Salt Water Lamp Review: Does It Really Run on Salt Water?

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A torch in a drawer has one job, and it’s usually failed at it before the power goes off. The batteries have gone flat, or leaked, or the rechargeable one you meant to top up last spring is sitting at zero. A salt water lamp gets round all of that, because there’s nothing inside it to go flat. It sits dry in the cupboard until you need it, then you add salt and water and it lights up.

This salt water lamp from BrinMoruy is a pocket-sized emergency light with 3 LEDs, a steady mode and an SOS flashing mode. Two salt sachets and a lanyard come in the box, so it’s ready to go the first time you need it. Here’s what it does, how bright it really is, and where it fits in a power cut kit.

What Is a Salt Water Lamp?

A salt water lamp is a light with no battery to charge or replace. Inside is a metal plate that reacts with salt water to make a small electric current, and that current powers the LEDs. In effect, it’s a battery you fill yourself. Until the water goes in, nothing happens, which is why it can sit in a cupboard for years without losing anything. You’ll also see it sold as a saltwater lamp, a salt and water lamp or a salt water lantern. They’re all the same idea.

That’s the whole appeal for a home emergency kit. Alkaline batteries can leak and corrode the contacts. Rechargeables slowly lose their charge sitting in a drawer. Solar lights need a sunny spell and someone remembering to put them on the windowsill. A salt water lamp needs none of that, just salt and water on the day. It’s about as close as you’ll get to an emergency light without battery worries.

How This Salt Water Lamp Works: Salt, Water, Shake

Getting it going takes three steps: open it, add the salt and water, and give it a shake. There’s no manual to dig out, no battery size to check, and no charging cable to find in the dark. That matters more than it sounds. In a power cut, the person reaching for the emergency light isn’t always the one who bought it.

Two 10g salt sachets are in the box, and they store dry alongside the lamp. A lanyard is included too, so you can hang it up or carry it from room to room.

Here’s what you get:

• Light: 3 white LEDs giving 50 lumens.
• Modes: steady light, SOS flashing, and off.
• Run time: 240 hours of continuous light, or 350 hours on intermittent use.
• Power: 0.5W, from salt water. No batteries, no charging, no solar panel.
• In the box: the lamp, two 10g salt sachets and a lanyard.
• Build: OPP, PET and ABS plastics, small enough to fit in a pocket.

How Bright Is 50 Lumens?

This is the honest bit, and it’s worth getting right before you buy. Fifty lumens is enough to light up a hallway, a staircase or a bedroom, so you can see the outline of the room, find the door and get around without stubbing a toe. It’s not a reading light, and it’s not for fine work like threading a needle or reading the small print on a medicine box.

For a rough comparison, a household candle gives off around 12 lumens, so this salt water lamp is in the region of four candles’ worth of light. There’s no flame, no wax and no smell, either. It’s a light for getting around the house safely while the power’s off, and that’s exactly what it’s made for.

If you need a beam to look into the back of a cupboard or check the fuse box, that’s a job for a torch. The two work well together: the salt water lamp lights the room, the torch goes where you point it.

240 Hours of Light From One Lamp

The run time is where a salt water lamp really earns its keep. This one is rated for 240 hours of continuous light, or 350 hours with intermittent use. Put that into evenings: at six hours a night, 240 hours is around 40 nights of light. Most UK power cuts are over in hours, and even a big storm outage is usually counted in days, so that’s plenty of headroom.

Long power cuts are where a salt water powered lamp comes into its own. Battery lights mean working through packets of AAs or rationing the charge in a power bank. With a salt water lamp, the light simply carries on. There’s no top-up routine and nothing to remember.

Where a Salt Water Lamp Fits in Your Power Cut Kit

Think of it as the backstop light: the one that still works after everything else has gone flat. It suits places where outages are more likely or where nobody wants to fuss with chargers:

• Your home emergency kit, as the light that doesn’t care how long it’s been in the cupboard.
• An older relative’s home, where a light with three simple steps is easier than remembering to charge something.
• Rural houses and flats, where a power cut can mean proper dark, with no street lights coming through the window.
• Caravans, motorhomes and camping, where the light has to work without a socket.

The SOS flashing mode has its uses in a storm or a long outage too. It’s a simple way to make your window or doorway visible, or to mark where you are if you need help.

A Salt Water Lamp as a Christmas Gift

It also makes a good stocking filler for anyone who’s ever been caught out in a power cut. It’s small, it’s genuinely useful, and it’s a bit of a talking point, because most people have never seen a lamp that runs on salt water. It’s especially good for parents, grandparents, or someone who has just moved somewhere rural and is about to find out how dark the countryside gets.

What the Rest of the Team Think

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Pros and Cons

Pros

• This salt water lamp has no battery to go flat, leak or need charging
• Stores dry for years and lights up with salt, water and a shake
• 240 hours of continuous light, or 350 hours on intermittent use
• Two salt sachets and a lanyard included, so it works straight from the box
• SOS flashing mode as well as a steady light
• Pocket-sized and simple enough for anyone in the house to use

Cons

• 50 lumens lights a room or a staircase, but it isn’t a reading light
• Only steady and SOS modes, with no brightness levels in between
• A salt water lamp needs water to start, so keep a bottle in the kit with it
• New to Amazon, so there are few buyer reviews so far

Frequently Asked Questions