Primitive Camping & Bushcraft

Fundamental Friday: Camp Lighting Systems

Episode Summary

This episode walks through the solar lanterns, crank lights, and backup power sources I actually use on the river and in the woods. You’ll hear the pros, the failures, and the honest field results so you can build a lighting setup that keeps your camp safe and workable at night.

Episode Notes

SHOW NOTES
• This Fundamental Friday expands on Monday’s podcast and breaks down each lantern demonstrated on-camera.
• Gear covered: Luci / BioLite solar lantern, LuminAID Titan, the unnamed crank lantern, and the Blavor power station lantern.
• I show how each device works, how bright it is, what it weighs, how long it runs, and where it belongs in a primitive camping setup.
• These are the exact lanterns I use at Camp Wut Da Heck for night work, safety, and comfort.
• If you want to support the channel, grab them through my links below.

YOU NEED TO ADD THESE LINKS TO THE SHOW NOTES
Amazon link for Luci / BioLite lantern
Amazon link for LuminAID Titan
Amazon link for LuminAID standard model
Amazon link for Blavor power station
Amazon affiliate storefront link

Episode Transcription

(upbeat music)

 

Welcome back to the Primitive Camping

 

and Bushcraft Podcast.

 

Today is Fundamental Fridays,

 

and we use this time to

 

go over fundamental skills

 

that you can use to make

 

your primitive camping trips

 

better, more fun, and more interesting.

 

So hang tight, pull up a

 

chair, and let's get to it.

 

All right, welcome back

 

to the Primitive Camping

 

and Bushcraft Podcast.

 

Today is Fundamental Friday,

 

and today is Friday, the

 

day after Thanksgiving.

 

And I just want you guys to know

 

that I have so much to be thankful for.

 

And let me know in the comments below,

 

what do you have to be thankful for?

 

What are you so thankful for in this

 

Thanksgiving season?

 

Now, as you know,

 

today starts Black Friday.

 

Black Friday and all the

 

shopping season for Christmas.

 

It's almost like they're

 

skipping over Thanksgiving.

 

They're trying to get rid

 

of Thanksgiving all together

 

and they just go straight

 

to the Christmas season.

 

And notice I didn't say holiday

 

because I believe it is Christmas.

 

We're gonna keep Christ and Christmas

 

here at Spirit Outdoors

 

and Primitive Camping and Bushcraft.

 

And I'm sorry if you don't like it.

 

I will see you sometime in the future.

 

But anyway, I wanna go

 

over a lot of stuff today.

 

And all the stuff that we

 

talked about in the podcast Monday,

 

I wanted to just go

 

ahead and break it all down

 

and show you exactly how it works here

 

on the Fundamental Fridays podcast

 

episode or the video.

 

So if you're not watching the video,

 

the Fundamental Friday videos,

 

head on over to the

 

Primitive Camping and Bushcraft

 

YouTube page and go ahead and

 

subscribe on the YouTube page

 

and leave the like

 

button, hit that like button.

 

As a bunch of people say it,

 

I don't know what we're gonna call it

 

here on Primitive Camping.

 

We're going to hit that camping button,

 

hit that like button, smash the like.

 

There's been all kinds of people

 

trying to do catchy

 

phrases and I'm not too catchy.

 

Just click the da-gum button.

 

That's all I got to say about that.

 

So anyway, we're gonna go first up.

 

We're gonna go basics.

 

We're gonna go down to the beginning

 

and I'm going to show you guys

 

what it means to have a solar lantern.

 

Now, I have done videos on this lantern.

 

I have taken this lantern

 

all over the country with me.

 

I have taken this lantern

 

to so many camping trips,

 

so many places that it is amazing.

 

This is the Luci M-Powered.

 

Now they have since changed

 

the name to Luci Bio-Light

 

and it is solar chargeable.

 

It has a little solar panel right here

 

that recharges this thing.

 

In about seven hours,

 

you can have a completely

 

solar charged battery from dead.

 

Then it has a little

 

lightning bolt right here

 

which tells you how many,

 

how much charge it

 

has is one, two, three.

 

So it's not charged, it's

 

half charged, it's fully charged.

 

And then it has your on

 

and off switch right here

 

which will be from not so

 

bright to bright to blinking.

 

And I have two

 

different variations of this

 

is the reason why I keep looking at it

 

because the blue one is it only has two

 

settings and a blink.

