Illuminator crank-light *collaborative* impression

[Icebreak]

Here's a look at a crank light.

A certain kind and intelligent member helped me do a collaborative rookie review of the VX2 last year. He posted some of the most creative testing with pictures I'd seen. Really entertaining.

I get an email some weeks ago that tells me to be on the lookout for a package. Sure enough this light shows up:

How cool was that? Another member sent me a light to check out.

The Lifestyle Fascination ET0100 Illuminator (Sorry Lambda, Mr. Bulk, Lightwave and Surefire IR. That's what they call it) is not the kind of light that normally would interest me.

I had read some of the threads that were going on in the Mods and Batts forums last year. Reading what the fellows were writing about generating and storing electricity to power a flashlight was enjoyable.

The ET0100 Illuminator came to me pre-wound with the 10 minute specification. After that, the manufacurer claims one minute of winding gets you one hour of light. I haven't run time tested the claim. I've been playing with it a lot and it hasn't dimmed at all.

For this light, I was told I could punish (attrib. word usage: LED Museum) it how I wished. I liked the light right away. The most abuse I could bring myself to do was to take it apart. That could easily be the end of it. Inside I saw the LIR2032 3.6V 35mA rechargeable lithium battery. It was about the size a 35 cent piece would be. Lifting up on the circuit board, I peeked inside the gearing section. It looked like a complicated Tamiya RC transmission. I could tell if I lifted up much more the axles would come loose. No, not me. Pushed it back into place and put the light back together. It still worked. Whew!

The first thing I liked about this curious light was its looks. Reminds me of lots of things, a spacecraft, a high-speed train, a futuristic fishing reel (Wylie?) or maybe a high tech pepper grinder designed for dark restaurants.

Let's have some fun. My co-workers know I'm a flashaholic and some of them have come over to the light side. I caught one of them EDCing two LedLensors the other day. I went to a meeting with the Illuminator held to my face and acted like I was on a cell phone call. "I can't hear you". Just a second. I pulled the crank out and winded it. "Can you hear me now?" Heh heh. I then put the flashlight before one of the participants of the meeting. It was the centre of attention, laughter and smiles. Here's the deal. After I explained what it was designed to do they all liked it quite a bit. Some of them didn't understand the explanation but still liked it.

Another thing I like about it is the strategic positioning of the rubber insets that make it easy to hold. One lady I showed it too (that has also admitted to being a 'flashlight person') pulled out the crank and set the light down as a bi-pod and it stood nicely pointed at an angle. I was impressed. She mentioned the unique creativity that women have. One guy said it looked like a nice electric shaver. It purchases (grips) very well.

Here's a size comparison:

Thanks LogicNerd for hosting and member 993 for the pic. Hey 993? I didn't realize how long you've been around. Oh well, graybeards are cool.

The top mounted switch cycles /On three 5mm/Off/On one 5mm/Off. They are inset into a single reflector with three cones for the leds. The leds appear to be slightly overdriven. Just right. I was very surprised at the nice beam that was produced even though it comes through a horizontally elongated and rounded lens.

Thanks again LogicNerd and member 993.

Notice the SR-71. One of my favorite airplanes but this pic is not in my house.

Here's a Shake Light beam:

LogicNerd hosting and Experiment 993's pic.

It seems that this light might actually be a good emergency light. I liked it because it's very cool looking, easy to hold and has a good usable beam with few artifacts. This, added to it being educational, inexpensive and fun, gives it a thumbs up from me. I would have never have thunk it.

Maybe member 993 will chime in.

Thanks, 993. This is fun!


Edited the pic sizes. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif Bart

 

[darkzero]

interesting, I like it and after reading your post, I want one. Where can I get one? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/poke2.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif

thx

 

[B@rt]

It's on sale here. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Justintoxicated]

Re: Illuminator crank-light *collaborative* impres

THose pictures are so small I can't read any of the words on any of them...Those are words right?

