Is a crank phone charger worth buying?

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DonkeyWriter@reddit

I've found they tend to break after one or two uses. A small solar panel setup would probably be better.

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DragonfruitWaste3589@reddit

I would rather go for something like a Folding Solar Panel that can provide a little better versatility including hiking and camping trips.

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WinLongjumping1352@reddit

Doesn't work in nuclear winter though, lol ;-)

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Chemical-Thing2113@reddit

You'll have much bigger issues to handle than keeping a phone charged in that situation lol

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Lamalaju@reddit

Imagine it’s nuclear winter and you are there cranking your phone charger to Insta an inspiring picture of your new way to serve a can of beans

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smsff2@reddit

Crank is completely useless. After solar panels were invented, crank has no use, even once in a lifetime.

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_Losing_Generation_@reddit

Extend when there's an extended snow storm and general cloudy weather.

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It's too bad that pedal-powered dynamos are so rare (and mostly only DIY projects). The relevant muscles are a lot larger than the ones in your hand and forearm, so you could charge a battery much faster, with less exhaustion.

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BikePathToSomewhere@reddit

There were great videos of after Sandy of people in new York charing phones with pedal powered generators

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OdesDominator800@reddit

Well, next on the agenda is mice, rats, or squirrels on a squirrel cage hooked to a small dyno, and the ones that don't perform well end up on the rotisserie. Anything homemade using a 1950's car generator that doesn't require a battery to kickstart a current will work. Lots of us bolted them and a motor to a 2x12 plank back in the day. Popular Mechanics even had the plans for us back then.

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RonJohnJr@reddit

Lots of us bolted them and a motor to a 2x12 plank back in the day.

Sweet! My daughter can get her StairMaster workout...

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MySmokeIsOut@reddit

No way. My crank radio brought me soooo much comfort our last hurricane. It kept my mind busy, the sound kept me distracted from the wind and roof ripping, It really helped me. I am not sure if solar panels work in over cast or not... but it was over cast two days before. Also, nobody believed it was coming here... I highly recommend not listening to local news for any weather... the nerds/scientists on yt call it out 2 weeks ahead vs 2 days ahead but nobody wants to believe them...

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Slater_8868@reddit

Ever been to Alaska during winter? Better start cranking if you want to be able to use your gear during Polar Night

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RonJohnJr@reddit

I don't live anywhere near Alaska, and have no intention of going.

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Slater_8868@reddit

But a lot of people do, and you made the general statement that after solar panels were invented the crank power has no use even once in a lifetime. So I provided a valid use case for the technology

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RonJohnJr@reddit

Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Generator-Protection-Children-Classroom-generating/dp/B07ZTSJM4Y

Apparently, it can be bolted to the floor, too, and switch the hand pegs for foot pedals.

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Slater_8868@reddit

They used to have dynamos that attached to the tire of a stationary exercise bike. It would generate electricity as you peddled.

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smsff2@reddit

I provided a valid use case for the technology

Alright, you win. Not just anywhere in Alaska, but in very specific parts of Alaska within the Arctic Circle. If I were in Prudhoe Bay or Barrow, I might consider keeping a hand-crank radio for a once-in-a-lifetime event. Anywhere else—particularly in or around Cincinnati—it makes absolutely no sense.

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RonJohnJr@reddit

u/smsff2 did, not me. Even then, I agree that the little hand cranks on flashlights are useless. Now, the two-handed crank dynamos used by the military in WW2 (that look like little bicycle pedals except with handles) would be pretty useful, since they use bigger muscles, have larger flywheels, etc.

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Complex_Material_702@reddit

Rig it up to a fishing reel and you can double task!

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ChrisLS8@reddit

Id rather shit in my hands and clap. Get a good bank and a Big Blue solar charger

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Big_Ed214@reddit

Nope. Go solar, 5v 2Amp minimum. Even better and more useful is 12v and at least 500mA with a built in usb point.

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_-Burninat0r-_@reddit

Most have both. Solar and a crank.

The solar is nice and you can leave it out all day to charge fairly decently.

The crank is perfect for the radio and the flashlight. Radio uses very little energy. But cranking to charge a phone takes forever.

500Mah USB is nothing btw better get 2000+.

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TheNickelLady@reddit

Any links to these items?

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Aggravating_Voice573@reddit

Youd be cranking for hours

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MySmokeIsOut@reddit

Lort I cranked my dang weather radio for so long during last hurricane... I can't imagine cranking that mess to charge a dang phone... but your ass i'd crank it to do it though

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Dependent-Ad1927@reddit

That's exactly it. I needed mine in a hurricane and it was useless

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_-Burninat0r-_@reddit

And still only charge your phone like 10%.

