How can i make a wind up torch/flashlight?
Thursday, September 9th, 2010 at
6:11 pm
i need to make an electricity efficient torchlight so i decided im going to make one that is wind up please tell how i can make it and if possible suggest a store from which i could buy it i live in south africa and i have tried calling most big name stores to en quire about it but all of them have said that they do not stock it
Filed under: Wind Power
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I don’t know where you can buy one where you live, but I can tell you a little about how they work, and maybe you can make one.
The generator in a wind-up handheld flashlight is like a small motor with a lot of gears attached to it. The crank lets you turn the gears, which spins the motor at high speed. Sometimes a small battery or capacitor is added to the output of the motor so that there is light for a little longer than just when you’re cranking it.
You could use a cheap cordless drill as a source for the motor and gears- they’re already attached to each other, and in the "low" speed mode, there should be quite a large gear ratio.
Another version I once had included a small flywheel on the motor, and a method to let the motor and flywheel keep spinning after you stopped with your hand power. It would only go for a second, but it was enough to make the light more even while you were using it.
If you make your own, the hard part will be figuring out what your output voltage is, and finding a type of light bulb that will both be bright enough and won’t burn out all the time.