the candle removed from the aluminum holder:




Now here's the cool part! The paraffin cell will very snuggly fit inside the aluminum insert! So not only is it the exact right size, using the insert will probably insure it's held more firmly.





My enthusiasm got the best of me and I ordered both the Mini & Micro! Like I said, worst case they work better with wax candles but I know the fuel cells will fit.

Great find. I'm not sure how hot it gets inside the UCO candle lantern. Does the draft keep the interior reasonably cool? It will be interesting to see how the plastic bottle reacts when burned in an enclosed space.

Good point, but these things were designed to burn in very small "lanterns". I've used them in restaurants since the 80's. There are very small "lanterns" on each table, and each contains one of these cells. Of course there are different sizes; some restaurants use 16 hour cells, some use 8, some use 32. But every single one is used in a lamp/lantern that's fractionally larger than the cell.

My decades of using these paraffin fuel cells is what drew me to this project in the first place.

That said, I totally agree- the Micro is very small, a bit smaller than the table lanterns they're usually burned in. But they're also made of aluminum & tempered glass. My hopes are high but reality will have the final word.

Okay, I'm gonna keep this short- I'm working on a paper that's due Thursday but I got my UCO Micro wanted to give some initial impressions. First off the candle holder will grip the paraffin cells but it's held more securely when the cell is inserted into an empty candle tin. No surprise there, really. As is the cell rides a little higher in the lantern than I'd like, and it comes it's about 2 mm too tall to completely collapse the lantern while the paraffin cell is in it. Now, the cell will rest very solidly in the bottom of the lantern if you take the holder out but then it's just a tad low. It does work and burn just fine. I let it go for half an hour and it didn't get too hot or give me any issues.

I'm sure that with a little tweaking I can mod or alter it to either lower the cell with the holder or raise it a bit without.

Right now I've blown out the paraffin and I've lit a beeswax tea light in it. I want to see how well it burns and if I have time, how long. It sure does smell nice, though!

Anyways, back to my paper. Maybe I'll take a few pics in the next day or two after I present my paper & PP to the class. "The Management Challenges of Globalization", a real thriller to be sure!

No pics yet but my UCO Mini showed up today. Very nice! Larger than the Micro by a bit and not collapsible, but it's got a much larger glass globe, so it seems like it puts out more light. It's simpler than the Micro but as it lacks that wobbly/flimsy slide opening system it feels more robust.

I burned an 8 hour paraffin in it and it worked wonderfully! I'm not sure if it's worth hacking/messing with the Micro for this purpose. The Micro works well with candles, while the Mini seems almost made for fuel cells.

I'll undoubtedly do some more tinkering and get some pics but I'm liking them both so far.

I haven't had time to take pics yet, and maybe you're all sick of this thread ( ) but the 8 hour paraffin cells are a slam-dunk, home-run-ball with the Mini! It's incredibly well designed, probably accidentally, for this purpose. As an added bonus the plastic tube it's packaged in fits perfectly in a padded cozy (w/drawstring) that I happened to have.

Still, for those who are interested I'll try to snap some pics of all the products mentioned.

Are these the ones you're using Phaedrus? [url=https://www.quickcandles.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=PM_1508_12]

How are they in terms of spilling and smashing? I like the idea of an 8 hour candle in my kits, and it looks like a good size, but I'm hesistant about the potential mess if things go wrong.

Those are the ones. Well, the container is plastic so of course it could be smashed. But they're small and cylindrical so they're pretty sturdy. Each one is capped with a very tight fitting "nipple" that's very tight. I've never seen a capped one leak in 20+ years, although it's not impossible. If you recap between burns you should be good. I keep the caps from dead ones just to have extras.

They easily burn 8, maybe more. And you can pull the wick up a bit to get a stronger flame at the expense of burn time.

You could use a vacuum sealer to seal these into individual bags to minimize the risk of a spill. If you do I'd use a low vacuum setting, basically just sealing more than evac'ing all the air.

In an emergency situation an 8 hour fire source can light a stubborn fire, and of course you can pour out the fuel if you need it.

So far I've never found the flawless, foolproof tool that was perfect for every situation. I consider this another tool in the toolbox, but one that I've used for decades and come to trust- under the right conditions.

BTW, one big advantage of these vs wax candles is that you can put them out and when you relight them the pick up right where they left off. With tealights you're often/usually better off burning them all in one shot. Very often the wick shifts and when you relight them the second burn is very poor. The paraffin ones are like having a flame with switch like a flashlight.