Looks interesting I think but I can only really see the first picture.

 

[Icebreak]

My apologies, guys. Rookie mistakes.

I believe Member 993 got them at LifestyleFascination. Cheaper when you buy two @ $19.95. It Looks like Bart found the best single price.

Bart -

Thanks for the Pixel fix. I need to go find out what I did wrong.

 

[B@rt]

Ice, easy.... You linked to the Thumbnail pics. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Icebreak]

Doh!

 

[Stainless]

Hi Guys:

This is the overly lauded member 993 (finally) checking in. I'm in the throes of "training" for a new job, hence the month long delay - and the necessity of this being brief comments.

I did indeed send Icebreak this light to sort of relive the fun we had doing the VX2 review. (Also to repay him for what I did to his poor VX2.)

Well, I do see the resemblance to a fishing reel.

I also saw the resemblance to a train

and

Here's the train with it's low beam on

and here ready to roar down the tracks on high beam

General comments:
I liked the light - liked it enough to send it to Icebreak having NOT tested it anymore than necessary to take a few pics - lest it become a "Crank-cicle" or suffer some similar fate.

Humorous remarks:
Well, I'm not likely to match Ice.
Regarding this light looking like a high tech shaver - I guess that's appropriate for GRAYBEARDS like me. A pepper grinder for use in dark restaurants... probably better suited for use while sweeping the house looking for a lost THIRTY-five cent piece.

Seriously - probably a good choice for an emergency kit such as the Y3K kit that I'm putting together. (No sense waiting till the last minute.) Possible improvements might include a belt clip attached to the winding crank - one could easily attach a glue-on cell phone clip. Maybe throw in a Luxeon while keeping the multi level capability.

Feel free to post any questions and I will try and answer them before Y3K. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Icebreak]

Choo Choo!

Those oncoming train shots are great. I liked how your green and white grid turned into tracks in the night shots. If they were seen with no introduction, survey says, "High Speed Euro Train". Shinkansen inspired, of course.

Large amounts of aluminum and Stainless steel are used in building these.

In some German cities they are referred to as Inter City Express Trains or ICE Trains, if you will and even Ice-Ts for short.

I'll keep my one 35 cent piece on board and will not apologize for the graybeard comment. Bright young man that you are, here at CPF you are a graybeard and deserve all the accoutrements that implies.

I think we may be more in agreement on this light than we were on the VX2. This is a serious candidate for emergency situations and a darn fine performer. For now, I choose to keep it on top of a bookshelf in my office. More than once a week someone comes in and winds it up a bit.

For flashlight builders that wish to use 3x5mm or 3x3mm, it would be well and good to try to achieve this light's performance.

 

[PeLu]

[ QUOTE ]
Icebreak said:Shinkansen inspired, of course.

[/ QUOTE ] debateable. French high speed trains have a longer history.
[ QUOTE ]
In some German cities they are referred to as Inter City Express Trains or ICE Trains,

[/ QUOTE ]
Not only German, even here. We like it for the smooth and silent ride, actually they are faster than planes for up to some 500-800km distance.

Back on topic: I would like several of these lights as a present for people supporting us in India. They walk around with incredible waek torches/flashlights and in the Eastern parts we are, it gets dark at 5 pm in winter time.

Does anybody know about a deal for 3-5 of them?

 

[Echo63]

Silicon chip magazine (in australia) did a feature about crankable led lights a few months ago - using stepper motors, 4 diodes (to smooth the pulses from the stepper) capacitors and an led - they even made one with a 1w luxeon

Article is here http://www.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_100638/article.html

 

[Stainless]

A little bit of imagination goes a long way for some of us:

 

[Gianni]

Please do you know the MANUFACTURER of that item?
Thank you
Ps: sorry for poor english, I am from Italy...

 

[pedalinbob]

great review, thanks.

i saw one at the discovery store. dont remember the price.

