Crank Powered LED light

[Stryker]

I wanted something to replace the old battery operated flashlight and found it with a crank powered LED light. I'd heard of crank powered radios, but not one for a flashlight. I bought mine at Walmart a few weeks ago for about $16. It works great. However, I saw the equivalent in Home Depot a couple of days ago for $10 and change.

[darren22]

I wanted something to replace the old battery operated flashlight and found it with a crank powered LED light. I'd heard of crank powered radios, but not one for a flashlight. I bought mine at Walmart a few weeks ago for about $16. It works great. However, I saw the equivalent in Home Depot a couple of days ago for $10 and change.

We got a pair of Duracell branded crank LED flashlights with radios built in at Costco last year, I think it was $20 for the 2-pack. Really handy both at home and when camping. My mom also got me a NOMA crank LED lantern for camping, also pretty useful.

[Heynow999]

I bought the LED spotlight from Cantire on sale for $10. It has a hand crank and can be plugged in to charge as well. For something that I assume is made in china, it seems pretty good. Has a nice heavy feel to it and doesn't feel like it will fall apart

[ricsad]

I find crank powered lights pointless. You have to crank them for along time for it to be fully charged. It's fine if you're camping and you have nothing to do. But it doesn't make sense to manually crank it just to save electricity when instead you can use rechargeable batteries.

I recommend getting ones that have a plug for you to charge. But instead of that, you can just get LED lights from dealextreme. You put a rechargeable battery in and it'll seem like it last forever. Of course, I'm talking about the same low powered LED lights you find in the crank powered lights. They're WAY smaller and if you're worried about running out of batteries, just bring one extra eneloop battery with you.

[craftsman]

I find crank powered lights pointless. You have to crank them for along time for it to be fully charged. It's fine if you're camping and you have nothing to do. But it doesn't make sense to manually crank it just to save electricity when instead you can use rechargeable batteries.

Actually, I think you are looking at it the wrong way... Yes you have to crank them a long time to get a decent charge and yes it doesn't make sense to save electricity...

But I find crank flashlights extremely useful for those of us (and everyone knows one of these people) who can't be bothered to check that the rechargeable batteries in a flashlight are charged. These are the same people who always have a dead battery in the flashlight (where rechargeable or disposable). At least with a crank, they can end up having some power rather than no power.

[ghostryder]

I find crank powered lights pointless. You have to crank them for along time for it to be fully charged. It's fine if you're camping and you have nothing to do. But it doesn't make sense to manually crank it just to save electricity when instead you can use rechargeable batteries.

And of course those rechargable batteries are about as useful as regular batteries in that flashlight I keep in the trunk of my car in case of emergencies. Especially in winter.

And my crank light only takes a minute or two of cranking to charge up.

[gman]

I find crank powered lights pointless. You have to crank them for along time for it to be fully charged. It's fine if you're camping and you have nothing to do. But it doesn't make sense to manually crank it just to save electricity when instead you can use rechargeable batteries.

I recommend getting ones that have a plug for you to charge. But instead of that, you can just get LED lights from dealextreme. You put a rechargeable battery in and it'll seem like it last forever. Of course, I'm talking about the same low powered LED lights you find in the crank powered lights. They're WAY smaller and if you're worried about running out of batteries, just bring one extra eneloop battery with you.

Hmmm! It is a flash light. No, you do not need to crank them for a long time to be useful. The first one I bought was about $8. I only need to crank it about 5 times and I can use it for a long while (i.e. minutes before you need to crank again). It is more than enough for emergency and it is usually the time you find out your supposed to be good battery is already dead.

[jason9945]

I've seen them at the dollar store before. I bought one to play with, ended up taking it apart. It was built with 2 non rechargeable batteries. there were 3 button cells in there. The crank would power the lights when the batteries were off, but the light would pulsate. So basically beware of the cheap ones.

[ricsad]

Keep in mind that while you can crank it a little bit and it'll light up, it is very dim. Even those 50 cent keychain flashlights brighter.

Only the slightest excuse can justify buying and using one. If you're worried about battery dying in the cold and you don't trust eneloops, then get a lithium battery. They take years to expire and when they expire they still have a lot of power left. A lithium in a flashlight is reliable. They don't die in the cold or drain like NIMH batteries.

Just letting you know of alternatives. Didn't mean to offend you guys who already have one. I got one myself too thinking the same thing you guys said but now it's collecting dust because there's no reason to use it over my LED light. And mine was the expensive energizer one with FM radio and USB charger. Of course, it's out of battery now and to recharge it, I need to buy a separate AC adapter or crank it for an hour.

[jason9945]

I bought a similar item years ago at canadian tire. Probably about 8 years ago or so. It was a sanyo radio and a little flash light, and of course a crank to power it. It can also use regular AA batteries. Amazing purchase. Its been super handy for years. I never seem to have spare AA's when the power goes out!

[ghostryder]

Keep in mind that while you can crank it a little bit and it'll light up, it is very dim. Even those 50 cent keychain flashlights brighter.

Mine isn't dim at all.

Only the slightest excuse can justify buying and using one. If you're worried about battery dying in the cold and you don't trust eneloops, then get a lithium battery. They take years to expire and when they expire they still have a lot of power left. A lithium in a flashlight is reliable. They don't die in the cold or drain like NIMH batteries.

Just letting you know of alternatives.

Tried the lithiums before I ever had a crank one. They didn't survive one winter. Stone cold dead when I needed it. The crank one on the other hand...

