Hello there,
I was over to Home Depot today for some other things and happened to notice this light. It's a power failure light that comes on when the normal 120vac power goes out. It has built in rechargeable batteries so the light runs off of the batteries when the power goes out. I picked it up for around $10 USD. I was going to build one because of the many power problems we have in this area but never got around to it, and this was reasonably priced.
Note this review is for a particular model:
71134 made by AmerTec
and so this review may not apply to other models even with the same number with different suffix letters. I've seen a few different models out there on the web but havent tried them. There are other models made by other manufacturers too but havent tried them. Some of them look pretty nice too with more features.
But this one was good enough for my purposes, so here's what i found out so far...
It has three LEDs on the front (which is really one side) which light up when the power goes out. These can be turned off, but that's not how i intended to use it because i needed a power failure light. I already have probably more than 20 flashlights of various commercial and personal design, so i didnt need another flashlight really, but needed a power fail light.
There are two more LEDs on the end that make it act like a regular flashlight if you turn on the switch. It's pretty nice really even in this mode, and throws enough light for most simple tasks.
On the other end there is a two prong plug which retracts into the body when not needed.
From some simple measurements i can see that this light is meant solely for blackouts, not for brownouts, because the front (which is the side) three LEDs do not come on until the AC line voltage reaches as low as 15 vac. That's pretty low, lower than most brownouts, so this light will not come on in a brownout, only when the power goes out totally. This doesnt bother me that much because my main purpose is for blackouts anyway, but it would be nice if it came on around 50vac or something like that so it would handle very low lines too.
When the three front (side) LEDs come on they are pretty bright so you could see quite easily when it comes to finding your nice flashlight. This has been a problem in the past for me because finding the first light can take a little time feeling around in the dark
What i havent discovered yet is what kind of rechargeable cells they are using. I know they are NiCd but not what size they are. I'll have to check that. If needed i'll just mod it a little, but i really only need it for it's ability to come on when the power goes out after which i can get a regular flashlight.
The two end LEDs are pretty bright too, and it works nice as a flashlight as well.
There's one more LED on the side and it's red. That stays lit to tell you the AC line power is present when it is plugged in.
So all said and done it's a nice light for 10 bucks, and since it detects the presence (or absence) of the AC power that makes it worthwhile.
I also havent tested the run time on the built in batteries because it's not fully charged yet. I'll have to do that next. The package states "6 hours" but i never rely on the manufacturers claims when it comes to this kind of thing.
I was over to Home Depot today for some other things and happened to notice this light. It's a power failure light that comes on when the normal 120vac power goes out. It has built in rechargeable batteries so the light runs off of the batteries when the power goes out. I picked it up for around $10 USD. I was going to build one because of the many power problems we have in this area but never got around to it, and this was reasonably priced.
Note this review is for a particular model:
71134 made by AmerTec
and so this review may not apply to other models even with the same number with different suffix letters. I've seen a few different models out there on the web but havent tried them. There are other models made by other manufacturers too but havent tried them. Some of them look pretty nice too with more features.
But this one was good enough for my purposes, so here's what i found out so far...
It has three LEDs on the front (which is really one side) which light up when the power goes out. These can be turned off, but that's not how i intended to use it because i needed a power failure light. I already have probably more than 20 flashlights of various commercial and personal design, so i didnt need another flashlight really, but needed a power fail light.
There are two more LEDs on the end that make it act like a regular flashlight if you turn on the switch. It's pretty nice really even in this mode, and throws enough light for most simple tasks.
On the other end there is a two prong plug which retracts into the body when not needed.
From some simple measurements i can see that this light is meant solely for blackouts, not for brownouts, because the front (which is the side) three LEDs do not come on until the AC line voltage reaches as low as 15 vac. That's pretty low, lower than most brownouts, so this light will not come on in a brownout, only when the power goes out totally. This doesnt bother me that much because my main purpose is for blackouts anyway, but it would be nice if it came on around 50vac or something like that so it would handle very low lines too.
When the three front (side) LEDs come on they are pretty bright so you could see quite easily when it comes to finding your nice flashlight. This has been a problem in the past for me because finding the first light can take a little time feeling around in the dark
What i havent discovered yet is what kind of rechargeable cells they are using. I know they are NiCd but not what size they are. I'll have to check that. If needed i'll just mod it a little, but i really only need it for it's ability to come on when the power goes out after which i can get a regular flashlight.
The two end LEDs are pretty bright too, and it works nice as a flashlight as well.
There's one more LED on the side and it's red. That stays lit to tell you the AC line power is present when it is plugged in.
So all said and done it's a nice light for 10 bucks, and since it detects the presence (or absence) of the AC power that makes it worthwhile.
I also havent tested the run time on the built in batteries because it's not fully charged yet. I'll have to do that next. The package states "6 hours" but i never rely on the manufacturers claims when it comes to this kind of thing.
