But it pays to have some standby lighting and torch lights around when blackouts occur. It is nice to be be able to carry on with life's daily activities during these scenarios. Most of the time, when a blackout occurs, it is due to some faulty equipment tripping the circuit breaker. This is an easy fix. Removing the culprit and resetting the circuit breaker would do the trick. However, if it was a bigger issue affecting the entire neighbourhood, the fault may only be rectified by the authorities, and you will be left with no choice but to wait while work is being done.
I would like to introduce you to the concept of having emergency lighting. When preparing torch lights and lanterns for this purpose, it is important to choose wisely as most batteries will fail even before the next blackout happens and torches will go missing or kept in places that are difficult to find in the dark. That would be terrible.
Keychain Light:
Firstly, it is important to have a small reliable torch with you or within easy reach. One of this example would be a keychain light. In other countries such as the USA, this type of lighting is often referred to as the Everyday Carry (EDC) light.
A good candidate for a keychain light should possess the following qualities:
- Small and light enough to keep on a keychain (either running on coin sized batteries or single AA/AAA)
- Some way of preventing accidentally turned on while in a bag or pocket (preferably uses a turning action to activate than a button)
- Can stay lighted without having to continuously press it (constant-on mode for hands-free operation)
- Uses batteries that have really long shelf life (lithium batteries are best as they have a shelf life of 10 years and more when left alone)
One good example is the Fenix E05SS. I've used it for many occasions for other purposes due to its high brightness of 85 lumens. Who cares even if it is specified to last only 45min on high setting. Most of the time, I only need it for a maximum of 5 mins.
Its performance exceeds what I require of such a light and it doubles up as a mini work light as I work on my car.
Given its small size, I am impressed that it has the ability to maintain the same brightness while the battery discharges. This extends its usable time on a single AAA battery. Personally, I rather the light remains constantly bright instead of leaving me with a long duration of low light as the battery is used up.
Another good option is the Nite Ize Inova Microlight. It meets all my requirements. You might point out that it uses a button and may get turned on accidentally. True enough, I had mine turn on in my bag and only noticed it when I took out my keychain later in the day. By then, the batteries are almost drained. I would recommend this only if you intend to hang in on your bag, or keep it somewhere visible so that it is easy to see if it was turned on.
The Inova Microlight is a small, flat LED light that has 3 modes - high, low and flashing (in that sequence). Practically, I use the high mode most of the time and I was really glad I carried this with me before I had my Fenix E05SS. Once, I had to walk through an unlit underpass in uber-urban Orchard road and needed some light to see the stairs. No one else used it other than my friend and I.
You'll never know when you need to be self-sufficient in this aspect. Lighting and electricity may be in abundance in the city state of Singapore, but you can never be too careful.
While the keychain light can be very useful, it is not the end all, be all light. The next lighting category I will discuss is the workhorse torch that is brighter, longer lasting and made for more light-intensive purposes.
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