Wind Up Torches

[TeeDee]

Have Wind Up Torches come on anywhere in terms of output and reliability ?

I used to have a High Capacitor unit I purchased second hand ( forget the name ) but it was mediocre at best and failed sometime after.

So, any Torch fans capable of shining a light on this?

 

[Woody girl]

Wind up torches.. don't last more than a few minutes per winding session are noisy and a complete pain in the butt!
Someone gave me a wind up head torch once... it broke after two or three winds. I couldn't get half a mile of walking out of it or the torch I had.
Needless to say I won't have them as I don't want to wind something for a minute or two before I can see anything!
Not a fan.

 

[TeeDee]

Wind up torches.. don't last more than a few minutes per winding session are noisy and a complete pain in the butt!
Someone gave me a wind up head torch once... it broke after two or three winds. I couldn't get half a mile of walking out of it or the torch I had.
Needless to say I won't have them as I don't want to wind something for a minute or two before I can see anything!
Not a fan.

I'm imagining if they gave it as a gift it was on the cheaper scale of things.
I admit my memories of such torches are probably the same as yours - loads of 'cranking' or winding to produce a dismally dull underpowered light.

However.... Hope springs eternal. The High Capacitor stuff that was coming onto the market was in its infancy some ten years ago.

 

[Jared]

They still suck.

 

[Forest fella]

Dude that's a Blast from the past, I brought a Magic torch off a very well known shopping channel ''Many'' yr's ago and it ''Turned out to be a Wind-Up'', it said that it did all sorts, But after the time it took & the number of rotations I had a job Holding the thing, as for the Usage / Storage time on them there still Low.

 

[Broch]

It's only when you see how much effort you have to put in for a couple of minutes of dim light that you realise how much energy modern batteries hold. The one I had (a couple of years ago and now thrown) would give enough light for long enough to find the candle and matches in my day pack

 

[Oliver G]

What happened to the torch that you had to shake to charge? Did that technology develop any further or did the marketing team realise what it looked like when they were charging their torches?

 

[TLM]

that you realise how much energy modern batteries hold

Agreed, and electricity is a very useful form of energy besides.

OT: take a guess how high one would have to drop a cup of water for the water to warm up 1 C from the potential energy.

 

[Bishop]

Have Wind Up Torches come on anywhere in terms of output and reliability ?

Well yes, sort of. Steampunk fanatics are often overjoyed to discover that the wind up "Ruhmkorff lamp" mentioned by Jules Verne in both 20,000 leagues Under the Sea and Journey to The Center Of The Earth actually existed in 1860.

 

[Jared]

What happened to the torch that you had to shake to charge? Did that technology develop any further or did the marketing team realise what it looked like when they were charging their torches?

I think more likely to find fake ones these days. The originals work by moving a magnet through a coil during shaking. The fake ones replace the magnet with a slug of non magnetic metal, and just connect the LED to two coin cells. So you would be shaking the light for absolutely no reason.

 

[Forest fella]

My brother had 1 of those and he has carpal tunnel so he threw it a fair number of times and he reckons that it was better way of charging it, And it didn't noticeable hurt the poor battery life?.

 

[TeeDee]

I guess with the advent of flexible small Solar Panels that can take a USB cable and charge a small torch maybe makes the kinetic factor now a little redundant.

Not that i've dip my toe into the Solar Panel market....

 

[Silverclaws2]

What happened to the torch that you had to shake to charge? Did that technology develop any further or did the marketing team realise what it looked like when they were charging their torches?

Kinetic torches I think they're still around - great as less moving parts to break.

 

[Silverclaws2]

Have Wind Up Torches come on anywhere in terms of output and reliability ?

I used to have a High Capacitor unit I purchased second hand ( forget the name ) but it was mediocre at best and failed sometime after.

So, any Torch fans capable of shining a light on this?

I had one than ran three LED's a few years back, got it in pound land, it might have lasted longer if I hadn't taken it apart, but it lasted a while until the silvering on the exposed reflector started to riddle- hence the taking it apart.