Recommend me a high quality durable hand crank powered flashlight.

Can anyone recommend a very high quality durable hand crank led flashlight?.

I dont need radio or anything else built in. I just want a light which does not use any other power source to run, only hand cranking.

I figured it would be a good idea to have one in case of emergencies when I might not be able to get to any batteries.

Looking forward to any info.

Thanks in advance..:thumbsup:

Not sure about a hand crank model. My brother gifted me a light (from DX, I believe) that has a weight that oscillates lens-to-tail which builds up a charge in its capacitor. Don't know the part#, but the body is translucent

sent from within DragonDan's galaxy

I can only offer limited information based upon limited experience.

I used to have a hand crank light in my glove compartment. It was just a light. After a few years the battery wouldn't hold a charge. I took it apart to find that the battery was a coin cell.

Five or ten years ago I bought...
[h=1]Safety Cross Self Powered 6-in-1 LED Light & Cell Phone Charger[/h]The instruction manual says to charge it every 3 months. I didn't charge it for years, but for the last few years, I have charged it maybe once a year. I just pulled it out, in response to this post and it still had a slight charge, and still takes a charge. The battery appears to be a 3 cell battery about the size of one that you might find in a wireless land line phone. I don't know if it is lithium, or NiCad, maybe NiMH. I don't recall if the instructions mentioned it or if I found out by trying it, I was able to charge the battery with a Nokia cell phone battery charger. This is much easier than sitting there cranking for (I don't know how long) to fully charge the batteries.

One time when we had a power failure, I was stunned to find how important a radio was. So if you are considering a hand crank light for emergencies, you might consider getting one with a radio, or a separate hand crank radio.

I can't testify to the endurance of the above unit, because over the past 5-10 years, I probably only cranked on it for 10 minutes.

I do have another unit I bought on clearance for $5 that is just a light, and I suspect a smaller battery, but it has a standard USB output jack. One could use it to charge a cell phone, or anything that could use that port.

Frankly, if you are truly serious about a reliable, crank operated flashlight and/or radio, I think you may need to start thinking in terms of a hand or pedal operated generator to recharge batteries. To my knowledge, what you are looking for ("a high quality durable hand crank powered flashlight") just does not exist.

And, realistically, I am not certain that you really need (nor "want") such a flashlight. All you really need is a good flashlight (and radio?), and some good reliable batteries (read: Eneloops) that will hold their charge (or most of it) for several years.

It might seem to be a "difficult problem" to make sure that you always have enough "backup" batteries for some unforeseen emergency, but it is not necessarily all that difficult.

If you standardize on AAA and AA sized Eneloops, you can always use some cheap adapters to make use of AAA batteries that you can "rob" from your remote controls, clocks, etc. It might seem to be a "waste money" to use good quality Eneloop batteries in even your lower priority devices. But, in an emergency, such lower priorty devices can end up serving as "battery holders" that you can always "rob" to power your critical flashlight and/or radio needs.

Anyway, assuming you are always in possession of some good quality rechargable batteries, your next issue will be making certain that you have access to a good (reasonably reliable) 12V charger for those batteries. (You might also want to consider investing two such chargers: one for your car and one for your home.) Once you have that, you can always recharge your batteries from any car, etc. that generates 12V.

But, realistically, unless you are truly preparing for "Armageddon" (and I am not saying that you should not) then all you really need is a good flashlight and a reasonable number of "spare" batteries.

Good quality flashlights offer multiple output levels such that many of them will run for extremely long periods of time at their lower output levels. And, in an emergency, or in some real disaster situation (when it is likely to be truly pitch dark), you are quite likely to be extremely "happy" to have a light source at even that lower output level.

Furthermore, at least in my experience, all of the currently available hand crank flashlights generate such pitifully low output levels that you are likely to get the same level of light from a good flashlight set at a very low level. The biggest difference between the two is that if (or "when") you really need it, your good flashlight can always provide light at a much higher level (even if for just a couple seconds), whereas no hand crank flashlight could ever do that. In other words, as far as I know, there is no such thing as a quality hand crank flashight (even though, you would think that there might be enough demand for such a thing, for the right manufacturer to make one).

So having said that, I want to clarify original statement: my suggestion is that you may want to look into a reliable (and efficient) hand or pedal operated generator that can generate 12V to recharge your batteries.

Such things do exist. I have seen some relatively low-cost Chinese hand-crank generators for sale (that "looked" good to me) and if your look around on the internet, for the "right price," you can certainly find some excellent pedal operated generators (provide your own bicycle, and the generator acts as a "stand" to turn your bicycle into a stationary "generator" bike).

