On Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:34:19 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

===Gas lighting===
Add that a small camping lantern will produce more light than a 60W
incandesent light bulb for several hours when flat out. If longer run time
or less light is required they can be turned down and give really long run
times, 10 hours or more depending on cartridge size. The quality of the
light is much better than electric as well.

To avoid disappointment, the required capacity of UPS should be
calculated before purchase, otherwise its likely to fail to deliver
the run time wanted. UPS capacity is rated in kWh (kilowatts x hours),
so for example a 0.2kWh UPS could run a 100w (0.1kW) load for 2 hours.

Not convinced that is correct. My APC Smart UPS 700 is rated at a nominal
700W, ie it will deliver 700W but the runtime at that power level is at
best 10 minutes.

Yes, I see that thar rating in the wiki is kWh but I've not seen that used
as the headline rating of a UPS.

UPSes are also rated by their max continuous power output. The load
appliance(s) should not exceed this rating. Note its the load's VA
that matters rather than watts. For some loads VA = watts, and for
some their VA rating is greater than watt rating.

Ah, I'd swap these to around as the VA is more often quoted along with a
runtime at various power levels rather than an overall kWh rating,
certainly for smaller UPS units. Large industrial ones may well have their
ratings quoted differently.

Finally UPSes are also rated by peak power output. Some appliances
draw well above running power for a brief period at startup. It would
be wrong to assume that if the UPS meets an appliance's run current it
would also meet the startup current requirement.

Add a warning that switching something on that takes a surge can trip the
UPS protection circuit when running on battery power. That same appliance
probably won't when the UPS is on mains power.

===Rechargeable torch===

Add "shaker" torches. These you shake for a 30s or so to provide light for
a few minutes. They work by having a magnet slide through a coil
generating electricity that is stored in a capacitor. The light source is
a white LED. The light is not winderful but enough to see by to find and
startup up other back up systems. With built in power generation and or
bulb to blow reliablity is high.

===Carbon iron battery===
The home made carbon iron battery

Interesting link to instructions?

--
Cheers
Dave.