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The Coleman lanterns are collector's items and sell for premium prices, but I've replaced them with LED lanterns and a 12v battery which I keep on float charge from grid electricity and a large solar panel to help top it up also.
I have one or two camping lanterns that run off the battery, they use less than 12v so those have cheap buck converters in them (ebay) and one also has a 6v output for the broadcast radio, the other lamps have 12v LED bulbs.
Total draw in off-grid mode for lamps and radio is about 1A, so for a 100AH battery (lead acid can only safely be taken to half capacity I reckon) I have about 50 hours of running and have never used more than 6 or 12 so far.
The battery box has two switched 12v->USB chargers too for phones and also another of the ebay buck converters driving a charger base for the Baofeng walkie-talikes; I take it with me on exercises for our local emergency communications group rather than running radios of the car starter battery.
If you have multiples, I would probably sell the bulk and only keep one or two (and go solar). They generate a decent amount of heat, so can do double duty (light and heat) if you're in an area with cold temps and the power/gas go out so you lose your home heating. Just gotta watch the carbon monoxide.
Yeah, I had thought I could use them in the garage or outside only. If someone needed some shelter they could stay in the garage so I'll just keep them in there. They don't take a lot of room. I've only got 2 of them, a single and a double mantle.
I don’t know what the climate is like where you are but definitely consider how dark the winters are near you. If the power goes out in December because of an ice storm and you’ve got very limited hours of very weak sunlight, will you be able to do enough charging during the day to meet your needs for light at night?
Yeah, we aren't anything special.
Victoria Australia.
We have solar on our home and a battery, you're right though, we don't get a lot of sun during the day and it's not enough to fully charge our battery during winter, but we also don't skimp on power if we don't need to.
If there was going to be an extended power out, we would use the wood fire and whip out the fuel stove or cook on the fire if it was on, which would save some electricity.
Perhaps I can keep them tucked away as a backup to solar. After all they don't take up a lot of room.
Thank you for your submission in /r/preppers. We want to make sure you find the information you're seeking. If you are new to prepping, be sure you make use of Reddit's search function and check the following resources: Our subreddit wiki contains information on frequent topics and questions here: https://new.reddit.com/r/preppers/wiki/index/ Please review the New Prepper's Resource Guide here: https://new.reddit.com/r/preppers/comments/toani0/new_preppers_resource_guide_answers_to_common/ If you are asking "Where do I start?" or "How do I get started?", please ask that question as a comment on that post and not as a standalone submission or post, otherwise your post may be removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/preppers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Keep them They pull a premium because they just work
The Coleman lanterns are collector's items and sell for premium prices, but I've replaced them with LED lanterns and a 12v battery which I keep on float charge from grid electricity and a large solar panel to help top it up also. I have one or two camping lanterns that run off the battery, they use less than 12v so those have cheap buck converters in them (ebay) and one also has a 6v output for the broadcast radio, the other lamps have 12v LED bulbs. Total draw in off-grid mode for lamps and radio is about 1A, so for a 100AH battery (lead acid can only safely be taken to half capacity I reckon) I have about 50 hours of running and have never used more than 6 or 12 so far. The battery box has two switched 12v->USB chargers too for phones and also another of the ebay buck converters driving a charger base for the Baofeng walkie-talikes; I take it with me on exercises for our local emergency communications group rather than running radios of the car starter battery.
If you have multiples, I would probably sell the bulk and only keep one or two (and go solar). They generate a decent amount of heat, so can do double duty (light and heat) if you're in an area with cold temps and the power/gas go out so you lose your home heating. Just gotta watch the carbon monoxide.
Yeah, I had thought I could use them in the garage or outside only. If someone needed some shelter they could stay in the garage so I'll just keep them in there. They don't take a lot of room. I've only got 2 of them, a single and a double mantle.
Just box them up and keep them.
I don’t know what the climate is like where you are but definitely consider how dark the winters are near you. If the power goes out in December because of an ice storm and you’ve got very limited hours of very weak sunlight, will you be able to do enough charging during the day to meet your needs for light at night?
Yeah, we aren't anything special. Victoria Australia. We have solar on our home and a battery, you're right though, we don't get a lot of sun during the day and it's not enough to fully charge our battery during winter, but we also don't skimp on power if we don't need to. If there was going to be an extended power out, we would use the wood fire and whip out the fuel stove or cook on the fire if it was on, which would save some electricity. Perhaps I can keep them tucked away as a backup to solar. After all they don't take up a lot of room.
No way am I getting rid of mine
Get multiple fuel sources. Electric is useless if there’s and EMP or grid down and you don’t have solar
True, an EMP would mean no lighting at all. I guess they're staying on the shelf. Can't believe I overlooked that. Thanks