Honestly, I've never encountered a hand-crank flashlight that is high quality or durable.

Take a look at the Indigo Plus Lantern at freeplayenergy.com. I've had an older version for about 20 years with no problems. Their crank radios are well made and reliable too...

Jim

Not too long ago, I read someone's post that he was stunned at how quickly his household went through batteries in a power failure. He had felt that he had a good supply in the beginning, and they used copious amounts of light, but as the days went on without power, they really had to cut back and conserve.

If you have the means to recharge, rechargeable batteries, there may not be a need to cut back.

I have a couple of chargers that can plug into the cigar lighter of my car. They take 12V input. I can charge 6 18650's at a time, and 6 NiMH at a time.
I wanted to calculate How much energy would I like for lighting in the event of a power outage.
I considered that I would recharge the batteries by draining my car battery, then I would recharge the car battery with it's alternator.
I wanted to then calculate, how long I would need to run the car to recharge the car's battery.

I estimate that 500-1000 lumens, would be a somewhat, to very, comfortable amount of light, for a family of four.
I estimate that a single eneloop will supply 100 lumens for an hour (for easy calculations).
I estimate that an eneloop has 2.5 watt hours of energy (2000 mah * 1.25 v)
and that an 18650 has 11.7 watt hours of energy (3000 mah *3.9 v)

based on the above, you'll need 5-10 eneloops an hour to supply 500-1000 lumens for an hour, at a cost of 12.5 - 25 watt hours of energy.
For six hours of light you'll need 75 - 150 watt hours of energy.

Car alternators may vary in output, anywhere from 80-150 amperes at 13.4 - 14.4 volts. Mine is a 135 amp unit.
80 amps/hour * 13.4 volts = 1072 watts/hour
135 amps/hour *13.4 volts = 1809 watts/hour
I estimate that a car engine requires 500 watts to run.
So you'll have 572 - 1309 watts/hour to recharge the car battery.

Let's average the two alternators reserve outputs at 940 watt hours/hour, or 15.66 watt hours/minute

The alternator should be able to replace the energy drained from the car battery (of 75 - 150 watt hours) by running the engine 5-10 minutes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wow.. that's a lot of batteries! 30-60 eneloops a day. I don't think that a six cell charger has the capacity to charge that many in a day. Does it?
Even using 18650 batteries, that might require 7 - 15 batteries a day.

Solar chargers are another option, as I have also not been impressed by "hand-crank" devices which I have seen and used ....

Although there are a variety of common issues, the quality and durability of the mechanical portions are often questionable. If the design uses a rechargeable cell, typically it will self-discharge and sit empty for an extended duration - which may then impair its ability to later take and hold a charge.

Poppy said:

I estimate that 500-1000 lumens, would be a somewhat, to very, comfortable amount of light, for a family of four.


***<BIG-SNIP> ****

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Wow.. that's a lot of batteries! 30-60 eneloops a day. I don't think that a six cell charger has the capacity to charge that many in a day. Does it?
Even using 18650 batteries, that might require 7 - 15 batteries a day.

Click to expand...

Wow!!! Talking about serious over-kill! My estimated lighting needs were much higher than the consensus here.

You might want to take a look at this thread, to get a better feel for How Much Light, and How Many Batteries you might want during a power failure / power outage.

I have an emergency weather radio made(or sold by) ETON that will last for a few days on just batteries. Not sure I'd want to crank it as long as I have grandchildren to do the grunt work.

smokinbasser said:

I have an emergency weather radio made(or sold by) ETON that will last for a few days on just batteries. Not sure I'd want to crank it as long as I have grandchildren to do the grunt work.

Click to expand...

LOL... yeah, put those kids to work!
Actually it'll give them something to do and make them feel productive, and helpful.

Regarding a radio, again, in this thread How Much Light, and How Many Batteries we tested a few radios, and found that for the most part, the larger the speakers, the more demanding they are on power/energy. With that reasoning, when looking at a hand crank unit, one with smaller speakers may be more energy efficient. Although that wouldn't be the only thing to look at because I imagine that the dynamos may vary in quality from one unit to another.

Poppy said:

we tested a few radios, and found that for the most part, the larger the speakers, the more demanding they are on power/energy. With that reasoning, when looking at a hand crank unit, one with smaller speakers may be more energy efficient.

Click to expand...

The key to a good emergency radio is multiple power sources, so if one fails or you don't have the means to use one method, there are other options. The CCrane Solar Observer is the prime example - batteries OR crank OR solar OR DC in. That way having to resort to the crank is well down the list of possibilities, it's much easier to connect it to a rigged battery pack or just set it in a window with sunlight.

