Eton Hand crank charger t1
Another $12 ebay special – These can sell as high as $60 which is ridiculous, but if you can get one for $12 shipped, I’d say it’s a good deal. For $60 you can buy a portable panel which outputs around 15 watts at the USB, and still have $15 left over for a 3500mAh single 18650 panasonic cell powerbank compared to a trickle charged 2000mAh powerbank. 🙂
This Eton handcrank turbine 2000 (mAh) was converted to direct output instead of running off lithium cells.
Output is ~1.25 watts @5v – normal cranking speed. The max power I could get was around ~4 watts, at a fast cranking speed, although I could not crank it at this level for very long. Not a significant output, or a particularly efficient generator, but it is decent for $12 shipped, and can at least give a small charge if all else fails.
I believe a handcrank should serve the purpose of providing power via a handcrank generator, and not just hide a battery inside and call it a handcrank generator. Removing the batteries gives this device actual longevity for emergency situaltions vs what it is in it’s original state which is just a cheap powerbank which will expire as soon as the cells die, and become unusable. I since have installed a murata 5v regulator inside/ also utilizing 2 of the original capacitors for the input/output smoothing, for normal USB output.
