It’s a new month, do you know the state of the battery in your crank-up appliances?
According to the esteemed Professor Eccles, these batteries need regular maintenance to keep them in good operating condition. The first of each month is a good time to give them a wakeup call. For your flashlight/radio/emergency beacon/can opener/toenail clipper to work optimally, adhere to the following instructions.
Crank your appliance at least 600 and preferably 1000 times (10–15 minutes of steady cranking). Turn it on and let it run for at least an hour but do not let it run all the way down. Crank for 10 or 15 more minutes and put back in storage.
Yes, your arm will get tired and your spouse and/or kids will be annoyed, but it will be worth it when you need these devices and they work well. Imagine their disappointment in you if the light does not light and the radio does not play.
Hillbilly Bill – at 09:05
I have had a really hard time trying to find crank-up appliances. Any DIY for these?
Thanks for the reminder HB! I shall crank up my flashlight and my radio/weather alert/emergency light and siren/cell phone charger/butt wiper today. Man….yours opens cans and clips toenails…..I got cheated;-)
Yep, I got the deluxe model, but I’m not saying what I had to pay for it!
This might have been covered on another thread, but what is the best way to care for a crank-up flashlight (or whatever) that you use regularly. I recently got a flashlight and use it on my nightly walks with the dog. Is the 10- to 15-minute exercise still best for it?
Milo – at 10:34
You do not need to crank the flashlight that much each time you use it, but you still need to follow that procedure EVERY time the light starts to dim. NEVER allow the light to run all the way down. With regular maintenance, your light will burn brightly for hours instead of minutes.
freak -
Amazon has crank radios: http://tinyurl.com/jk798
Beprepared has crank radios: http://tinyurl.com/fw6mk
Nitro-pak has crank radios: http://tinyurl.com/ghegx
There are many survival sites and other places that have this stuff.
Question: if I haven’t done this cranking action before for an appliance I’ve had for years, and I start doing it now, will that bring it back up to it’s maximum abilities, or should I just replace??
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 11:12
According to Professor Eccles, it may be possible to recoup a good portion (perhaps all) of your appliance’s capacity. Follow the instructions, and repeat after about a week. I would say it’s worth a try.
I found a crank radio/flashlight set at my local Dollar General store for about $15. Not top o’ the line certainly, but all the same it works quite well.
Has anyone bought different models of the same item? If so, please post a review and recommendation.
I have bought a few different brands and my favorite is the Dorcy. The correctly engineeered crank is reason enough, but the light and/or radio is good as well.
That reminds me-I need to crank up the El Cheapy radio I bought a couple weeks ago to see if it even works.
It’s still in the bag…hanging from the coat closet door handle…I’m nothing if not on top of things.<grin>
Texas Rose - bless you for your candor and for making me feel less lonely in my perpetual state of disorganization when it comes to my preps;-)
WIT
I figure I’m doing great just to be prepared. Nobody said anything about being organized.:D
Hillbilly Bill – at 14:11
This one? 3 LED DYNAMO FLASHLIGHT, RADIO AND DC UNIVERSAL ADAPTOR
I got a reminder about organization when our town tornado siren went off, and we went to the basement. While we sat there, I thought about all the neat stuff I had upstairs-flashlights, water bottles, cups, food, blankets, sweaters, radio. Down there we had a laundry tub and some discarded detergent measures, which could be used for water and cups. That’s it. :( (I was dressed for company, so I didn’t even have pockets for my usual wallet, keys, and Swiss Army knife.) :( :( Let’s not even talk about the piles of unsorted preps waiting for attention. (I’ll get to it, really I will…..)
Oremus – at 14:46
Mine doesn’t have all of those bells and whistels, but that’s the design.
whistles…DUH!
Here is another good one.
Oremus @ 14:06 -
I have a couple of Nebo windup flashlights that work very well. They have the ever popular cell-phone charging capability as well. they have an FM radio built in which is fair, but the light has 3 LEDs and you can run 1 or 3 of them. I got them at the local small town hardware store.
