Questions about wind-up powered LED flashlights

[Astroscanner]

Hi y'all,

I have one inexpensive wind-up powered LED flashlight (that also can recharge cell phones !) and had some questions as I am considering getting more "wind-up" powered flashlights, radios, ect.

1.) Do wind-up units have permanent long lasting batteries inside that are recharged by the hand crank or something more like a slow discharge capacitor ?

2.) Whatever "power holder" is the answer to question "1.)" - can they generally be depended on for lasting for at least 8-10 years (or however long the LED "bulbs" are supposed to last) ?

It would not make much sense to make a wind-up powered flashlight with LED lights if the power source could not be expected to last as long as the LEDs

I really appreciated it with they started coming out with wind-up powered stuff because it is often frustrating trying to keep up with having a fresh supply of batteries (as well as the expense of buying a lot of batteries).

Thanks in advance for any help !

Gary

 

[Astroscanner]

Hi y'all,

I have one inexpensive wind-up powered LED flashlight (that also can recharge cell phones !) and had some questions as I am considering getting more "wind-up" powered flashlights, radios, ect.

1.) Do wind-up units have permanent long lasting batteries inside that are recharged by the hand crank or something more like a slow discharge capacitor ?

2.) Whatever "power holder" is the answer to question "1.)" - can they generally be depended on for lasting for at least 8-10 years (or however long the LED "bulbs" are supposed to last) ?

It would not make much sense to make a wind-up powered flashlight with LED lights if the power source could not be expected to last as long as the LEDs

I really appreciated it with they started coming out with wind-up powered stuff because it is often frustrating trying to keep up with having a fresh supply of batteries (as well as the expense of buying a lot of batteries).

Thanks in advance for any help !

Gary

It took a bit of searching on Google with various words but I finally found an answer to one of my questions, wind-up flashlights seem to be made with either capacitors or rechargable batteries to hold the charge created by winding the crank, now which design is more commonly used I am not sure.

Here is a quote from my info source followed by a link to the source:

(quote)
Capacitor Style
Since wind up flashlights are supposed to eliminate the need for a battery, some wind up flashlights have capacitors that will store the electric current you build with winding.
Battery Style
These types of wind up lights have a rechargeable battery inside that will store the current for a time period. A downfall of these types is that the battery tends to drain quickly, necessitating further winding.
(end quote)

http://www.trails.com/facts_9946_how-wind-up-flashlights-work.html

As far as my other question - I'm guessing that wind-up flashlights have not been out long enough to have a very accurate idea of how long the average model can be proven to keep working, but hopefully manufacturers would start saying what we can expect, usually it seems (from what I have read thus far online) they just mention the long life of the LED bulbs themselves.

 

[Flying Turtle]

I'm guessing the cheap plastic gears in the winding mechanism will be the first things to break, then the batteries will quit charging or the capacitor will leak. But, they are still fun little toys.

Geoff

 

[Dave H]

The few I tried (less than $20) batteries wouldn't recharge after 6 months. After 30 minutes of cranking I usually got about 10 minutes of dim light. Nothing I would seriously consider relying on. You may want to test to see hom much cranking it takes to charge your cellphone.

 

[Astroscanner]

The few I tried (less than $20) batteries wouldn't recharge after 6 months. After 30 minutes of cranking I usually got about 10 minutes of dim light. Nothing I would seriously consider relying on. You may want to test to see hom much cranking it takes to charge your cellphone.

The one we got is probally about 1-2 years old and still works good, after just cranking it for about 15-20 seconds I can get about 4-5 minutes of usable light (I would crank it longer if I needed to use it for longer periods) and while I don't remember the exact price it was fairly inexpensive, pretty sure it was under $20, maybe even under $15.

I don't remember having tried the cell phone charge option yet, but even if it just gave enough charge to make any urgent calls for a few minutes it would still be worth it.