Recycled Servo Flashlight

The purpose of the crank is to recharge the flashlight. That is a little unclear in the video because the light is already charged.

This was a quick solution to boredom - it is a gutted servo so its just a geared DC motor. Driving a motor shaft produces electricity which is stored in a capacitor and used to power the LED. It only stays lit for about 5 minutes but never requires a battery change so is good for emergencies.

http://tearsoffire.org/twiki/bin/view/Projects/WindupFlashlight

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• make
• electronics
• hacking

[cougarvt]

I just updated the description. See the project site for more information. Thanks for looking.

The crank is used to charge/recharge the flashlight.

[bestsellerseries]

wot kind of bat did you use?

[cougarvt]

its uses a 0.22 farad capacitor, there is no battery.

[firedude201234]

i think a cr2032 lithium ion battery would last longer just an idea i believe it would fit in the housing

[claydude333]

you could improve this even more by attatching something to the servo to crank it easier... like a handle.

cool little emergency thing.

[joeyisfunny]

Its basically a little generator.

[joeyisfunny]

When you plug the wires of a servo to a battery, electricity comes in, turning the servo right? Well, when YOU turn the servo, electricity goes OUT through the wires. Soooo if you hook a capacitor up to those wires, it will store the energy coming out of the wires and can power a small device like an LED.

[rodstartube]

hah funny

[heribertor88]

sweet. I'm going to build one of these, but with a reflective cover. I have a lot of bad servos that I thought were useless.

[Marcivo]

Haha! Sweet! That's rather clever.