Long term light (>24 hours)

What do you have for lighting beyond a few hours? What about longer term-- 2 nights in blackout for instance?

One of my favorite lights: Quark AA², S2 Edition Medium: 19 lumens for 24 hours (50ma)

Hmmm, where to start.

A couple of D cell Maglights (LED converted - lots of runtime), Several LED lanterns (over 24 hrs each), way too many LED flashlights, 2 "normal" candle lanterns, a tea light candle lantern, lots of candles for candle lanterns, propane lantern with several propane canisters and mantles, more batteries, and then even more batteries.

And if for some reason all of that isn't enough I guess I could always start the generator.

The worst part of the above list is I am sure I left several light sources out.

- Eric

Candles. 6" diameter pillar candles and 9-hour UCO candles -- several dozen of them. And several UCO candle lanterns to put them in.

Flashlight/headlight-wise: Petzl e+lites which supposedly have a 35-45 hour run time, depending on whether it's on high and low. I have a few of these because they're so small and great for having in a purse, pockets, car, trailer... They run on two CR2302 lithium batteries.

http://www.rei.com/product/786024

I also have some small e-Gear LED lanterns which allegedly run 48-144 hours on four AA batteries.

http://www.essentialgear.com/store/p/153-Weekender-Lantern.html

4 or 5 LED Lanterns.
1 rechargeable the rest run on batteries and last a long long time (days) before dead, and then when dead we have new batteries.

We have not had power for 5 days and used the lanterns and they work fine. We have used them through probably 10 more days of power outages and still as bright as first day

We don't only use them for occasional use too they are used for reading (with or without power) as well as low setting leaving lit to light up an entire room.

Original batteries still!

Next power outage.... next week by my estimate!

I go old school.

http://www.lehmans.com/store/Lamps_Light..._jupiter?Args=/

Can be used every night for two weeks without refilling.

Dietz Air Pilot and Little Wizard oil lamps for area lighting long term

LED lanterns for short term

couple of LED MagLight 2D and mini mag LED (with split rings to clip to belt.. part of the lessons learned 05 hurricane season)

cyalume light sticks

LED head lamps for movement

I retired the mantle type lights, but have a couple just in case

I do not think I have ever seen a need to run a light for a continuous 24 hours. My multiple battery operated lights and a slew of new batteries would easily go for a week or more if needed. After that my crank-operated Eton radio-light thingie would continue to work, though a pain. Candles, open flame fire, and I suppose at last resort my camp stoves could sort of work.

I am a fan of going to sleep when it is dark and working when it is not.

I assume you mean general room lighting. For that I'd use a 4Sevens MiNi AA tailstanding for ceiling bounce. (@40hrs. runtime on low). Or a Maratac AA/AAA, PALlight, etc. Most LED lights with a low setting would run for days, especially if used only at night. There's also 12hr. glow sticks. And lastly I'd go with candle lanterns due to safety concerns. For long term outtage I've got a small 700ma USB solar panel for charging Li-ion and NiMH and even a Dietz Air Pilot. But thats really for outside use.

http://www.dorcy.com/p-340-41-4243-3-pack-3aaa-9-led-combo.aspx

Best Flashlight for indoor Blackouts I have found. It lasts 40 hours which seems like forever if you use it properly (Not leaving it on all day and night). It Floods with a soft not overpowering light instead of a focused bright beam great for keeping your eyes adjusted to candles. Takes three AAA Cells which are cheaper then AA's.

I also use an array of candles for all the rooms and my 3Dcell Maglite if I need to see outside a window or go outside.

24 hours is not that long !
I would consider long term emergency lighting to be for a month a more, post large hurricane, EMP event, or other large disaster.

A standard stock D cell Maglight runs 12 hours on a set of batteries, one set of spares gives 24 hours.
A flourescent lantern runs about 24 hours on one set of D cells.
An LED lantern for several days.
For lower level or localised lighting there are numerous LED flashlights that give run times longer than 24 hours on a single cell.

