Long term light for Africa, no electricity or batteries, what do you recommend?

[netprince]

Long term light for Africa, no electricity or batteries, what do you recommend? pics

A friend of mine is traveling to a poorer country in Africa. I am going to give her one or two lights to take, and she will leave them in the village when she returns. I would like them to be as useful to the villagers as possible.

The village does not have electricity, and they dont have money for batteries.

I was initially thinking a bogolight, but she said that crank lights are better than solar lights because they dont have to be left sitting out in plain sight, and have less chance of walking off. I was thinking a freeplay ML-1 would work??

Does anyone have any other suggestions for this situation?

Thanks!

 

[Egsise]

Well if you think of the big picture, where have most of the help sent to africa ended up?
To military or half military forces to help them at their fighting each other.

I would suggest that you give her a some sort of AA or CR123 powered weaponlight.

 

[Roger999]

Well if you think of the big picture, where have most of the help sent to africa ended up?
To military or half military forces to help them at their fighting each other.

I would suggest that you give her a some sort of AA or CR123 powered weaponlight.

A $100-$300 weapon light to be used as a paper weight? OP said they have no electricity or batteries.

 

[jtblue]

I've always had the impression that wind up lights are generally of inferior quality when compared to more conventional designs and in a sense unsuitable for use in an environment as harsh as africa.

I would suggest that you invest in a highly reliable LED AA flashlight that can take those rechargable eneloops (don't be stingy). The most reliable flashlight I can think of is one that has a twist switch to turn it on but I don't know if there is one out there that fits my suggested criteria (think Surefire 6P but in AA form).

To charge the batteries you could have a solar powered charging station; it would less likely be stolen than a solar powered flashlight as the empty flashlight can be kept on the person while the batteries are getting charged (no use stealing one without the other). Another option is a hand cranked battery charger but that would probably be too impracticle.

So to sum all of this up:
- Don't go the wind up route
- Buy quality that you yourself would use in that situation
- LED AA eneloop powered flashlight with twisty on switch
- Recharge eneloops with solar charger
- Pick her up from the airport when she gets back

 

[Nyctophiliac]

Some crank lights are quite long lasting - my original freeplay one I was given about eight years ago still works fine albeit the output is only three 5mm blue white leds and quite low. You neede mains to power its Xenon bulb. Also a hand sized crank one or three whiter led we've had for at least four years is still going strong.

I really like the out put of those matchbox sized crank lights - very bright and small, but I don't know how hardy they will be - maybe get several of those? She could pack ten or twenty with no problem at all.

Trouble with crank is I have never found one that is waterproof.

How about a few shakelights?


EDIT -

just had a look at the Freeplay website - they do a couple of Torch models now - the X RAY and the Kito - both look good and are bound to be brighter and more efficient than my old one. The Kito comes in many colours including a rubberized black - maybe that would be more waterproof. Honestly these look great, and If my old Freeplay 2020 still works now ( it was made in 1999) after having both my kids use and abuse it, then I'm sure that these would work in Africa.

BTW the Freeplay ones were designed exactly for this purpose, and made in South Africa too!

 

[DM51]

Well if you think of the big picture, where have most of the help sent to africa ended up?
To military or half military forces to help them at their fighting each other.

I would suggest that you give her a some sort of AA or CR123 powered weaponlight.

Egsise, you've been banned 3 times before for trolling and other offenses. Now you've posted this nasty and unhelpful garbage that seems to fit with whatever creepy agenda it is that you have. CPF can do without any more of that, so you're gone.

 

[ASheep]

Remember, don't skimp on quality. Sure you see those $5 crank up lights around with the angry blue LED's, but they have a tendency to contain super cheap crappy batteries, that can't really take the abuse of dyno charging. A good quality Freeplay or the original shakelight will be more expensive, but in the long run, actually useful to the people 🙂
The solar route suggested by jtblue is also a very good idea, but it does have the added expense of a solar charger, plus the liability that it may grow legs...

 

[Kestrel]

There have been a few other 'Light for Africa' threads, these search returns have additional info that may be of assistance.

My suggestion is comparable to one above:

• The least expensive 1xAA light from Fenix - a pair of them would be much better. They aren't the absolute cheapest option, but should provide excellent value over many years of service.
• An inexpensive solar charger - does anybody know if these have independent charging channels or do they charge in pairs? I realize that there is a slight 'walking off' risk with these, but just the batteries & charger are of less use by themselves than a working light. :shrug:
• ~8 Eneloop AA's. After ~5 years the first 4 might be shot due to overcharge/overdischarge, so if 4 were kept in new-reserve, that's about 10 years of very good lighting.
• ~8 Energizer L92 Ultimate Lithium AA's. The extraordinary shelf life of these cells (~15 years) could still provide a few years of excellent usability after the Eneloops are worn out.

