Crank Radio has a New Meaning

Sept. 1, 2004

The Upper Peninsula got hit by an unseasonal gale last week: wind gusts to 50 miles an hour and waves on Lake Superior building to 15 feet. No surprise that a tree took down the power grid to remind us how dependent we have become on electricity. There we sat by candlelight, staring at a black TV screen. Fortunately, my son-in-law Charles had just given us a wind-up radio so we could tune in to the local generator-powered radio station for the latest reports.
What? A radio you wind up like an old alarm clock? Yes!
This is not like the bright yellow, May West, crank-operated, distress signal transmitters supplied with life rafts for downed pilots in World War II. Those weighed enough to be used as an anchor. The emergency receiver we have weighs just over a pound.
Wind-up radios were developed about 15 years ago for use in the African outback where batteries are scarce and expensive. The principal is this: a hand crank on the radio winds up a generator spring with an estimated life of 10,000 hours. Turn the radio on and the fully wound generator will keep your radio playing for 40 hours. Crank the spring for one minute and the radio will play for over an hour.
The newer models also have a solar panel, so as long as you’ve set the radio in direct sunlight you can charge the battery. If it’s set in the sun during the day, the charged battery will keep the radio playing at night.
The battery is said to have a life of about 5,000 hours. Unfortunately, although the label on the radio says the battery can be recycled, there’s no provision for replacement once it dies.
There is also a line converter you can use to charge the battery off house current, converting 110 AC to 6 volt DC. It takes 24 hours plugged into house current to fully charge the battery for 40 hours of play time.
The model we have is the Outrider AM/FM sold by Coleman, makers of those famous camp stoves and other outdoor equipment, but there are more versatile models made by the venerable German firm Grundig and Baygren. The Grundig version has two short wave bands in addition to AM/FM and the fancier models also have an LED flashlight.
LEDs are the latest development in low power flashlights. Originally LEDs, those tiny lights used in coffee makers and on instrument panels, came only in red, green, or yellow. By combining all three you get a white light, a source that will practically never burn out like an ordinary filament bulb.
Coleman sells its wind-up Sentinel flashlight separately, but some manufacturers include a flashlight feature with the radio. Prices range from about $40 to over $150 for the deluxe models.
On the west coast we are advised to keep a supply of drinking water, food, flashlights and batteries on hand in case of an earthquake or extended power outage. As a spelunker I always carried three sources of light: my carbide helmet lamp, a flashlight, and a candle. We knew that a flashlight’s batteries would last only about 20 minutes in a pitch dark cave. Too bad back then we didn’t have flashlights you could crank! When the power grid goes down it’s hard to put a price on the value of a radio or flashlight that needs no batteries, not ever.
Back in Africa, the crank and solar-powered radios were so highly prized that instead of making a deal for cattle, you could trade one of these radios for a wife. The radio comes with a two-year guarantee, but if you intend to trade one for a wife you may not want to mention that, as in “The radio died; send my daughter back!”
Sitting at home in the gloom of a single candle, it was comforting to have that emergency AM/FM radio at hand. It puts out a strong signal and has a good tone. The only thing I’d add would be a push-button LED light so I could see the dial when tuning for my favorite station.
Our power grid is back on, but sooner or later we’ll have another gale. Thanks in part to our crank radio, we’ll be ready.