For TRUE long term emergency lighting I have a few hundred alkaline cells, a few dozen lithium cells, a 12 volt system with PV charging, a few hundred candles, and ample kerosene for several thousand hours light.
Candles and oil lamps are ideal for long term lighting but can be a fire risk. Consider installing hooks in the ceiling, or wall brackets, from which lamps can be hung.

The true doomer also keeps stocks of sulphuric acid and lead sheet in order to make lead acid batteries.

I'm with Dweste on this. Do most of your work in the daylight.

During multiple days without power I always carry a small flashlight on my person but oil lanterns and candles (in lantern like enclosures) are hard to beat for general lighting. A few tea-light candles strategically placed will provide light all evening (4-5 hours). You can buy 100 of them for about $5 and each box of 100 is roughly 12"x12"x2".

I'm in the midst of converting my incandescent flashlights to LED either by phasing them out or using conversions. I think I'm also going to stop by AAA and CR123 lights and standardise on AA and D lights. I've got plenty of lights that run on AAA and CR123 and its just much easier to get AA and D batts once you're out of the city.

I've got a few Nokero solar powered lights on order just to check them out.

I with dweste and hikermor too. Get my stuff done during daylight and stretch out the life of your lights. When I'm out in the interior in Borneo, the villages here are quite dark at night, maybe a light/candle/lantern or two per household and even then not for long.

Kerosene lanterns have a lot of issues, but they're cheap and fuel is cheap over here in Borneo.

Tealights are great and I usually have a few 100 count bags in the house and one bag in the car.
Oil lamps and plenty of fuel on hand as well.
I also have 3 NightStar shake flashlights. These work for approx. 20-25 mins. for 30 secs of shaking. I got the transparent ones and these can be placed on end (LED side down) on a white sheet of paper or similar on the table and thus used will light a room same way a candle would. The light is reflected back by the white surface into and through the translucent flashlight body and lights the room. Also have two led infinity lights by Gerber which will work for 40-something hours on one AA battery.
ATB
Pharaoh.

Not listed are low-end lights, weaponlights, or handheld flashlights that sit next to a pistol in a safe.


* Two 3-D cell MagLEDs. Bright, but unregulated. 11 hour runtime (with significantly reduced output after the first few hours).

* Quark 123^2 S2. Medium (19 ANSI* lumens) 20 hour runtime.

* Quark 123^2 R5 Ti LE. Medium (22 OTF** lumens) 20 hour runtime.

* Quark 123^2 R2 Tactical. Medium (18 OTF lumens) 20 hour runtime.

* Quark 123 S2. Medium (19 ANSI lumens) 13 hour runtime.

* Quark 123 R5. Medium (22 OTF lumens) 13 hour runtime.

* Quark 123 R2. With a Prism and headband on it to make it my primary headlamp (this gizmo will work with any Quark other than the MiNi). Medium (18 OTF lumens) 13 hour runtime.

* Preon 2 S2 Ti. Medium (26 OTF lumens) 6 hour*** runtime. I have the Preon 1 body for it, which on Medium does 13 OTF lumens for 6 hours.

* IlluminaTi R5. Medium (30 emitter lumens) for 4+ hours.

* Preon ReVO SS R2. Medium (19.8 OTF lumens) 5.7 hour runtime.

* Preon ReVO R2. Medium (19.8 OTF lumens) 5.7 hour runtime.

* Fenix P2D Q5. Medium (55 emitter lumens) 5.5 hour runtime. I also have the L1D body, which gives 53 emitter lumens for 5 hours.


None of these will work without batteries, of course. All the flashlights listed above have batteries in them and most are at 80+% charge. My BOB contains 12 new Titanium Innovations CR123A batteries in a nice plastic case, and 12 new Energizer Ultimate Lithiums (again in a nice plastic case) right next to it. There are also 8 Energizer Lithium AAAs in the original packaging.