I have a Vector VEC172WB which is labeled as The Weather Channel. it has 5 LEDs which can run either 1 or 5 at a time, and they are REALLY bright (when it is all cranked up). The unit contains an AM/FM/WB radio, and the weather band radio is honestly about the best consumer weather radio I have ever encountered. It also can be used to monitor the weather service for their weather alert. the FM radio is fair, and the AM radio kind of works , sort of.
I also have a very nice wind-up radio from Radio Shack that has an amazingly good Am radio in it. I can get you the model number if you are interested.
Is it cheating if I charge up my crank radio off of my portable power pack? Perhaps save my cranking arm for another time!
My crank appliances are still in the box, purchased 3 months ago. If you haven’t cranked them at all do you still need to do the maintance crank?
Thank you for bring up this critical information…that is what’s so great about FluWiki. JIT information.
no name – at 20:23
Get those babies out and give ‘em a cranking. Then keep them on a schedule. If you don’t maintain the battery it will not perform when needed.
Thank you HBB…also how do I know when it is running down but not all the way?
no name – at 20:49
You should b able to see the light dim, but if not, just leaving it on for an hour or two (highest setting) will do the trick.
HBB
Got my freeplay radio out and did about 50 cranks and it wouldn’t crank anymore, then it started to play with a strong signal and the crank goes around and round. Is this normal…it also has a solar panel, would that be as good as cranking?
Sorry for the basic questions…no wonder you need to test preps before this breaks loose…a lesson learned.
Thanks in advance for your help!!!
check ebay for great deals on crank/solar items. also http://www.gaiam.com/realgoods/ tho they can be a little pricey.
i found shake flashlights and a crank LED lantern + cell charger (w/AC/DC cigarette lighter adapters/recharge options) at Dicks Sporting Goods, a Dynamo solar/crank and radio/flashlight/cell-charger and a solar battery charger each on ebay.
it’s also unbelievable what i’ve been able to acquire for free via http://www.freecycle.com
is it the same deal with rechargeable batteries in general? do they weaken if allowed to run all the way down?
I just bought two crank lanterns at kmart.
Silversage - it is actually preferable to usa an AC power cube to charge up your crank radio if it is designed to do it that way. then you can do a full charge and really condition those batteries.
No Name - it is possible that your radio actually has a wind-up dynamo which is a springwork driven generator. that is different from the crank driven generator/battery arrangements most of the products out there have. In case of doubt read the owner’s manual about how it works.
Posie - Yes, all rechargeable batteries should be treated in much the same manner. Discharged to the correct cutoff point (but not dead) and then fully charged before storage. And cycled periodically. They degrade a little with each charge/discharge cycle. they degrade faster if they just sits.
thanks, Eccles.
note to self: add “cycle rechargeable batteries” to list of things to do the first of every month.
(i really do need to acquire a battery tester.)
speaking of batteries, i left the lights of my car on this morning and killed the battery. luckily, this really cute guy went off to get cables and gave me…well, my car, a jump. note to self: freecycle for jumper cables. could be very useful again in future.
Posie - I have always carried a set of jumper cables in my cars. It has allowed me to help many people out of tough spots, and has helped me out of a few over the years. Freecycle, or even cash money, you should get a good pair.
This Red Cross radio/light/siren/weather radio/cell phone charger works well:
no name “ the crank goes around and round”- that’s what my 7 year old Freeplay does, yup, I think it’s a a wind-up dynamo, but I haven’t read about it in years. I also have some things sitting here in the bags I bought them in that I should get out and crank up, in toast to Prof Eccles ;-)
I want to thank Eccles for motivating me to take my WeatherRadio (VEC172WB)out of its package and wind it up - it is sooo good!
(And winding for so long was so tiring! New excercise program.)(Now where did I get this?? Was it a “manager’s special” at a hardware store? If I find some more of these, I will get your notes on “care and feeding” printed out and include them.)