Bob

 

[nerdgineer]

Re: Illuminator crank-light *collaborative* impres

They're advertised for $20. at this URL

http://www.flashlightsite.com/fe260.html

 

[paulr]

Re: Illuminator crank-light *collaborative* impres

Cute light, but has way too many moving parts to be a good choice as an emergency light, and while I haven't seen data about the shelf life of those lithium vanadium rechargeable batteries, it's well known that lithium ion rechargeables don't hold up all that well. You're better off with a conventional lithium non-rechargeable light, preferably one as simple and rugged as possible.

 

[Icebreak]

Re: Illuminator crank-light *collaborative* impres

PeLu -

You are right. That was not the designer I was thinking of. I never could figure out who does that style.

I'm a little concerned that the battery could handle nightly use for a long period of time. If it were a capacitor, that might be better.

Echo63 -

Interesting light. Thanks for that one.

Gianni -

Welcome to CandlePowerForums.

I mentioned this is not the kind of light I would normally seek. I'm so glad Stainless sent it to me though. I like it a lot.

Tough question. Finding out the manufacturer is difficult. There are so many people making a little money from a light like this that the trail can be long. Those people making a dollar aren't going to easily give up their sources. Maybe one of the senior members can figure it out.

From the instruction sheet this is probably one of many US importers:

Mark Feldstein and Associates Inc.
6500 Weatherfield Court
Maumee, OH 43537
www.mfagifts.com
1-800-755-6504

I did some researching and I got this far. This is an exporter of lights manufactured in Taiwan and main land China. They say they are a manufacturer but I'm not so sure about that. They do, in fact, export this exact light.

Handy-Age Industrial Co Ltd
P.O. Box: 96-602 Taipei
11F, No. 65, An Ho Road, Sec. 2
Ta An District
Taipei
Taiwan 106
Tel: (886 2) 27552406
Fax: (886 2) 27012320

www.handyage.com

Key Contact:
Ms Kuan, Christine
General Manager
[email protected]
Mr Young, Michael
Managing Director
[email protected]

Bob -

Thanks. Working with Stainless is a trip.

paulr -

Probably like yourself, I keep lithium powered lights in the vehicles, home, office and sack. I wouldn't allow my life to depend on this light but I still think it is a viable emergency light. We have Icestorms here that can knock the power out for days. It would be nice to have this light to do most tasks without eating up batteries. For folks that may not have a pile of batteries and can't drive the streets, this could be just the ticket.

 

[cobb]

Re: Illuminator crank-light *collaborative* impres

So, that is how that works. I have one of the baygen ones that is about the size of a small gas can for yard equipment. Weighs about a few pounds. Has a mode for blink or continious and a high and low beam option. It has a jack for 3 volts out, 12 volts in to charge it, then the crank to crank it and run it, crank it and charge it or crank it and leave it parked for use next time.

I generalyl charge it with the ac adapter and it takes 6 hours to do so. It has a light on it that goes off when its done. It uses what looks like a 2 cell cordless phone battery. It runs about an hour on low, less than an hour on high. In the blink mode it seems to go forever. Cranking runs it for about 3 minutes, cranking it and letting it charge then turning it on it runs about 5 minutes. Nevered run and cranked it to see how long it will run with a charged battery and cranking.

As a side note I have the baygen radio with the ccrane led light. You get to listen to the radio and light at the same time. IT lasts about 22 minutes a cranking with the light and on moderate volume. On low volume with no light about 27 minutes. It has the sw am fm option and tv audio. Its not that bad and is increditability loud. The light does flicker with the volume if it is cranked up.

I cant way for the baygen space heater or air condition or fan. I think they make a baygen cell phone charger as is.

 

[Wits' End]

Re: Illuminator crank-light *collaborative* impres

I've got a 'group buy' on these over here

 

[ledaholic]

Re: Illuminator crank-light *collaborative* impres

I saw one in Lowes the other day