My battery drawer at home duplicates the plastic case of CR123A batteries, five more CR123As that didn't fit in the case, roughly 40 Energizer Lithium AAs and 12 AAAs. I have a box of 12 Duracell D batteries as well.

None of this counts my rechargeable AAs, 14500s, or various other flashlights stashed here and there. It's distinctly possible that I have gone overboard in this particular area of preparation.


[* - ANSI lumens are like OTF lumens, but measured after the light has a chance to warm up and therefore run with less efficiency. Probably the most useful lumens measurement. The Quark S2 is brighter than the Quark R5.]

[** - OTF == Out The Front. The actual lumens emitted as the light is turned on (and not warmed up). Most flashlight manufacturers use emitter lumens, which has the effect of overstating the usable lumens figure by roughly 30%.]

[*** - I feed my AA and AAA flashlights Engergizer Ultimate Lithiums, so my runtimes will be 20+% better than the manufacturer estimates on alkalines.]

I started to write out a lengthy post on this, but ended up just putting it on my blog instead:

http://flsgear.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/long-term-lighting-in-teowatki/

For long term lighting during wintertime I will be using a Bullfinch 1616 Handilight Lantern. It will give me approx 250 hrs continuous use at an equivalent 100W incandescent light output (150W @96gms/hr) i.e. around 1250-1500 Lumen when using a standard 15Kg LPG bottle. So if in use for 6 hrs per day would give me around 6 weeks use operationally on a single LPG bottle.

http://www.gasproducts.co.uk/acatalog/Bullfinch_1616_Handilight_Gas_Lantern.html

It also has the other benefit of providing some supplementary heat output as well during long 16 hr winter nights. During summertime it doesn't really get dark (sunset around 11pm and rises around 5am) and a solar PV battery system/LED lighting will easily cope with any outages.

Like Eric above, I have so many flashlights I am not sure which I would use first- and as much as I want to buy American, there has never been a better selection of LED flashlights for sale, batteries included, down at the HD.
I keep handing them off to my adult kids saying ".. here, put this in your car, put this on your electrical panel, etc."
I also have tea light candles, Y2K vintage 500 hour candles, D battery flashlights and a battery supply shelf to swap out at least 3 replenishments... before I even go out to my garage and break into the Coleman lanterns.
And now that I see the "old School" lantern from Leamans above, I have flagged that for my next "gift to self" event.

Why is there any >24hr requirement?

For years I used a cheap incandescent, battery munching, flashlight with 'heavy duty', low capacity chloride, cells and made it work. Even for a week out camping I seldom used more than one set of batteries. Most things can be done in the dark. When the sun goes down you park it and sleep. Total artificial light use each day was a few minutes. Mostly digging in backpacks and finding stuff I dropped. Most tasks can be done by moon/starlight and by feel.

This isn't without precedent. Historic anthropologists estimate that most farmers in the late 1700s were getting ten or more hours of sleep each night. More in winter; less in summer. This was motivated by the cost of lighting. Candles and oil were expensive. Tallow and rush lighting, the low cost alternatives, gave very poor light, smoked, smelled and were otherwise problematic.

Exactly what is the light needed for? How much light, duration and intensity, is really needed?

Back in the late 60s flashlights ate batteries, didn't produce much light by today's standards, and the lights were bulky and relatively expensive. Many a Boyscout troop had one flashlight for every second or third kid and but one set of batteries per light. You didn't use it when it wasn't needed, and you didn't leave it on for long.

About the only areas that might need extended lighting through the night would be something along the lines of a command center or casualty collection site. But both of those are pretty much beyond the scope of what an individual, or even a small group, needs to worry about.

Given this sort of need oil/kerosene lamps and slow-burn candles are suitable for low-area/ambient lighting. The advantage of oil and candles are that they are simple, reliable, and the energy sources store quite well.