Would make a great gift for the person who thinks they have everything -until the power goes out.
Posie, there are also gadgets you can use to recharge your battery without having to hook it to another car — you charge it from the wall at home and then you can carry it in your trunk. In case you can’t find a Good Samaritan.
Thanks, BB, for starting this thread. I taped a distilled version of the directions right on my two crank items, just in case I forget or am not around for whatver reason:
1x per month: Crank at least 600 and preferably 1000 times (10–15 minutes of steady cranking). Turn on and let run for at least an hour but do not let it run all the way down. Crank for 10 or 15 more minutes and put back in storage.
make that HBB, and thx as well to eccles…
Do you have to crank up the Freeplay flashlight with a wind-up dynamo the same way as the others?
I think it’s anything with a crank handle needs to be cranked each month — be sure you have your device on the right setting — I have two that are supposed to be in either position 1,2, or 3 when I crank it and the rest of the time it’s supposed to be in just one of those positions for storage.
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 12:31 Thank you for the information.
If it is a windup (spring) you don’t need to crank it - maybe just to see if it still works. In fact, I would leave the metal spring unwound so that it won’t be inclined to stay that way. Those are great because you never need to worry about a battery.
Over at Fry’s b&m stores, Eton (aka Grundig) Emergency Crank Shortwave Radio and Flashlight is on sale for $19.99. At their website it’s for $29.99: http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4392425
Here is the local ad for the above mentioned radio: http://tinyurl.com/y82y8s I think this is a very good deal!
bump bump bump
Time to get out all those handcrank radios, lanterns and what ever else you have and crank ‘em! See Hillbilly Bill at top of this thread.
I would also like to suggest you check your fire extinguishers! We bought a new one yesterday and when we got home and opened it up it was already off the green!! grrrrrr.
bump
Thanks for the reminder to crank! I bought the Red Cross radio/light/siren/weather radio/cell phone charger and the cell phone charger doesn’t seem to work very well. The radio, lights and siren work fine but my cell phone doesn’t seem to be taking the charge when I use the crank. Anyone else have this problem?
Military 50 Watt Hand Crank Generator - Original military surplus generator produces up to 50 watts of power from hand cranking. Considered the most dependable generator ever made, originally designed to power field radios, breaks down to a compact unit with canvas storage bags for generator and spare parts, complete with toggle switches, wires, and resistors. 1960′s Chinese military, output 25 volts, 2 AMPS and 30 volts, 1 AMP, units are in new condition, weight about 38 pounds out of the box, does not include detailed schematics or specifications
I HATE this part of prepping, but acrankin’ we will go!
Knowall- Is it just a charging time problem? Remember that when you plug your phone into a wall cube or car cord to charge, it probably takes an hour or more to fully charge. if you are cranking it a minute or two, you are getting only a fraction of a minute of talk time into the phone.
Is it that, or are you cranking for a long period with no results?
When you crank, does the phone say “Charging”?
Hi Eccles - When I crank the handle, I get intermittent resistance. When I feel the resistance, the cell phone display registers as “charging” but the resistance disappears after a few cranks and the cell phone registers as “not charging.” I sent an email to the company (Eton) and got a speedy response, although I’m not sure if it will solve the problem because I can’t seem to control the resistance, no matter what speed I’m cranking. Here’s what they said:
“ . . .the way to tell that it’s charging is the ‘feel’ of the crank mechanism. If there’s resistance when you turn, it’s charging. If there’s no resistance, just lots of slack, it’s not charging. Different phone models require different crank rates, so be sure to experiment with crank rates too. Cranking at a steady rate once you’ve established the rate is crucial. We’ve learned that some phones do not show anything in the display, even though they’re actually charging.”
The other features (radio and lights) work very well with the crank, no issue with intermittent resistance when I’m using them—its just the cell phone. Good thing I tested it out before an emergency situation, thanks to this thread!
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