Battery-Free Flashlight



Here is a picture of the box and the flashlight I bought recently. I have been seeing these advertized all over the net and on Ebay. Being the type of person who A) loves gadgets and B) is an Electronic Technician and C) concerned with the environment, so any item that would cut down on throw away batteries is O.K. in my book and D) has lived through one of the worst power outages in North American History (so far!) and E) am a Survivalist Equipment Tester, I would like to give you my thoughts on this product so far.

It claims to float and be waterproof. I have not tested that as yet. It does claim to not need batteries to run. That is not strictly true, it does have a couple of small batteries to hold a charge that the system generates. To be truely Battery-Free, you would need a capacitor setup to store the charge or some other way of storing the charge. The light given off is bluish due to the type of LED ( Light Emmiting Diode) being used as the light source. You can read by it. It does get pretty strong for a small flashlight. I like another feature they do not show or talk about. When you charge it up and turn it on then set it on a flat surface(light beam down) it acts like a lantern since the cover is clear plastic.

I am torture-testing that feature as I type. I charged it up and turned it on face down. It has contnued to give light over 24 hours. I am trying to completely discharge the batteries to test the exact number of shakes needed for good light. This could take a while since most LED’s use very little power, a fraction of a volt, usually.

There is one caution I must give you about this type of lightsource. Since it uses a strong magnet and a coil to take advantage of Faraday’s law, it is strong enough to wipe out credit cards, debit cards, laptops, ipods..., take my word for it and keep it away from electronics and your wallet.

My conclusion so far- even with the limitations ( store it in a pouch or hang it from your neck) of keeping it away from electronic devices or credit cards, this is one item I plan on adding to my permanent equipment. It is not very expensive and the fact that you will not have to buy batteries for it, makes it a great bargain.

Michael J. Kaer, owner of www.2BitPixel.com
Ps. After I finshed this little article, I tested if it does indeed float and if it is waterproof. Yes it does float. I do not know how far down you can go diving with it, but it is waterproof. I forgot to tell you that it has a built in ring at the end to put a line through so you can easily wear it around your neck.
PPs.To make sure it is completely waterproof, I would take it apart and seal the lens on with silicone and silicone the on/off switch to the on position from the inside and add more to the outside of the switch. Then I would feel safe taking it diving.