So for a little more than $100, this might be able to provide ~15 years of very high quality, off-the-grid illumination. That works out to something like 2-3 cents per night. :thumbsup:

It is unfortunate that Fenix doesn't make a 1xAA version of the E01. :sigh:

 

[Connor]

netprince,

if buying batteries (even AAs) is definitively out of the equation, this leaves self-powered lights.

IMHO crank lights are "too mechanical", they will break sooner or later (possibly sooner). This leaves solar powered lights and magnetic shake lights. I think the latter ones are probably more robust on the long term. They are not very bright by CPF terms but they should last until the capacitor inside fails (~10 years+).

-Connor

 

[netprince]

jtblue & kestrel: I like the idea of sending a nice AA light. Its not easy to find a single channel AA solar charger. Anyone have suggestions?? (I also agree eneloops are the way to go)

nyctophiliac: got a name or model for those hand crank lights?

connor: I'd consider a magnetic shake light, I remember reading about them in the past. Some cheap ones tried to use a small cell instead of a capacitor... What is the recommended model shake light?

Thanks everyone...

 

[red02]

MDR02NU -its got 2 channels, but it can charge a single battery.

That said, I wouldn't bother with a rechargeable set up if your actually expecting people to use it. Most folks here can't be bothered with one. Its not reasonable to expect anyone who doesn't care about flashlights to set up a solar charger and use the charger on the right types of cells.

Get a capacitor based shake light.

Is your friend a missionary? Peace Corps?

 

[ragweed]

Is there any way to bring in about 5-6 boxes of batteries? I think this would solve the problem of no electric.

 

[Nyctophiliac]

Netprince - Apart from Freeplay - the hand sized crank light is a no name from a Hardware store and the matchbox sized ones are available from camping shops - again, no name brand - they are cheapies, but sometimes they can last too.

Lots of choices on ebay.

I like the solar charger idea, though it may be impractical.

 

[infiltrator]

The hummer shake flashlight is both affordable and extremely durable, I have one my dad got me when i was 12, it is still in working order.

 

[StarHalo]

Use the same light we send to the Africans (and now Haitians), the solar-powered BoGoLight: http://www.bogolight.com/

Photo courtesy Craig/The LED Museum, see his review of the light here.

 

[TedTheLed]

probably the only other source of energy available would be a car or truck
with it's 12 volt lead acid battery..
a simple 12 volt based led light (that recharged itself) with large battery clips would be useful.?-- or just a battery charger that worked off of 12 volt dc.

 

[entoptics]

Surprised no one mentioned this already...

Send her with a couple iTP EOS A2 lights, and a jury rigged 12V DC AA charger and 10 eneloops.

Believe me, there is electricity in Africa. They may have some resource issues, but ingenuity is rampant in places without freely available manufactured goods.

There will be car batteries, toyota alternators, wind mills, and a myriad of other power generating capabilities, so as long as you send a 12V DC charger and batteries to go with it, the locals will take care of the rest.

Select a robust, but simple trickle charger with easily modified input (strippable wires, cig lighter adapter, etc).

Just an idea, but I don't see a typical African village as having any problem getting a few Ah worth of 12V DC power.

 

[dealgrabber2002]

Try this one. It's a crank light. Seems pretty good. There is a video. I am thinking of getting one for my emergency kit. Check it out.

This

It has a usb connector so you can use a computer to charge this light (stated in the description). Able to charge phone. It has a dim switch where you can dim the light. The head rotates 180 degrees. Glow in the dark.

 

[afraidofdark]

I love my bogo SN-2. I see that SunNight makes a mini model now, perhaps this would be more discrete to leave laying around in the sun for charging? Or just buy spares to back up the ones that walk away ...

Incidentally, you can also use the full-size bogo light as a solar charger for three AA cells (the light's own cells are removable).

---edit---

Having just looked at the Freeplay crank lights mentioned by the OP and Nyctophiliac, I might have to pick up a Sherpa model. They look well-built ...

 

[wyager]

I would go for a bogo OR for some low fixed output light and as entoptics said, a 12V charger (preferably with a very tolerant and flexible working voltage) with LOTS of spare adapter for cars, plugs, alligator clips, whatever.