This is a hack for turning a fairly useless, dim, shake to recharge torch, into a torch which is bright, long lasting and can still be recharged but not just by shaking. This type of torch usually charges via shaking, and a magnet slides between two coils and charges a tiny three cell battery. The battery is small so it charges quickly while shaking, but needs almost continue shaking to maintain brightness, this is a bit of a pain.
What i did is i took the torch apart and rewired it with a bigger battery for both more brightness and more storage, the three LED's i wired all in parallel and a re-did the circuit board as it didn't have a diode between the coils and the battery, which meant some power was going back into the coils.
Because of the bigger battery it would take longer to charge so i made an adaption so it can be charges by either, shaking, like previously, the movement of a tree branch in the wind, or a fluttering wind generator. These all work by pulling the magnet up and down via a string, so almost any movement could be harness, like the turbulent flow of a stream or flapping of a flag.
I found the best way to charge this, is to clip the string to one corner of a t-shirt on your washing line when you are camping, the flapping of your clothing creates plenty of up and down movement to charge your torch.
Step 1: Tools and materials required.
- Soldering Iron and Solder
- Craft Knife
- hot glue gun
- One shake to recharge torch
- A old cordless phone battery
- Small piece of strip board
- some nylon string
- Balsa sheet
- tooth picks