 

The other ones have three.

 

It has a low, medium,

 

high and then a blink.

 

So, and then it's off.

 

So here you go.

 

And what you wanna do is

 

you want to grab this little,

 

it's an inflator part.

 

Like if it was a swimming

 

pool floaty for your kids,

 

it's the same exact thing.

 

You wanna squeeze it and you

 

wanna just open that dude up

 

just like that as best you can.

 

Don't rip it apart, don't pull it apart

 

and then go ahead and

 

blow it up and inflate it.

 

There you go.

 

That thing is now inflated and you can

 

hang it from a tree.

 

Now what I have done

 

with these in the past

 

and this is a little cool user tip

 

is get you one of those

 

cheap little dollar carabiners

 

or whatever from the big box store

 

that starts with a W and ends with a T.

 

And you know, you can

 

hang it up in your camp

 

or you could just put some bank line

 

or some paracord or something like that

 

and just hang this dude up

 

and it will eliminate your entire camp.

 

Now I wanna show you some

 

clips of what this lantern does

 

and how bright it really

 

is in the great outdoors.

 

So right now what you

 

should be seeing is me

 

in the great outdoors at

 

night setting everything up

 

for you to enjoy a good camp.

 

(footsteps)

 

Now next up is gonna

 

be the Lumenade Titan.

 

These are the bigger versions.

 

These were I think $75 a piece

 

but there are the same

 

versions that are $32.

 

These are worth every

 

dime you will ever spend

 

on these things.

 

And they have a handle that Velcros

 

and you flip this around

 

and you can hang this up

 

no matter where, say

 

this is a tree branch,

 

you can hang it up on the tree branch.

 

Just like that, all right?

 

So now you open it up

 

kind of like the bottom

 

of the other one, but

 

you don't blow into this.

 

You just twist it and it

 

automatically inflates itself

 

like that and then you just close it off.

 

Now what it does is this

 

plastic is kind of like

 

a frosted color to where

 

it will actually eliminate

 

and you can see how it's eliminated now

 

and it is a very cool, so that's low,

 

that's high, that's medium, that's low,

 

and then a super low and then a blink

 

and it's blinking and then it's off.

 

Now it has a larger solar

 

panel and you can open that up

 

and just set it on to the sun

 

where it will allow

 

this solar panel to charge.

 

And it also has where

 

you can open this up

 

and charge it by the wall or USB.

 

And you can use this as a battery bank

 

to charge your celly tellies

 

or whatever cellular devices,

 

your GPS, whatever you wanna use

 

when you're in the great outdoors,

 

you can use it to recharge it.

 

I do not do that

 

because I need this at night

 

to eliminate my camp, right?

 

So that's what this is gonna do.

 

And I have more than one

 

and less than three of these

 

and this is them, the

 

Lemonade Solar Liners.

 

If you're looking for

 

something for Christmas,

 

these dudes are the way to go.

 

If you have a camper in your life

 

and you're really

 

looking for the great something

 

to get them for Christmas this year,

 

go to my links page and right here,

 

I'll leave the link in the

 

description of this video

 

and the show notes on the podcast

 

and you can get it from my Amazon store

 

and these things are amazing.

 

Any of these items right

 

here are going to be amazing

 

for you to give a gift.

 

And it helps me out because I get a

 

little bitty commission.

 

I get like 2% commission

 

if you buy one of these.

 

So, you know what?

 

I get 14 cents, 20

 

cents, something like that.

 

I don't know, whatever it is.

 

Who knows, who knows?

 

I'm not mathematically superior.

 

This little dude right here,

 

and I showed this on the podcast Monday

 

and I do not have a name for this thing.

 

It is a...

 

Golly G. Willikers.

 

This is a...

 

It's like a emergency solar lantern,

 

emergency backup flashlight.

 

Okay.

 

That's what I said.

 

That's what we're gonna go with.

 

(laughing) That's what we're sticking to.

 

So you're gonna flip these

 

little dudes up right here.

 

If you're not watching the video

 

and you're listening to the podcast,

 

there's little arms and

 

you just pull them up.

 

And when you pull

 

them up, it gets bright.

 

It actually, it will

 

light up your kitchen.

 

It'll light up your house with this

 

in the event that there is

 

a storm or a power outage.

 

Now I do not use this camping.

 

I will always use this at my house

 

like I explained in the podcast.