Cranks are useful for those radios that come with a small solar panel as well and function as a. Power bank. 15 mins if cranking and you've got radio for like an hour.

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AlphaDisconnect@reddit

Ah, the shake charger. Run a marathon 2 inches at a time to full charge.

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7f00dbbe@reddit

Well... if the power's out, I reckon I'll have plenty of time for a good cranking.

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MindlessFail@reddit

Ok but this is actually what happened during The Blitz of London. For real, London had a baby spike because people spent hours sheltering…

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International_Bend68@reddit

Naughty!

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PrepperBoi@reddit

Crank with your left so you can crank with your right 😂

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Walfy07@reddit

cranky***

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Dependent-Ad1927@reddit

I was in hurricane Ian and had my kit with me. I wasn't totally screwed but it helped me figure out what I was missing. I had a hand crank phone charger and eff that. You'd have to crank for hours and hours to get a charge. Absolutely not worth it.

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Vegetaman916@reddit

No advice for you on the crank charger...

However, the phone itself is incredibly valuable post-collapse.

Yes, photos.

Also, downloaded satalite imagery of your area. Topographic maps, also downloaded. Many gigabytes of data such as PDF book collections, manuals for every possible need, and so on.

Also, the camera. Using the zoom feature helps it function as binoculars. Some, like my Ulefone, have FLIR built-in as well for thermal imaging. Plus, being able to take pictures of things you come across to save will be important.

Also, the sensors. From altimeters and the compass to the accelerometer and such, there are many offline tool apps and programs you can get to take advantage of these.

There are also good offline inertial navigation systems that don't use GPS.

Having a stylus pen, allows you to write and save quick notes.

The list goes on, but as far as being many tools in one, having your smartphone prepped for collapse is extremely important.

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BigRobCommunistDog@reddit

Even in most disaster scenarios, wouldn’t GPS satellites stay online for months if not years?

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Vegetaman916@reddit

Depending... in a nuclear war scenario, for example, or a solar flare like the Carrington Event, who knows what the stuff in orbit will look like.

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Cute-Consequence-184@reddit

Nope

You can't crank them fast or they break.

And they were originally for flip phones that had limited power needs. For smart phones... You can crank for an hour to get maybe 3 minutes of talk. I've cranked for 30 to just get it to turn my phone on to show me it hah zero power then it died.

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Japi1882@reddit

I remeber trying to use one of those wind up radios after hurricane Sandy and it was exhausting. Can’t imagine what you would need to charge a phone.

Bigger issue though is that if you have a widespread power outage the cellphone towers close to you are probably gone too. It does help to put your phone airplane mode though as soon as you loose power. Searching for a signal kills the battery.

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AverageIowan@reddit

I’ll be the contrarian and say this - a large majority of the catastrophes you’ll encounter will not be collapse. A lot of us have been through disasters. None of us (the Americans) have been through collapse.

Even when my region was without power for 12 days the phones stayed up (they were down for about a half hour). The phone was pretty handy calling on friends and family to ensure they were ok.

A hand crank fills a niche.

Something like a Jackery or other battery storage with a solar set up is great, and recommend it for sure. But there isn’t always adequate sun, and you don’t always want to wait for it to charge. A cloudy day or nightfall takes out your entire system over time.

I don’t know your geographical position or what you worry about, but imagine a large storm, a derecho or tornado, comes through. Your phone is near dead, and you need to go to the basement.

Battery packs would be good, but a hand crank as a back up will keep your phone from dying completely when/if somehow that wasn’t available. I don’t think it’s something you’d rely on to recharge your phone to 100% power, but it can easily get you up to 15-20% and keep you topped off.

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Ok_Course1325@reddit

That hand crank will take literally 24 hours straight of cranking to get you 10% battery.

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Hot-Profession4091@reddit

More like 30-45 minutes, but you’re not going to want to keep going after that.

Source: I tested mine. Zero battery on the weather radio. Zero battery on my phone.

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7f00dbbe@reddit

watts in equals watts out, minus efficiency losses....

competitive cyclists at peak fitness will produce about 5 watts per kilogram of bodyweight

the most recent iPhones have roughly around 12-18 Watt-Hour battery capacity

you would have to push yourself past the energy output of a Tour de France rider for 2 solid hours to charge a modern phone once

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Hot-Profession4091@reddit

I tested charging my phone off a solar/crank emergency radio about 15 yrs ago. If the battery is fully charged, it will charge your phone. If it’s empty and you have to crank, you might get a text out. Personally, I think that’s worth it. A single text during an emergency might make a difference.