There are several small LED lights that use larger batteries, in one case a standard 9v stack, and they can work well. LEDs are quite easy to rig into a wide variety of batteries so they are fairly easy to rig for anyone handy with basic electricity.

For higher intensity lighting, such as task lighting for reading and medical procedures, propane and white gas mantle lanterns are quite good. These burn through a night on low but need refilling on high.

I have to agree in the respect that your sleep cycle will self regulate you mostly once you cut back on artificial lighting. It's pretty well documented as well if you see the sun rise/set it helps keep your circadian rhythm updated as well. More sleep = less need for light. Still, there are some times when you just want to read a book at 10pm :P

One of the things I enjoy about camping is catching up on my sleep. Do your activities while it's daylight, sleep at night.
I don't even have a fire when I'm camping alone.

For home I have a couple of Krill lights- AA powered chem-lite simulators which are quite economical on batteries.
And other lights and candles.

When my wife visits her parents they seem to have coincidental power outages from hours to days. She wears a flashlight around her neck for those times. Her brother and parents have dead batteries in their flashlights..... which they don't look for until it gets too dark to find them....

After a beat up D-cell flashlight, reliable and a tough kid-proof unit, but more suitable for backyard camping, I got a Duralight, a dead simple 2-AA incandescent flashlight that cost me all of $4. I still have it. I rigged it with a long cord so I could wear it round my neck. Very handy for those times when you need just a little light after you are already tucked into your sleeping bag.

IMHO having a light close to hand largely obviates the need for constant area lighting.

If planning for long term power outages, remember that others will also be affected and are unlikely to be prepared.
It would be advisable to keep stocks of very cheap basic flashlights, batteries and candles that may be given away, sold or bartered to the less well prepared.
Many on these forums have upgraded to the latest and most sophisticated LED lights, no harm in that, but I would urge never discarding any flashlight that works. Someone might be glad of it in any extended outage.

I keep at least 20 basic 2D flashlights for this purpose, batteries and replacement lamps.
As well as the now standard 700ma lamps, I also keep some 150ma lamps for 2 cell flashlights. These give 100 hours light from a pair of alkaline D cells, and up to 30 hours from cheap zinc carbon cells.

I also keep ample stocks of home made lights that are so cheap as to be effectively disposable. They cost less than chemical lightsticks, and give more light for longer, and can be turned off, and no risk of fire as from a candle.

For EDC aspects of this issue, I have my Fenix EO-1 and DR Photon on my keychain as "last best friend" back-ups. In my "walking around" EDC kits for briefcase or day bag, I have a Princeton-Tec Scout headlamp with extra batteries, an incredibly small, lightweight and practical multi-night unit. I also have recently added a Zebralight, 1 AA, SC-51E flashlight with opional headband. Expensive, but very long lived for a light with such a high maximum brightness. There's also another Phton in the bag(s).

2 - portable generators (5,000w, 7,500w)
lots of extension cords
6 gallons of gas
two case hardened chains and Masterlocks (to keep the generators from walking away)
Springfield XD .45 (in case the chains suddenly break and they grow legs)

Learned my lesson from Katrina, Rita, and Gustav.

You need more gas . . . and a shotgun . . .

as a comment to "need more gas...", I was recently given an old Honda generator, and after rebuilding the carb, needed to replace the fuel tank...instead of a tank, decided on a siphon/gravity feed from a 6gal fuel can... only trick was that the fuel line inlet was approx 1/4inch and could not find a double barbed connector/reducer for larger hose that would reduce to 1/4inch...had to make one...found a 1/4 barb x 1/4 pipe male, and 5/16 barb x 1/4 pipe female in brass at the local Ace hardware, and with a little teflon tape made an adapter....added a squeeze bulb to prime (be careful not to blow out the float needle/seat with too much pressure) attached to 7 feet of fuel line, and now have a multi task siphon/fuel line if needed (if I were to do it again would choose 3/8 fuel line as it would be quicker in a siphon mode as there were bulbs available in both 5/16 and 3/8)... just thought I would pass this idea along

I think you greatly underestimate how long those units will burn.