Monocrom said:

Honestly, I've never encountered a hand-crank flashlight that is high quality or durable.

Click to expand...

Same here.

i have one made by ETON, pretty durable piece, has radio\cell phone charger\flashlight\solar charger. it works fine, i have it for years now, it did great during sandy, but as a flashlight it is weak, looks like it has 3x5mm leds, with extra lenses, i mean it will do a job of illuminating dark room, road. it throws may be 20-30 feet, in total darkness. never seen anything that is much different functionally. amost all have same weak leds, small 2\3 aaa nimh cells inside.

on other flashlight forum, someone build a crank light out of power drill motor and xml drop in, but that is the only crank light with some power, that i know of, and you have to crank it all the time, not like almost all crank lights, that allow you to crank for a minute and have light for 5-10 min.

Poppy said:

Not too long ago, I read someone's post that he was stunned at how quickly his household went through batteries in a power failure. He had felt that he had a good supply in the beginning, and they used copious amounts of light, but as the days went on without power, they really had to cut back and conserve.

If you have the means to recharge, rechargeable batteries, there may not be a need to cut back.

I have a couple of chargers that can plug into the cigar lighter of my car. They take 12V input. I can charge 6 18650's at a time, and 6 NiMH at a time.
I wanted to calculate How much energy would I like for lighting in the event of a power outage.
I considered that I would recharge the batteries by draining my car battery, then I would recharge the car battery with it's alternator.
I wanted to then calculate, how long I would need to run the car to recharge the car's battery.

I estimate that 500-1000 lumens, would be a somewhat, to very, comfortable amount of light, for a family of four.
I estimate that a single eneloop will supply 100 lumens for an hour (for easy calculations).
I estimate that an eneloop has 2.5 watt hours of energy (2000 mah * 1.25 v)
and that an 18650 has 11.7 watt hours of energy (3000 mah *3.9 v)

based on the above, you'll need 5-10 eneloops an hour to supply 500-1000 lumens for an hour, at a cost of 12.5 - 25 watt hours of energy.
For six hours of light you'll need 75 - 150 watt hours of energy.

Car alternators may vary in output, anywhere from 80-150 amperes at 13.4 - 14.4 volts. Mine is a 135 amp unit.
80 amps/hour * 13.4 volts = 1072 watts/hour
135 amps/hour *13.4 volts = 1809 watts/hour
I estimate that a car engine requires 500 watts to run.
So you'll have 572 - 1309 watts/hour to recharge the car battery.

Let's average the two alternators reserve outputs at 940 watt hours/hour, or 15.66 watt hours/minute

The alternator should be able to replace the energy drained from the car battery (of 75 - 150 watt hours) by running the engine 5-10 minutes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wow.. that's a lot of batteries! 30-60 eneloops a day. I don't think that a six cell charger has the capacity to charge that many in a day. Does it?
Even using 18650 batteries, that might require 7 - 15 batteries a day.

Click to expand...

A couple of problems with this. The alternator does not put out full current at idle. It may only be 20 amps or so. Some cars actually will discharge the battery during idle. Things like day time running lights and electric radiator fan put some load on the battery. You could of course block the throttle partially open. The battery will not accept full alternator current to charge. I have not tested this, but a fill charge would probably take several hours, assuming near full discharge or even longer. Also the battery may not start the engine if it is below 50% of full charge.

Holy necromancer, Batman!

~3 posts a year and bumping a thread from three years ago about crank flashlights? This sub-topic on charging with the car sure has a lot of math for no suggested means of how one would actually connect the charger to the car; if the car has a 12V plug, that allows for a multiple-USB adapter, so now what are the USB options for charging batteries?

bobrip said:

A couple of problems with this. The alternator does not put out full current at idle. It may only be 20 amps or so. Some cars actually will discharge the battery during idle. Things like day time running lights and electric radiator fan put some load on the battery. You could of course block the throttle partially open. The battery will not accept full alternator current to charge. I have not tested this, but a fill charge would probably take several hours, assuming near full discharge or even longer. Also the battery may not start the engine if it is below 50% of full charge.

Click to expand...

Wow a comment after 2 1/2 years! Sorry I missed it.

You make a number of good points, and I also made some errors in my estimations. However the overall point I was trying to make is that it is MUCH easier to use the car's alternator to charge rechargeable batteries, than to work a crank for hours, AND it is not so taxing on the car as some might think.

