Solar lights are arguably the most important part of an emergency kit for grid failure. When the power is gone and batteries can't be found, a solar light will be there for you to light up the darkness.
There are many solar lights on the market that provide different levels of luminosity at different price points. Scroll down to see which solar light is right for you.
Solar Light Products
The Sun King Pico
-
5x brighter than kerosene
- Integrated solar design
- 72 hours of light on low mode
The Sun King Pro
-
100 lumen multi-room lighting
- USB device & DC power
- 3 individual wall-mountable switches
Using Solar Lights To Survive a Blackout
You never know when your utility company will cut the power. Suddenly your house goes dark, your fridge shuts off, and you wonder if services will come back on before your food spoils.
Such an incident happened on October 8, 2019, when the Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced hundreds of thousands would lose electricity for due to an impending natural disaster. Power isn't scheduled to resume until the severe weather event is over.
Here's more from the San Francisco Business Times:
Convalescent facilities and retirement homes are key businesses that could be seriously impacted, said Kathe Nelson, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce in Moraga, which sits in the middle of PG&E’s shut-off zone. Nelson said any facility that administers oxygen for its patients could be impacted. She also noted that food spoilage would likely be an issue for small restaurants and eateries.
The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District is currently assessing and reaching out to the kinds of facilities that would be the most at risk, Public Information Officer Steve Hill said. “It’s not the hospitals and the bigger places — it’s the smaller care facilities that might not have backup power and might be able to weather a short outage but not one that lasts three to five days,” said Hill, adding that retirement communities in Rossmoor, where the elderly use medical devices that require power, would likely be negatively impacted.
When the power goes out, the first instinct is to light up some candles for easy illumination. (Many across California are doing that at the time of this writing in October 2019, when more than 2 million lost power ). It's a quick, easy way to light up the darkness, and provides a quaint, 19th-century vibe.
It's also one of the worst fire hazards and a major cause of death in a power outage.
"Candles are wonderful, but they tip over, and they can cause a fire,” says Jim Judge, EMT-P, CEM, member of the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory. They also don’t provide strong light."
Keeping an open flame in a house is a bad idea. It's a worse idea in the dark, when candle holders can be easily tipped over. Really, the only reason for using a candle in a power outage is a lack of preparedness; LED-powered lights are very inexpensive and last for hours. If there are no other alternatives than candles available, then place them in a lantern to prevent them from tipping over and igniting curtains or a blanket.
Moreover, candles are a fire hazard to more than just you and your household.
People could tip the candles and start a fire in their homes,” said Cynthia Shaw, a Red Cross spokeswoman. “With the winds, that fire could spread to multiple homes very quickly.”
Like we said, LED-powered flashlights are a cheap alternative to candles. They are bright, reliable, and don't ignite anything. The only disadvantage to them is remembering to replace them with fresh batteries. Plus, they likely won't last through a multi-day blackout before they die.
Solar lights are an even better way to ride out a power outage. They provide up to 72 hours of light on low mode.
To get started with a solar light, we recommend the Sun King Pico. It is compact, has a 360-degree tilt, and provides five times as much luminosity as kerosene.
Go Sun's Commitment to Solar Light
In order to provide the best solar lighting on the market, GoSun is proud to partner with Greenlight, a company that has done tremendous work designing and selling solar lights throughout the developed world.
Greenlight Planet’s Sun King™ Pro series is the industry’s new gold-standard phone-charging solar lantern. Its Pro 400 packs nearly double the battery storage and double the solar panel power, offering twice the phone charging capacity of its predecessor. It provides light for 5 hours, or for 100 hours at its lowest brightness setting, after a single day of charging.
And with the latest high-efficiency LEDs, this solar light shines 40X brighter than kerosene, at 400 lumens, drawing favorable comparisons with AC electric lamps. Despite its high performance and premium build quality, the Sun King™ Pro 400 comes at a remarkably affordable price. You can get things done, at home or at work, day and night, with this incredibly powerful lantern.