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IGetNakedAtParties@reddit

Dynamos are inherently complicated and fragile and you'll likely break it before reaching 5W of power, an AA cell holds about 3Wh and an 18650 lithium cell 10Wh so you'll have to crank hard for over half an hour or 2 hours respectively to replace these cheap, lightweight cells. You might burn 150kcal cranking for 30 minutes, that's 35g of food Vs 25g of battery.

Solar on the other hand can deliver it's rated power for about 2.5 hours a day on average (some days 5h, others 0) so a 300g 10W panel can deliver an average of 25Wh per day, that's nearly the same as 3 X 18650 cells which weigh about 150g, so the payback is only 2 or 3 days (of course practically you'll want both battery cells and solar to ride through the rainy days).

The calculation isn't quite as positive for the mini solar cells stuck to devices like these, they are typically 1W and are only good enough to top up batteries in storage. It could take a month of good sunlight to charge this powerbank with the included solar panel.

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Ordinary-Fact5913@reddit

I have one and it really sucks to be spinning that thing for so long.

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OnTheEdgeOfFreedom@reddit

You're worried about collapse scenarios and you're concerned about your phone and your photos? Wouldn't it make sense to worry about all the people who will be looking for food and thinking your supplies - or you - might be just the thing?

I never understand what people mean by collapse; for me it means US infrastructure has failed and food's not being shipped. Between starvation and violence the death toll would be enormous. No one will be thinking of phones in that hail of bullets.

That said, I think a solar charger will work better than a hand crank. It takes a lot of cranking to charge anything.

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TooBasedToocringe@reddit

If you’ve got the time to waste by cranking that thing for five hours to hit 100%, then yes

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Smash_Shop@reddit

In your dreams. 5 hours might hit 10%. Most of those hand crank chargers I've seen are something like 10:1 charging to using ratio.

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TooBasedToocringe@reddit

We’re both making the same point here bruh

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rvlifestyle74@reddit

In many scenarios, a cell phone would be useless. Power being out long term, cyber attack, etc. The only thing I could think of for a cell in those situations would be to watch previously downloaded porn. After cranking your charger for countless hours, your hand would no longer be capable of cranking yourself. This is all a joke obviously. But I think solar would be the way to go. A hand crank radio on the other hand is a great idea. Same with flashlights.

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Usagi_Shinobi@reddit

It will depend on the specific scenario. Most of the things you encounter like that are poorly built junk, and even if you did get a good one, how long do you really want to be sitting there cranking on the thing to charge one device? You'd be better off with a solar setup or an actual generator and battery bank/inverter.

As far as the usefulness of a phone goes, that will vary greatly based on both the device capabilities and how much of a collapse occurs. It wouldn't be all that difficult to set up a small community cell network, if you've got the amount of power generation needed to run it. Even without that, you can store an awful lot of e-books about a whole host of topics, and if your phone is spec'd high enough, you can have many hundreds of thousands of them. Entertainment of any sort will be at a premium, so storing music would be ideal, maps still are useful without GPS functionality, and every phone these days is a decent flashlight in a pinch.

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whatenn999@reddit

99% of this kind of stuff on Amazon is scammy bullshit from China. You'll be lucky if it works even once, let alone long-term.

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jnyquest@reddit

4 patriot sells a solar battery bank which would be better. However, a hand crank beats nothing.

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tianavitoli@reddit

for the same space you can carry... a really big battery

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1GrouchyCat@reddit

🤔That IS is a really big battery -

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Kayakboy6969@reddit

Only if you have a drill to turn the the handel.

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SomeDumbCnt@reddit

I'd say a phone is absolutely worth keeping, save books on it. Hell, save wikipedia. Plus, there are many disaster scenarios. Back to the bronze age is among the least likely.

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TrilobiteBoi@reddit

I just got one of those emergency radios for like $25. It has a radio, flashlight, solar or crank charging, can also be charged by USB, and has a USB you can use to charge devices. Seems like a reasonable middle ground option.

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Angylisis@reddit

I have a small solar panel that will charge all small devices even my iPad

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adavis463@reddit

Solar is much easier, but if you're set on a crank charger get an emergency radio with a crank. That way you get some extra utility.

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captaindomon@reddit

Buy this guy instead. It’s cheaper anyway and they work awesome. I have three of the slightly bigger size for $64 and love them.

https://a.co/d/bdTWBDZ

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captaindomon@reddit

2nd question response: you are much, much, much more likely to use something like this during a local disaster, like a fire, a tornado, a hurricane, an earthquake, or just a power outage. In those cases, the phone is exceedingly helpful to have and keep charged. You really shouldn’t prep for end of the world, you should prep for Tuesday in my opinion.

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