The candles that size are typically good for 12 hours each. Figure one a night and expect to have some to spare. Three should easily get you through two nights with likelihood you leave one untouched.

The white gas mantle lanterns with a quart of fuel will burn about 12 hours on low and eight at moderately high. I really think a gallon of fuel will easily keep a single lantern going for two mights.

Hurricane lanterns with 1/2" wicks will, in my experience, run for most of a night on roughly one eight ounce filling if you keep it a bit low. For 3/4" wicks figure a pint per night. Same is true for the typical table-top hurricane lamps running kerosene or lamp oil. A half gallon per lamp will leave you a large reserve.

For a small generator I figure a gallon an hour to get you in the ballpark. A lot depends on the sophistication of the unit.

I don't like flammable liquid or even open flame lighting solutions where there may be unsupervised children or animals. I discovered the Pak-Lite a couple of years ago and have not looked back. Small, super lightweight and good basic (non-task oriented lighting). Best of all is the battery life. 80 hours on high, 1,200 hours on low and 10 year shelf life using a lithium battery. Now the down-side is that lithium 9 volt batteries are not cheap and somewhat hard to find. But a regular alkaline 9 volt will work just fine with reduced battery life, but still darned good at 20 hours on high. As others have suggested, use a good headlamp from Petzl, Fenix, or Princeton for your task oriented lighting.

I was was thinking that the quantities listed were easily enough for a year or more worth of hurricanes, winter storms, what-have-you. In those amounts two nights without power would be a good thing. A short run for testing and turnover.

On the other hand I'm always worried that people just casually looking at laying a little something in for a rainy day will see a huge list and get scared off. That seeing the mountain will keep them from climbing the hills. That they will see preparedness as an all-or-nothing exercise where you either spend lots of time and money or you do nothing at all.

Having more is often better, as long as you don't have to move it or neglect other issues, but a lot of good can come from people making sure that they have a flashlight, spare batteries, and a few candles. That $2 LED light I reviewed would be suitable. Mine are still kicking. A minimalist kit could get people on a shoestring budget through a couple of days without power if they are miserly and careful.

NightHiker, I think your lighting arrangements are exemplary for a single home, and entirely suitable for a group shelter. Well done.

I don't have one yet, but how about the Indigo LED Lantern?
http://www.freeplayenergy.com/product/indigo

Hmmm... you made me curious




It uses old fashion (not low self discharge) nimh battery pack. Not really well suited for long term storage. And it does take some soldering skills to replace the internal battery with something else and more capable. If they had used low self discharge nimh the thing would have been much more interesting. Or why not an open 3*AA battery compartment instead of a dedicated internal 3*AA battery pack?


However, the thing is a really simple design that should keep on working as long as you're willing to give it some cranking now and then.

An interesting, low cost and safe alternative to candles are the many "flame-less candles". Otherwise known as electric, fake, candles. These are usually a simple battery pack and one or more LEDs. These usually don't provide task lighting and really aren't suitable for use as a flashlight but for low ambient lighting, enough light to comfort the kids and avoid bumping into the furniture, they are good.

I've seen them selling for around $7 but on sale for around $2.

For a cost effective light source with good performance the Coleman 8D LED lantern is keenly priced @ around $30.

http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colemancom/detail.asp?product_id=4345-701&categoryid=1045

Cree XLamp® XR-E LED 175 lumens on high (enough to light a medium sized room in an emergency)
Run time: 66 hours on low, 32 hours on high (good run times) i.e. about 5-10 days at 6 hours per day

4 packs of twin LR20s D cells typically costs around $7-8.

http://www.thomasdistributing.com/GE-Sanyo-D-Alkaline-Battery_p_1767.html

So for around $40 outlay good performance portable LED lighting for 5-10 days use is available.