 

So this little dude

 

right here is amazing.

 

It has a flashlight on the bottom of it

 

where you can actually use

 

it in the yard or you can...

 

When I filmed this, I was in my yard

 

and I filmed the video for

 

this and I did it in my yard

 

and you can see it

 

from a hundred yards away.

 

And it was actually a

 

pretty bright little flashlight.

 

So, and then the part that I

 

really love about this thing

 

is the fact that you can

 

actually pull this little arm out

 

and you see this little red light?

 

I don't know if you're

 

gonna be able to see it,

 

but it should light up.

 

You hear it winding up.

 

Sounds like one of those old stompers

 

whenever you was a little kid,

 

you could see those little cars.

 

Well, anyway, you can just sit there

 

and wind that puppy up like that.

 

And you have yourself a

 

charged battery in no time.

 

And when it starts dying down,

 

you give it to one of the kids

 

and one of your

 

little ADHD levelings there

 

can sit there and deal

 

with the ADHD and charge it.

 

And then, bam!

 

So you killed two problems.

 

You actually solved a lighting problem

 

and you gave them something to do

 

where they weren't driving you insane.

 

So anyway, I don't have a name for this.

 

I'll try to find it and put it

 

in the description of this video.

 

Next is what we're using

 

to run the camera off of.

 

And this dude is called the Blavor.

 

And if you didn't see Monday's podcast,

 

this thing is pretty cool.

 

Now, it has a lantern in here.

 

This is gonna be a tabletop device.

 

This is not something I'm taking

 

to hang in the trees with me.

 

I might, I might do that.

 

I don't know.

 

I can't tell you I can't do that

 

because I'm gonna try it.

 

So one of the things that I

 

did not demonstrate before

 

was the fact that you can lay

 

this, your cell phone on top,

 

and it will charge your phone

 

while you are without a cord.

 

So it does that wireless

 

charging for your celly tellies.

 

And it has a flashlight here.

 

Not a flashlight, but a lantern.

 

And so one, two, three,

 

I just got a low, medium, and high.

 

And I'm gonna be

 

doing some videos on this

 

and running it through all the paces

 

in the upcoming weeks for Spear Outdoors.

 

And then you can charge the battery

 

and then it'll charge

 

your devices and everything.

 

So I'm gonna give you all

 

the input, all the output,

 

the whole nine yards.

 

It has a nice little

 

carabiner handle here.

 

And you can take this, I

 

mean, it's not very heavy.

 

A couple pounds or so to that effect.

 

Let's see.

 

It has some of the

 

specifications right here

 

that it is a wireless output of 7.5, 10

 

watts, and 15 watts.

 

It has LED light that is four watts.

 

And it is a 16, the battery

 

capacity is 236.8 watt hours.

 

So it's a battery backup is what it is,

 

basically for

 

charging your mobile devices

 

and stuff like that when

 

you get out into the woods.

 

One of the biggest things

 

that I have a problem with

 

whenever I go outside camping

 

is trying to keep all

 

my camera gear charged.

 

It's hard, it's a nightmare.

 

I have three different cameras,

 

not to mention my celly-tilly I use,

 

and using all these items to really,

 

to keep them charged, you have to.

 

And I've used big,

 

heavy, bulky things I've used,

 

but I'm really interested to see

 

how this is gonna work out

 

because it allows me to

 

plug in four devices here

 

and charge four different

 

devices at the same time.

 

And it's got two USB-Cs

 

and then two of the USB-As.

 

And not everything is

 

converted over to the USB-C yet.

 

So, you know, we still got

 

the big, bulky stuff anyway.

 

So, but that's it.

 

Then for fundamental Friday,

 

we're talking about candling devices

 

I wanted to run through

 

and show you everything

 

that we talked about on Monday,

 

you know, with just a

 

video for this stuff.

 

And I hope you enjoyed this.

 

If you did, like I said, Amazon,

 

I'll put my link to the Amazon store

 

in the description of this.

 

So if you're interested in

 

picking up one of these items

 

for a loved one for Christmas,

 

if you don't mind supporting the channel

 

and just go ahead and

 

pick one of these up.

 

And I gained a very small commission,

 

2% commission on all these items.

 

So, hey, remember in all

 

your ways, acknowledge him

 

and he will direct your paths.

 

I'll see you in the next video,

 

the next podcast or blog post.

 

God bless you.

 

(upbeat music)