wind up radios

[emuchops]

has anyone tried a wind up digital radio? I d like to buy one but ive heard the battery life can be awful. Any advice much appreciated(on wind up radios,digital and non digital), as theyre quite pricey.
thanks

[chainfire]

I have a wind up analog radio/light. When using the radio, the battery life is fine, where I only need to wind it a few times. (However, the light uses a lot of energy, and drains the battery as fast as I can charge it up). About a digital radio, I don't know, but I suspect that it would take a lot of battery.

[WendyS]

Sorry, can't comment on a wind-up digital radio, but we have recently bought a couple of wind-up torches with no battery or light bulbs. They are absolutely fantastic and give off a really good light for about 40 minutes after being wound up for about a minute. Never again will I have to rely on a rarely used torch in my car at night only to find the battery has gone dead .

[Mattk]

i thought the whole point of a wind-up raio was that there was no battery ie runs on clockwork ?

[parkesquay]

Mattk it does seem daft doesn't it to talk about clockwork radios and then talk about rechargeable batteries. The original Inventor , Trevor Bayliss, designed the "clockwork radio" with the intention that they be used in rural Africa. They're radios powered by a hand-cranked electric generator. They never need new batteries or wall current, and they'll work anywhere that a radio signal can be heard. Some have additional features including a solar cell for charging the internal battery on sunny days, and a small spotlight. Some models have an electric outlet that can power other battery-driven devices, such as laptop computers, off the hand-cranked generator. The trouble was/is whilst the idea is brilliant manufacturing is expensive so variations have become a 'Yuppy' toy.

[chainfire]

WendyS, how can you have a wind up torch without any light bulbs? Just curious.

[Banjoman]

L E D's chainfire. (Light Emmiting Diodes) instead of bulbs.

[chainfire]

Oh yea, forgot about them :).