To support your comment that the alternator does not typically charge at maximum at idle, I found this:

Most late model alternators produce 120 to 155 amps or more. Current output increases with engine speed, from around 20 to 50 amps at idle up to the unit's maximum output at 2,500 RPM or higher

Click to expand...

The quote is from HERE.

I agree... I would not want to lower the car's battery voltage below 12.25 volts.
Personally I have another couple of vehicles that I could use to jump-start my car if I goofed.

Additional notes taken from that page:
The lower the car's battery voltage, the more easily it will take a charge. The alternator regulator will raise the amperage and voltage if the battery voltage is low, conversely it will lower the voltage and output as the battery voltage tops off. Temperature and engine RPM also come into play.

Yes, electric fans do put a load on the system, but they cycle on and off. IF that is a concern, then running the car engine should be done at night, so that the fans work more efficiently, and are off more. Also, they run when the AC is engaged. So the AC should be kept off.

I don't recall how I estimated that car engines require 500 watts. That must have been a high estimation, because that would be about 35 amps. If alternators only put out 20 amps at idle, then all of my cars would have the red alternator light on, on the dash, when they are sitting at idle. None of them do.

Poppy said:

Not too long ago, I read someone's post that he was stunned at how quickly his household went through batteries in a power failure. He had felt that he had a good supply in the beginning, and they used copious amounts of light, but as the days went on without power, they really had to cut back and conserve.

If you have the means to recharge, rechargeable batteries, there may not be a need to cut back.

I have a couple of chargers that can plug into the cigar lighter of my car. They take 12V input. I can charge 6 18650's at a time, and 6 NiMH at a time.
I wanted to calculate How much energy would I like for lighting in the event of a power outage.
I considered that I would recharge the batteries by draining my car battery, then I would recharge the car battery with it's alternator.
I wanted to then calculate, how long I would need to run the car to recharge the car's battery.

I estimate that 500-1000 lumens, would be a somewhat, to very, comfortable amount of light, for a family of four.
I estimate that a single eneloop will supply 100 lumens for an hour (for easy calculations).
I estimate that an eneloop has 2.5 watt hours of energy (2000 mah * 1.25 v)
and that an 18650 has 11.7 watt hours of energy (3000 mah *3.9 v)

based on the above, you'll need 5-10 eneloops an hour to supply 500-1000 lumens for an hour, at a cost of 12.5 - 25 watt hours of energy.
For six hours of light you'll need 75 - 150 watt hours of energy.

Car alternators may vary in output, anywhere from 80-150 amperes at 13.4 - 14.4 volts. Mine is a 135 amp unit.
80 amps/hour * 13.4 volts = 1072 watts/hour
135 amps/hour *13.4 volts = 1809 watts/hour
I estimate that a car engine requires 500 watts to run.
So you'll have 572 - 1309 watts/hour to recharge the car battery.

Let's average the two alternators reserve outputs at 940 watt hours/hour, or 15.66 watt hours/minute

The alternator should be able to replace the energy drained from the car battery (of 75 - 150 watt hours) by running the engine 5-10 minutes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wow.. that's a lot of batteries! 30-60 eneloops a day. I don't think that a six cell charger has the capacity to charge that many in a day. Does it?
Even using 18650 batteries, that might require 7 - 15 batteries a day.

Click to expand...

StarHalo said:

~3 posts a year and bumping a thread from three years ago about crank flashlights? This sub-topic on charging with the car sure has a lot of math for no suggested means of how one would actually connect the charger to the car; if the car has a 12V plug, that allows for a multiple-USB adapter, so now what are the USB options for charging batteries?

Click to expand...

Hi Star Halo,
My car has a cigar lighter port, and my van has two on separate circuits. IIRC each is on a 30 amp fuse, so there is no concern of pulling too much power through either of them.

I have three chargers that will take a 12V input directly from the cigar lighter ports.
A Nitecore Intellicharger i4. It is a slow charger, but will do 4 18650 or smaller LiIons, or 4 NiMH batteries at a time.
A Radioshack charger that takes AC or 12V dc with a cigar plug, that will do 4 NiMH AA or 4 AAA batteries at a time.
and a Xtar WP6 II that will do 6 LiIons at a time, also with a cigar plug.

Additionally, I have half a dozen 6V SLA batteries.
I can connect them directly to my car battery terminals with little jumper wires with alligator clips if I put them in series, 2 at a time. The gent who sold them to me (at an electronics shop) advised me to use a 25Watt 27 ohm 5% 124D resistor to slow the current going into the batteries, so as not to burn them out.



While I can use clips, I made a cigar plug connection.
Actually I have never needed to use it, as I typically top them off with my AC powered car battery charger.