Self Charging Shake Flashlights?

[tomp]

Are there any of these flashlights that are of high quality? It seems that most are no-name brands and I want to get a good one to have on hand for emergencies. Thanks

 

[Lightman2]

Don't bother with these. I bought two from a US company and the rave was great and I thought I was onto something until I got them and shook them for the required time only to get a small faint glow on the wall. You will get more light out of a Photon keychain light than a shake light. Be warned.

 

[GeoBruin]

I have to disagree with the previous poster. I am a flashaholic. I own many, many lights, and yet every time someone poses the question of what light would you want with you when the you know what hits the fan, I respond with my shake light.

My particular light (the Nightstar 3 http://nightstarflashlight.com/comersus7f/store/comersus_index.asp) is not particularly bright. Not when compared with the lights we're used to discussing here on the forums that is. It is usefully bright however and it is absolutely bullet proof. Because there is never a need to put a battery in, there are no seams. The light is completely sealed. Even the switch mechanism is magnetic and doesn't require a connection pathway from the inside of the light to the outside. The website advertises the light as being waterproof to 2200 feet which seems absurd but I believe it. I've personally had mine on a SCUBA dive down to 100 feet and it worked like a charm. In fact, one of the most interesting things I noticed when I had mine in the water is that it floats. How many of your other lights can claim that? It also just feels extremely robust. It's hard to explain but in a way, it feels like it could stand more abuse than any of my aluminum lights.

As far as shaking the light, it works as advertised. Shake it for less than a minute and you have several minutes of useful light.

In general, I would highly recommend this light. For 20ish dollars, you are going to get a light that will literally last for the rest of your life. It will always work when you need it, it is indestructible, and you will never need to worry about having batteries on hand.

 

[yellow]

last for the rest of your life.

no it wont,
else it is a real battery inside and that shaking is just a big fake,
or it is a "rechargeable" that might still work a tiny bit within 10 years time, but ...
CRAP !
the motion to charge is crap, when the rechargeable (if it is one) battery is dead, one cant change it, ...
If one really wants such kind of light, then anything other than a wind-up is useless.

But there is one point: watertight!
Correct, that they might be,
but can You "charge" it under water?
highly doubt!

these are gimmicks, nothing else

 

[mellowman]

the shake lights use a capacitor not a battery. depending on the type of capacitors they use they could last practically forever.

windups from what I've seen use batteries.

 

[RepProdigious]

no it wont,
else it is a real battery inside and that shaking is just a big fake,
or it is a "rechargeable" that might still work a tiny bit within 10 years time, but ...
CRAP !
the motion to charge is crap, when the rechargeable (if it is one) battery is dead, one cant change it, ...
If one really wants such kind of light, then anything other than a wind-up is useless.

But there is one point: watertight!
Correct, that they might be,
but can You "charge" it under water?
highly doubt!

these are gimmicks, nothing else

Wow, who stole your cookie? All claims are very possible! Last a lifetime doesn't mean itll be charged up the entire time. It has a simple linear 'dynamo' if you wish with a weight instead of a rotating axle to make it do its thing. In stead of a recheargeble battery it probably uses a capacitor and those don't really wear out or diminish like chemical based cells.


And yes, you can charge these under water..... Will cost you some energy but very very possible.

 

[Robocop]

Come on Yellow....you have been here long enough to know how to get your point across without all the drama. Please tone down your style a little and add something interesting to this thread rather than the borderline baiting comments.

I will say that the shake lights are cheap enough that you really cant go wrong by having one as a spare. I would not depend on one as my main emergency light however we can never really have too many lights now can we?

 

[NickBose]

no it wont,
else it is a real battery inside and that shaking is just a big fake,
or it is a "rechargeable" that might still work a tiny bit within 10 years time, but ...
CRAP !
the motion to charge is crap, when the rechargeable (if it is one) battery is dead, one cant change it, ...
If one really wants such kind of light, then anything other than a wind-up is useless.

But there is one point: watertight!
Correct, that they might be,
but can You "charge" it under water?
highly doubt!

these are gimmicks, nothing else

I think the statement is ignorant. It's true that some low quality Chinese so called shake lights sometime hide a small NiMH inside. But I believe the lights from Applied Technologies are high qiality with ultra capacitors inside that las 100 thousand cycles - lifetime or not you judge. I have the two Lighstorms from the same conmpany, theye are crank lights (wind up) with ultra capacitors inside and of high quality.

 

[swrdply400mrelay]

I think the statement is ignorant. It's true that some low quality Chinese so called shake lights sometime hide a small NiMH inside. But I believe the lights from Applied Technologies are high qiality with ultra capacitors inside that las 100 thousand cycles - lifetime or not you judge. I have the two Lighstorms from the same conmpany, theye are crank lights (wind up) with ultra capacitors inside and of high quality.

