Jim Kukula

I am using "dynamo" to refer to a device that transforms mechanical energy into electrical energy. There's a good variety of flashlights, radios, flashlight-radio combinations, and other sorts of emergency preparedness gear that incorporate a dynamo power device, just because batteries are not very good for emergency preparedness gear.

I have an old NightStar flashlight in my car, that uses a shake dynamo: Shake Flashlights Info

In my storage unit I keep a different dynamo flashlight, that uses a crank. That storage unit is in a cavernous warehouse whose lighting is controlled by timers. When I come into the warehouse, I crank the timers to get about half an hour of lighting. I walk back to my storage unit, get deep into the boxes trying to find something, a half hour elapses and the warehouse lights turn off. Very happy to have my flashlight with me!

A few years ago my partner's son was practicing Aikido with a group. They met in a barn way out in the country. To pick him up I would have to park down the road a way. It could get mighty dark out there! That flashlight in my car got a lot of use. I have used it when I got a flat tire, getting the lug wrench properly onto the lug bolts, or the jack squarely under the car, etc. Can be good too if you really get stuck and have to walk to find help. Oh yeah I carry chains in the trunk. They are tricky to put on the tires. The flashlight is useful for that, too, to see what I am doing down there in the snow.