Power Outage LED Bulbs

[Old Machinist]

These are neat to have in a power outage. They have a built in battery and will stay on a couple hours if the power goes off. We have a lamp that stays on in our master bath and one in the dining room that remains on so if the power goes off those lights remain on. I also put one in each of the bedroom lamps so you can turn them on if the power goes off. They come in 5 watt or 9 watt so equivalent to the old 40w or 60w bulbs in light output. I just use the dimmer version.

Robot or human?

www.walmart.com

 

[Trimley]

We experience numerous power outages every Winter. I typically have light sources charged and ready in every structure. The generator is also on stand-by status.

 

[Henro]

These are neat to have in a power outage. They have a built in battery and will stay on a couple hours if the power goes off. We have a lamp that stays on in our master bath and one in the dining room that remains on so if the power goes off those lights remain on. I also put one in each of the bedroom lamps so you can turn them on if the power goes off. They come in 5 watt or 9 watt so equivalent to the old 40w or 60w bulbs in light output. I just use the dimmer version.

Robot or human?

www.walmart.com

Seems like that would only work for a light that you had already turned on when the power went out. And if you turned it off without a power outage, the power would go out to it, so it would stay on for a couple hours until the battery ran down. What am I missing?

Is there a separate switch on them that allows you to turn them on manually? Curious how you would turn on the lamp in the bedroom if the power was already off, and then you turn the lamp switch on. It effect it would be no different than if you didn’t turn the lamp switch on because no power is there anyway.

Again, what am I missing?

 

[Old Machinist]

I assume these charge while the lamp is turned on and retains the charge so if you need light when the power goes off they are there until the internal battery goes dead. They do not light if the switch is turned off.

If you have them in a lamp that remains on they remain lit until the battery goes dead when the power goes off. It is handy to have light in the house during an outage long enough for you to get up, start the generator, or whatever prep you need to do while the power is off.

Assuming you have one in a lamp that is used long enough to charge them as we do by our beds all we have to do in an outage is reach over and turn the lamp on.

 

[TheOldHokie]

I assume these charge while the lamp is turned on and retains the charge so if you need light when the power goes off they are there until the internal battery goes dead. They do not light if the switch is turned off.

If you have them in a lamp that remains on they remain lit until the battery goes dead when the power goes off. It is handy to have light in the house during an outage long enough for you to get up, start the generator, or whatever prep you need to do while the power is off.

Assuming you have one in a lamp that is used long enough to charge them as we do by our beds all we have to do in an outage is reach over and turn the lamp on.

Light bulb with internal battery backup. Nice idea.

Dan

 

[Henro]

I did a little investigating and it turns out there are a couple ways the bulb can determine if the light switch is open or closed.

One is it can sense the capacitance between the incoming wires to the bulb. If the switch is open, there’s very little wiring between which the capacitance would exist. If the switch is closed, the bulb is still tied to the whole house wiring, and back through the main breaker to the wires coming in and wherever they may go. So the capacitance will be much higher than it is if the switch is open.

The second thing is that even though power is out, there may be a small amount of residual voltage in the lines for various reasons. If the bulb can sense a small voltage at its input terminals, it will use this as an indication that the power switch in the lamp is closed.

If you turn the power switch off on the lamp, any voltage beyond the switch back in the direction of the mains will be eliminated, and the bulb will not sense it. It will also not sense much in the way of capacitance, so it knows not to stay on using its battery back up Power if the switch is open. But it will stay on if the power goes out while the switch remains closed.

Carrying this logic one step further, it should be possible to turn the switch off and conserve battery power for the lamp during a power outage. And if you close the switch while the lamp is still plugged in, and there is a power outage, the lamp should come back on and use whatever battery power it has to light the lamp.

 

[OntheRidge]

I just wait 45 seconds for the Generac to kick in.

 

[TheOldHokie]

I did a little investigating and it turns out there are a couple ways the bulb can determine if the light switch is open or closed.

One is it can sense the capacitance between the incoming wires to the bulb. If the switch is open, there’s very little wiring between which the capacitance would exist. If the switch is closed, the bulb is still tied to the whole house wiring, and back through the main breaker to the wires coming in and wherever they may go. So the capacitance will be much higher than it is if the switch is open.

The second thing is that even though power is out, there may be a small amount of residual voltage in the lines for various reasons. If the bulb can sense a small voltage at its input terminals, it will use this as an indication that the power switch in the lamp is closed.

If you turn the power switch off on the lamp, any voltage beyond the switch back in the direction of the mains will be eliminated, and the bulb will not sense it. It will also not sense much in the way of capacitance, so it knows not to stay on using its battery back up Power if the switch is open. But it will stay on if the power goes out while the switch remains closed.

Carrying this logic one step further, it should be possible to turn the switch off and conserve battery power for the lamp during a power outage. And if you close the switch while the lamp is still plugged in, and there is a power outage, the lamp should come back on and use whatever battery power it has to light the lamp.

Thank you for the education

Dan

 

[Henro]

Thank you for the education

Dan

Just found it interesting. Thought others that were interested might be save some time. Not trying to educate anybody… Although I must say that your help that you give to everybody here sure does help educate us all! And that is greatly appreciated…

 

[TheOldHokie]

Just found it interesting. Thought others that were interested might be save some time. Not trying to educate anybody… Although I must say that your help that you give to everybody here sure does help educate us all! And that is greatly appreciated…

Well thank you. I think the amount of electronic logic and functionality we can now cram into something so small and ordinary fascinating. Know some of the implementation details even more so.

Dan