A carbide lamp, apparently…
I have my 50,000,000,000,000 lumen LED headlamp for camping and winter morning dawg walks when it’s pitch black out. That thing will roast your retinas and there are even more powerful headlamps available nowadays. It’s getting silly, actually: how much illumination do you actually need…?
But of course these rely on batteries. I idly became fascinated with carbide lamps - apparently they were used by miners, bicyclists, automobiles etc back in the day and were quite common. I thought it might be entertaining to include some in the preps but no one seems to make them anymore. So far all I can find are expensive nostalgic antiques.
Any of you ever use them? Are they worth considering?
you can still buy them - different places including Amazon - they are interesting and produce a strong light with an open flame - you also can still buy Carbide Cannons - the Carbide lamp can be used to smoke your sights.
ReplyDeleteI had one as a kid, some grandparent or uncle gave it to me with a handful of the carbide charcoal stuff to put in it. It made a very weak and wavering light and produced a very oily smoke. You could hold your hand over it and then put on blackface in no time. Hard to wash off, though. No idea what happened to it. Took it to show and tell at school several times. I'd hate to rely on it for light, but I guess if you were underground in complete darkness it'd be ok. Imagine your worst chinesium dollar store flashlight with almost dead batteries and that's about what it did. Now I'm wondering where it went? Maybe at my mom's place, in the attic or something. I'll have to look next time I'm there.
ReplyDeletefor camping I'd prefer a propane lantern myself, I got myself several Coleman lanterns somewhere in the garage.
Candles, lots of candles, will be your best friend during the dark times that are coming. They provide the perfect tactical light without compromising your night viz, and cost fuck all right now. I have at least 5 high end dual rechargeable flashlights and headlamps with red filters for when the need arises...I also have several kerosine lamps and the fuel as well.
ReplyDeleteChutes Magoo
I bought a brand new carbide lamp about 40 years ago, along with a can of calcium carbide fuel but have never used it. Theoretically, if electricity was gone for good, this would be a possible high output light source. No batteries to leave you high and dry. This and /or kerosene 'hurricane' lanterns are possible short term solutions.
ReplyDeleteFor preps, I got a bunch of solar lawn lights. Stick them in the ground during the day to charge the battery, then take them inside at night for light. Get the kind that use a AA battery and you have a solar battery charger for all your AA powered gadgets.
ReplyDeleteFor camping we use kerosene lamps filled with Citronella oil. Nice soft light and it keeps away the mosquitos.
That solar lawn light charger is an interesting option - as a back-up for charging AA's. Hadn't thought of that. Don't know how well they'd charge though, but if there was no other option . . . better than nothing.
DeleteAnother battery free permanent light source are the UV Paqlite panels of glow in dark crystals wrapped in heavy duty plastic sleeves. Charged with any light source (electric or sun), these panels - envelopes cast a faint glow that light up immediate area. Not for illuminating far off, but a source that lasts several hours for a lifetime. I keep one in the bedroom hung on the ceiling fan, keeping the area lit for hours at a time. Nearly weightless and pack easily into small spaces. Worth it.
DeleteThey can work well but....
ReplyDeleteThey burn acetylene gas, which is potentially dangerous as it can easliy *detonate*, but they produce it on demand in tiny quantities by reacting water with calcium carbide.
So, they consume oxygen, which could be an issue in some situations, and they consume calcium carbide... which might be harder to get than batteries. It does not store well. Unless you can keep it hermetically sealed, it will quickly react to water in the air.
They work by dripping water through an adjustable valve by gravity feed, so you have to keep them upright most of the time.
I haven't looked into how hard it would be to manufacture calcium carbide in your garage, but I'm guessing it's not trivial.
For true sustainability:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.tjtywh.com/a-step-by-step-guide-to-making-calcium-carbide-at-home.html
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Calcium-Carbide-Miners-Lamp-White/17108907666?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=102777894&adid=2222222229217108907666_10002797375_0000000000_569516217&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=e&wl1=o&wl2=c&wl3=72843111714422&wl4=pla-2324642460507122&wl5=102064&wl6=&wl7=&wl10=Walmart&wl11=Online&wl12=17108907666_10002797375&wl14=carbide%20lamp%20for%20sale&veh=sem&gclid=9ccb5ecc8e12105a177436266e846d70&gclsrc=3p.ds&msclkid=9ccb5ecc8e12105a177436266e846d70
ReplyDeleteCarbide lamps require carbide (calcium carbide, which used to be a waste product , which unusually comes in sealed containers. Keep the containers sealed as the carbide reacts with water, even humidity, to create acetylene gas, which is what makes the bright white flame. Carbide lamps have the advantage of durability over nearly all other forms of light, but do use up oxygen and do create heat and CO and CO2.
Cans of carbide are also still available for about $30 that will make a flame for about a week.
Carbide is about as good, space wise per lumen as propane in a propane lantern, but less convenient. You can't just turn it off.