Rechargeable LSD NiMh LR20 D cells are now available with capacities of 10,000mAhrs (around 12 Whrs), just slightly less capacities than fresh Alkaline D cells, though they are much more expensive initially to purchase.

http://www.thomasdistributing.com/Accupo...ies_p_1034.html

These would be excellent for a much longer term power outage especially if used with a 12V capable battery charger such as the Ansmann Powerline 5 LCD Intelligent Battery Charger for a Solar Power setup with a 30W Solar Panel kit setup.

http://www.tantronics.co.uk/acatalog/Info_chg-ans-pl5-lcd.html

http://www.thousandsuns.com/30_watt_solar_panel/p432875_1536885.aspx

I own two. They are pretty rugged for being made out of plastic. The crank works well and doesn't feel like it will break anytime soon. I really like mine and would consider buying additional units.

I have an LED torch that will run for 50 hours on a single AA. And I have lots of AAs. I can recharge from the car, and potentially solar power if it's summer. I see light as pretty much a solved problem.

I also have some candles and tealights, but they date back 10 years or so, to before LEDs got so good. Tealights I've found are especially poor, putting out about 1/3rd the light of a proper candle. Candles aren't especially good either, being rather bulky. (They can also melt in hot weather, but that's not an issue in the UK.)

Candles are also a fire risk. If you use them, make sure you have a good candle-holder. Regardless, during a black-out don't be surprised if your neighbours have fires.

I guess the main advantage of candles is they are immune to EMP, if you see that as a serious threat. And they do have a long shelf-life.

I totally forgot about Olive Oil lamps. A glass jar, some wire, cotton string, and olive oil. Burns a long time, emits 360deg. of light due to the clear glass jar, and will extinguish itself when tipped over. And speaking of lanterns, has anyone tried out the SnowPeak Hozuki lantern? Pricey, but looks neat. First LED lantern I've seen with a warm emitter.

I've been replacing my single-mantle gas lanterns in my camping/bug-out kits with these Apollo LED lanterns from Black Diamond. I now have two of them and intend to pick-up more as I find them on sale locally (usually around $35). They are pretty rugged, put out a decent amount of light with good distribution, run for over 50 hours with LSD NiMH rechargeable batteries, and are lighter and more compact than the gas lanterns.

I still keep the gas lanterns in my storage room with some 16oz. propane canisters. These are actually my go-to lighting during a power failure, as they put out much more light than LED. I have an adapter to refill the 16-oz canisters from a bulk LP tank, and usually have two full 20-lb tanks at home.

Being a flashlight junky, I have a large assortment of Maglites (all converted to LED), Fenix, Maratac and other brand flashlights, with a supply of LSD NiMH batteries.

Finally, I have two generators: a 6,000 watt unit and a 2,000 watt portable unit, with a 55 gallon drum of gasoline. Yes, I am that neighbor who's house is all lit-up with the TV going during a blackout. (Of course I'd maintain a lower profile during an extended disaster to avoid attracting attention.)

i live off the grid in the wilderness so i EDC 2-3 small flashlights, all using a single AAA battery.

my theory about any seriously important survival gear is that it has to be on me 100% of the time, so being very tiny is important, and even more so because i carry multiple units.

runtimes are also important to me so i've been keeping track of any runtime tests conducted over at CPF that involve 1xAAA 'lights.

===

here are the current winners:

Liteflux LF2XT - 42 hours of useful light on alkaline

ReVO - 43 hours of useful light and finally going dead at 55 hours on alkaline (82 hours with a lithium)

Fenix E01 - 55 hours until dead on alkaline

Mako - 63 hours on alkaline of useful light (79 hours with lithium)

===

currently the $60 LF2XT is not in production but used ones show up in the BST boards. because its a clickie its a bit larger and kinda complicated compared to the other three.

the $50 revo has three brightness levels and is a particularly useful having such a bright beam when needed, but its not as tough as the Mako or E01 as a survival unit.

the best-buy of the four is the $10 E01 which is inexpensive and super tough and can be easily be purchased on amazon.

the $125 Mako was a very limited run of around 100 units that sold out instantly. this handmade light is a masterpiece in design.

i've owned all of these and prefer Mako due to titanium construction, gold (non-corrosive) battery contacts, and because its super dependable and tough. i buy any used ones i find so i always have a few extras laying around, just in case...

