Flashlight and power bank for a power outage
One light per person that isn't the phone, and a battery so the phone lasts.
Every figure has its source at the end.
All of this, put into a plan for your home, is in the guide Ready in 7 Days.
What to know
- In the Iberian blackout of April 28, 2025, one in ten of those who missed something said it was flashlights, candles or something similar.
- Ready.gov asks for flashlights for every household member, and a plan for batteries and a portable charger or power bank.
- For light, flashlights, lanterns and other battery-powered lights, never candles: they are a fire risk.
- Keep phones and other electronics charged before an outage.
How to choose
- Count the people at home: one light each, ideally a headlamp.
- Check which batteries your flashlights and radio take, and buy new ones in the same size so you only need one kind of spare.
- Add a lantern for each room where you'll be together, like the living room or the kitchen.
- For the power bank, look at the mAh: 10,000 for one phone, 20,000 if there are several of you or the outage could be long.
- If what you need to keep going is the fridge, the router or a medical device, a power bank won't do: that takes a portable power station or a UPS.
What to buy
Headlamp
One per person. It keeps your hands free to cook, use the stairs or look after someone, and takes AAA batteries.
Check price: GearLight, pack of 2Battery lantern
For the living room or kitchen table: it lights the whole room, where a candle would have gone.
Check price: Etekcity, pack of 2Motion sensor light
In the hallway or by the stairs: it comes on as you walk past, so nobody trips at night.
Check price: STAR-SPANGLED, pack of 3Spare batteries
The size your flashlights and radio take. Keep them in their pack, out of the devices.
Check price: Amazon Basics, 12 AA and 12 AAAPower bank
10,000 mAh gives about 2 phone charges; 20,000, about 4. Make sure it has your phone's connector or a cable for it.
Check price: Anker, 10,000 mAhFolding solar panel
If the outage lasts days: it charges the power bank or the phone by a window or on a balcony.
Check price on Amazon
The rest of the kit, in levels and with what each one costs, in the kit.
Links go to amazon.com and are affiliate links: if you buy through them we get a small commission and it costs you nothing extra.
When the power goes
- Switch on the headlamp, not the phone's light.
- Put the phone in battery saver mode and use it only when you need to.
- The lantern goes on the table where you are; switch off lights nobody is using.
- Charge the phone from the power bank before it dies, not when it's already at zero.
To find out what is going on without draining the phone, a battery radio; and the rest of those hours, in what to do in a power outage.
Don't do this
- Don't use candles for light: battery flashlights and lanterns cut the risk of fire.
- Don't leave batteries in the flashlight for months: they run down and can leak. Test it when the clocks change.
- Don't store the power bank empty: charge it every six months, and don't charge it covered, on the bed or in the sun.
Sources
Checked on 10/31/2026.
This does not replace instructions from the authorities or 911: if they say something different, do what they say.
Your home's light, in 20 minutes
In Ready in 7 Days, day 4 is light: you test what you already have, note it in its table with the battery type and where each thing is, and the power bank ends up charged with the date written on it.
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