Domestic Civil Defence - No Power !

Annex A : Improvised Lighting Suggestions :

The following improvised lights are in order of useful light, cost and difficulty to prepare. Whilst an inspection light and a battery are good, oil lamps and candle pots can be cheap to make and fairly effective forms of light. Solar-powered garden lights are about as effective as jam-jar lights, but without the preparation and the smell of burning oil.

The Rolls-Royce solution at £ 26 or £ 32 apiece. Can be recharged from car batteries, 240 volt mobile phone-type rechargers and various 12-volt supplies. Very effective and worth investing in as a power-failure contingency. The Lead-Acid batteries in the lantern base do have a better charge life than NiCad batteries, but will eventually fail to hold charge after some years. Though excellent, these lanterns need 15 hours charge for every 4 hours of use. The writer has bought one for a caravan awning light and as an emergency light during frequent power failures. Tested on a caravan holiday and in a loft, it proved to be remarkably good and fire-safe.

These lights can be bought fairly cheaply in DIY shops and motor accessory shops such as Halfords; they normally come with a pair of crocodile clips to attach to the battery terminals. The writer has a 60 watt 12 volt one, bought many years ago.
Remember to follow safety instructions for their use !
The cost would be about £ 10 - £ 20. Car batteries unfortunately cost about £ 40 and cannot be left charged or discharged for long - caravan types can be £ 50 or more, but can cope with long periods of trickle charge and modest current drains for lighting. Either type can be trickle-charged from the mains or (with a little technical help) from a car's charging circuit. Really enthusiastic users may try to use solar panels or wind generators for a self-contained system. Unlike the fluorescent lantern, the inspection light is limited only by the battery capacity.

The Women's Royal Voluntary Service invented the first versions of this. Essentially it is a pottery flower-pot full of dry earth with four candles or nightlights. The light is reflected towards where it is needed by a used metal tin with its top and bottom removed, and the side cut open with tin-snips. The tin is opened up and stuck into the soil just inside the rim of the flowerpot. This simple and practical light is recommended for use with short 'long life' candles as well - these can provide up to 15 hours on a continuous burn. To construct the lamp, see Here.

A refined design uses a 454g (1 lb) tin with a section removed from the side and a nightlight inside on sand or earth. As an increasing number of flower-pots are plastic, this design can be an alternative. Place the tin on a pottery saucer or plate to guard against conducted heat from the tin damaging anything underneath.

These consist of a strong jamjar holding about two inches (5cm) of kitchen oil (olive or sunflower is best) and a wick held in a softwood float. The design was evolved by Cresson Kearny in his "Nuclear War Survival Skills" page on Expedient Oil Lamps.
The writer built two of these lamps for a Scout camp and found them excellent. The only point is that you should only fill the lamp when you need it; the oil goes off if you try to store the lamp ready-filled. For the cost of a small quantity of oil (olive is best, corn oil worst) one can have up to 15 hours of light. To construct the lamp, see Here.

1. Melt old candlewax (candle ends, gutterings or drippings) on a low heat.
2. Take about 3 inches (75 mm) of cotton string, secure the end in the case with a dress pin.
3. Holding the wick vertical, preferably with tongs or tweezers, fill the case with melted wax and let it set.
4. Trim the wick to about 2 inches long (50 mm), and your recycled nightlight is ready.

Note that American Scout-type hobo burners can be made of a cat-food or small tomato tin cleaned out, then filled with a spiral of cardboard. Impregnating the cardboard and the remaining space in the tin with hot wax or fat gives a burner that will last up to 90 minutes as large candle or cooking burner.