===

final thought: a 40-plus hour, non-flammable light that you easily carry 24/7 on your keychain, in case of blackouts etc, is way more useful than bigger/brighter/fanicer items left at home. and even better is that additional AAA batteries can be scrounged almost anywhere on the planet, ie: out of remote control units, radios, kid's toys, etc

Found a nice keyring sized solar 3 led light on ebay -- For about $1 us.
Very nice solution to longer term light

I agree that the Bullfinch gas handilights suggested in the above post are excellent.
I have two of them and would recommend them, especially to UK members of these forums.

Unfortunately production has now ceased, but only recently and some distributors should still have stocks. I would therefore urge that anyone wanting one of these lights should purchase now. Used or NOS handilights turn up regularly on UK fleabay.

(and yes I know that this is a very old thread, but discussions about long term emergency lighting in general, and these gas lights in particular are still relevant)

picked up a 30 day ( electric) lantern for testing.

It's possible to lose power here during T-storms. To date the longest the power has been out was about six hours. We have had some bad ice storms that disrupted the power for longer terms but luckily not at my house. My approach to light is to have a lot of lights combined with a ton of spare batteries. But I also keep a crapload of beeswax tealight candles as well as a couple cases of liquid paraffin lamp cells (the 8 hour size). I've got a couple of UCCO Mini and Micro candle lanterns that will use the paraffin cells so I'm good on light.

As the torches go I have a fair number of hi lumen "tactical" type lights, a few hi power headlamps and them some lower lumen lights with better runtimes. All of my lights are LED. I have a Pelican Nemo that's only about 65 lumens but it runs for 50 hours of so off of 3 C-cells.

my AA family portrait... all running on Sanyo/Panasonic Eneloop AAs... the Coleman 3AA high tech lantern is my immediate response area light, but for very long duration, fire up one a kerosene lantern... most likely a smaller Feuerhand as the light transmission is less yellow than from the Deitzs... I EDC a AAA Fenix E05 also running on Eneloops... the 123's are on firearm and high intensity hand helds

Ditto the kerosene lamp advice. An additional benefit - you can refill it with cheap oil if you run out of kerosene supply.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JBq5rEk3ww , also you can cook with it to some extent, and heat your shelter.

I have used coleman lanterns (the white gas ones), i have used propane/butane lanterns, old fashion oil lanterns. But i have came to the conclusion, that a proper LED lantern is smaller, lighter, safer, has no maintaince, no replacing any wicks/mantels and a lot cheaper to run (i use rechargables).

True in many cases, but I would not want to be without oil or LPG lighting as well as battery light sources.

Oil or LPG lamps put out a lot of heat which is a decided advantage in winter especially if other heating be unavailable.
30 kilos of oil or bottled gas contains a lot more energy than 30 kilos of batteries, keeps longer and is cheaper.

Battery lights are safer for portable use esp in the presence of kids or pets, but in a long power outage a gas light connected to a large LPG bottle gives a lot of light and some warmth for a week if lit 24/7 and several weeks if used only in the evenings.

i'll second what adam said about heat.i take a small Gaz lamp on canoe trips now and i no longer have to plow thru wet brush for firewood on cool wet evenings in camp.
in the tent or Baker shelter, sitting in a folding chair with the lamp as low as it will run, i'm warm and cozy without the hassles of a fire under a tarp.

Interesting! I never thought of a gas lamp as a heat source when camping. (Mostly I curse the guy in a car camping site who is wrecking my evening with an obnoxious bloody supernova.)