Are the Nightstar lights from Applied Technologies?

 

[CKOD]

I think the statement is ignorant. It's true that some low quality Chinese so called shake lights sometime hide a small Lithium primary coin cell inside But I believe the lights from Applied Technologies are high qiality with ultra capacitors inside that las 100 thousand cycles - lifetime or not you judge. I have the two Lighstorms from the same conmpany, theye are crank lights (wind up) with ultra capacitors inside and of high quality.

Bolded part fixed. My roomate had one at one point, with a single layer of fine copper wire for the 'coil' (both ends terminated in the same solder blob) , a few diodes on a PCB, the LED and 2 lithium coin cells to power the LED, and a reed-relay switch. The "magnet" was a chunk of aluminum that was rather coarsely sheered off. I lol'd at that.

 

[Kestrel]

How about using the search terms 'high quality shake light' to find these threads? It's not like most of the above hasn't been said before...

 

[josean]

How about using the search terms 'high quality shake light' to find these threads? It's not like most of the above hasn't been said before...

Just trying to be practical, I will point to the products that have been referenced as the most reliable flashlights of this kind in previous threads:

Crank / dynamo / windup flashlights:
Freeplay

Shake flashlights:
NightStar

Both types:
AIT

Feel free to suggest additional flashlights deserving being referenced in this thread.

 

[petersmith6]

just be Very careful where you store it, i had one and the nice poweful magnet wiped my cassets(some of don't have cd players in there trucks) my fuel card and my bank card.

 

[Woods Walker]

If you want one my advice is to get a Nightstar.

 

[TyJo]

As stated above, this question has been asked and the nightstar is what I purchased (the original model, not the newer ones). I found CPF googling the question years ago, only to become a member about 4 years later and purchasint superior battery powered lights. There are flashlights that claim to be shake lights, but are cheaply made and do use rechargeable batteries (or coin cells) instead of capacitors. The comments above suggesting that nightstar flashlights are these type of "fake shakelight" are ignorant and misleading IMO. Here is a link to the new nightstar flashlight: http://www.appliedinnotech.com/products/shake-flashlights/nightstar4.php. My night star doesn't get any use, but it is a great addition for only 20 dollars, I will probably get the new one if reviews are satisfactory for a ~25 dollar light.

 

[justanotherguy]

no it wont,
else it is a real battery inside and that shaking is just a big fake,
or it is a "rechargeable" that might still work a tiny bit within 10 years time, but ...
CRAP !
the motion to charge is crap, when the rechargeable (if it is one) battery is dead, one cant change it, ...
If one really wants such kind of light, then anything other than a wind-up is useless.

But there is one point: watertight!
Correct, that they might be,
but can You "charge" it under water?
highly doubt!

these are gimmicks, nothing else

Enoughs been said, but if you THOUGHT for a second about the charging motion, what you make you arrive at the conclusion you couldn't charge it underwater????

hm?

 

[lightseeker2009]

The one of my father does have an internal battery. I'm sure the battery is used up. No amount of shaking allows the light to shine at full power for more than 30 seconds. I then left the light on while shaking is, just to see if the charging system is at fault. Defnately not. Its as bright as it can be as long as I shake it.
They should have put an Eneloop in there for a power source

 

[RepProdigious]

The one of my father does have an internal battery. I'm sure the battery is used up. No amount of shaking allows the light to shine at full power for more than 30 seconds. I then left the light on while shaking is, just to see if the charging system is at fault. Defnately not. Its as bright as it can be as long as I shake it.
They should have put an Eneloop in there for a power source

Eneloop? Please read a little bit about capacitors would you...... even eneloops will die when discharged low enough for long enough.

 

[lightseeker2009]

Wow, some people are touchy in this thread:shakehead
Read my statement again.... Did I say to power it by means of a battery is better than by using a capacitor? No, I just gave my experience. What selfrespecting flashaholic won't keep the enclosed battery charged at at least 80% capacity anyway? Otherwise what is the use of a light that you must first charge when you need to use it now?

 

[ZMZ67]

There still seems to be some misunderstanding regarding shake lights.The Nightstar model is a true "shake" light that uses a capacitor.As others have said it does not produce much light but it is no gimmick either and it is of decent construction.There are many "shake" lights out there but beyond the Nightstar I am not sure how many of them are real.The one I have seen most often is an out and out fake that uses two coin cell batteries to power the LED.Initially it seems pretty impressive and is fairly bright for the LED it uses but once the batteries wear down it doesn't work anymore.Compared to the popular high output lights we are used to here not many are going to have much interest in the Nightstar even because of the size and output.If there were a long term crisis with no power and no batteries however,the Nightstar or a true "shake" flashlight becomes more viable.