[UrbanPoet]

I find crank powered lights pointless. You have to crank them for along time for it to be fully charged. It's fine if you're camping and you have nothing to do. But it doesn't make sense to manually crank it just to save electricity when instead you can use rechargeable batteries.

I recommend getting ones that have a plug for you to charge. But instead of that, you can just get LED lights from dealextreme. You put a rechargeable battery in and it'll seem like it last forever. Of course, I'm talking about the same low powered LED lights you find in the crank powered lights. They're WAY smaller and if you're worried about running out of batteries, just bring one extra eneloop battery with you.

Actually, I think you are looking at it the wrong way... Yes you have to crank them a long time to get a decent charge and yes it doesn't make sense to save electricity...

But I find crank flashlights extremely useful for those of us (and everyone knows one of these people) who can't be bothered to check that the rechargeable batteries in a flashlight are charged. These are the same people who always have a dead battery in the flashlight (where rechargeable or disposable). At least with a crank, they can end up having some power rather than no power.

There's also that survivor factor.

Its just the idea of knowing that you got something with tons of white light coming out... and all you have to do is pump it until its ready to go!

I saw the one @ no frills where you have to shake it. Shake it like a salt shaka!!! for it to charge up.

[ricsad]

Mine isn't dim at all.



Tried the lithiums before I ever had a crank one. They didn't survive one winter. Stone cold dead when I needed it. The crank one on the other hand...

Crank powered flashlights use low powered LEDs they are made to be dim so they can last longer without you cranking that much. When they are fully charged, they will be brighter. When they are low on battery, they fade and get dim.

Lithium batteries work fully in temperatures as low as -40'C and they take many years to discharge. They have been around for over a decade and have proven reliability. You must be using rechargeable lithium batteries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-purchase_rationalization

[Narci]

Costco had these LED night lights for sale. I think it was a 4 pack for $19.99. They are light sensative which means they only turn on when it's dark.

2 out of the 4 turn into flashlights (lights up at the bottom) once you take them out of the wall.

I too have the duracell radio/led flashkight crank combo. It's pretty useless becuase you need to crank the crap out of them to get any power.

OP is better off getting a LED flashlight and throw some eneloops in them and only have to recharge them once a year.

[joeyjoejoe]

I got one of these as a gift from my office:
http://s.fatwallet.com/static/attachments/9989_yel_handpress_light3_soft.jpg

They are cheap, but they charge so much faster than the crank ones.

[Stryker]

Obviously some people are having issues, but I think my crank LED light is great. It's got three white LED's and I find the beam it produces very bright. The light comes on as soon as you start cranking, and the area around you doesn't have to be in darkness for it to work, in fact I was able to test it in the store. Only one minute of cranking and I get up to thirty minutes of light. Batteries of any kind, not necessary for this terrific device.

[pshch]

I cannot say about other brands but I recently disassembled the one I bought couple of years ago from Princess Auto. It uses standard CR2032 lithium battery to store power (which is by the way is not considered a rechargeable battery).

And about usability - for me the only benefit of using it is if you forget to turn it off (and kids frequently do so) it takes several hundreds cranks to get it back working but otherwise the amount of light from even single AAA battery operated LED flashlight is much higher.

And talking about emergency - alkaline batteries are usually good for years and combined with LED flashlight will work long enough for most cases providing much more light (and when it comes to emergency especially car related more light is really a bonus) then crank operated. Also do not forget that charging mechanism contains a lot of mechanical parts which may break (and Murphy law - it will do when you need it most) while normal flashlight has virtually no parts which may break unless of course somebody drops it or step on it.

[pshch]

Obviously some people are having issues, but I think my crank LED light is great. It's got three white LED's and I find the beam it produces very bright. The light comes on as soon as you start cranking, and the area around you doesn't have to be in darkness for it to work, in fact I was able to test it in the store. Only one minute of cranking and I get up to thirty minutes of light. Batteries of any kind, not necessary for this terrific device.

Next time test it not in well lit store but take it for camping and compare it with any battery operated flashlight you have (excluding key chain types). I did it last week and ended up giving it to kids to play because for anything else it was just useless and instead used duracell 6 LED 4AAA flash light which was sitting in my car for last 2 or 3 years in case of emergency (Costco had them then and I think I saw them recently as well).

[maniacshopper]

I got one of these as a gift from my office:
http://s.fatwallet.com/static/attachments/9989_yel_handpress_light3_soft.jpg

They are cheap, but they charge so much faster than the crank ones.

hope this is one of the exit prizes at our company golf tourny.

I got the 24 LED torch with AC adapter last year.

[Stryker]

It says on the package that one minute of cranking will give you up to 30 minutes of light. I cranked it for exactly one minute, powered it on with all three LED lights, and after one hour it was still giving me a light bright enough that I could read the small script in a newspaper, in complete darkness. It suits my purposes for an emergency light for the house in case of a power failure.

[gordholio]

I'm buying a solar-powered flashlight. :)

[JJ23]

I'm buying a solar-powered flashlight. :)

Actually saw one at The Source yesterday for around 14.00$. Was buying an led light as a gift..(part of a bigger gift).

[Stryker]

I'm buying a solar-powered flashlight. :)

I'll have to look more into these. Even though Wal-mart has a green policy, didn't see any in their store yesterday. Noticed on the net, that some aid groups are distributing these to a few poor villagers in developing countries who don't have a cheap source of light after darkness comes.

[gordholio]

Actually, I was joking about the solar-powered flashlight. Didn't know they even existed.
I guess if the sun charged a battery for when it is dark (to use later), it would be a good idea.