It's true, a little heat does wonders in driving off the damp and chill. I once used my kerosene lamps in my old greenhouse to stave off a surprise frost, and it worked.

Here in the UK we have recently had a spell of unusually cold weather. Very tame no doubt compared to conditions elsewhere, but still significantly colder than the norm for this area.

I was glad to have a "bullfinch gas handilight" and used it extensively for both light and enough warmth to stop the plumbing freezing.

It ran for about a week continually on a 19 kilogram propane cylinder.

I was an active caver during the "carbide lamp era." roughly the twentieth century up until about 1985 or so. The mechanism was a dependable source of light for long periods, as well as heat, a good thing in the typically chilly cave environment. With a loose fitting garment, one could sit on the ground, place the lamp between your legs, pull the garment over your knees, and voila! instant warmth. Also good for lighting a trail after dark, while keeping your hands warm, and a great fire starter....

I suppose that's the origins of the "Palmer Furnace", wasn't it?

I believe you are correct. I used this rig once and it was very effective.....

Cheap, over 24 hours?

Dollar Store.

https://www.dollartree.com/Luminessence-Flameless-LED-Emergency-Candles-2-ct-Packs/p357708/index.pro

LED candle- the shorter 2 battery ones do no have that fake flicker. 50 hours on 2 AA, the pack includes 2 lights.

I have a 2 pack in each of the kids camping bags as tent lights.

Cleaning out my shed just now, I ran across a pack of emergency candles, big fat suckers that together offer 100 hours of burn time - for light, heat, etc. - complete with the statement 'These candles could save your life!"

OTOH, I suppose there is the possibility, faint tho it be, that they might not save your life....

You would think they would offer a lifetime guarantee if they are any good at all.

How old are they and do they still burn?

kind of an old reply... back in my Scout days (mid 50s) we used paraffin for both candles and heating water/soup... for tent lighting, a Gerber glass baby food jar was 1/3 filled with paraffin and a wick to make a mini hurricane lantern... for heat, a shoe shine tin was filled with paraffin and either a cotton cord ring or three wicks to be used with a GI canteen cup stand... a 1/4# block of paraffin was standard supply to carry... the three wick unit could be used as light also... later the paraffin was replaced with bees wax

for power outage lighting, I now use LED area lanterns and task lights, but still have a couple of large font Dietz and the smaller Feuerhand kero lanterns and a gallon of K1 kero, just in case... an older KMart Dietz is fueled with citronella based tiki torch oil for mosquito duty

About twenty years old, and they burn quite well, as long as I can find some worthwhile matches. cleaning out this shed is definitely personal archaeology - 'many wondrous things"

LOL

I have battery and solar powered gear. ( and a wind up radio)

There are more and more solar lanterns on the market - check the camping dept. next time you're out.

If switched to it's lowest mode, my Nitecore P12 light will go for about 21 DAYS continuously. This low mode is only one lumin though. But you'd be surprised how useful one lumin is if your eyes are dark adapted. But if they aren't, you might not even realize the light is on.

This light has a very wide range of brightness. Modes for this light are:

1 lumin for 520 hours
70 lumins for 28 hours
240 lumins for 6 hours
1000 lumins for 1.25 hours

I have two 18650 batteries for this P12 light, so that would be good for 42 days continuous on low setting. Plus I must have a dozen other AA and AAA lights with a bunch of Eneloops to power them (a couple dozen at least), so disaster illumination is not a major worry of mine, unless the disaster is permanent. Plus, there's always the Costco alkaline battery packs we keep on hand too - we keep AA, AAA, C and D - and as you probably know, you gotta buy large bulk packs at Costco. What are those Costco AA battery packs, something like 60 or 80 AA batteries? A bunch.

I have had the Costco house brand batteries leak causing the destruction of several pieces of equipment, including a very nice weather station.

I won't use them anymore.

I gave up alkalines some years ago. Rechargeables are more dependable, as well as cheaper, even with a top of the line battery charger. Just do the math....