Indians For Guns

A very interesting torch

Hi all.
In my recent trip to Mysore, I went to an exhibition where I came across a stall that was selling indigenious (Supposedly) flash lights of various types. The best part of this is that it has a winding mechanism, and 2 minutes of winding can give 20 minutes of light!
The winding mechanism is a foldable lever that latches pretty well, and can be easily opened for some effortless winding.

I picked up a couple, as in the pic below. This one costed me 100 INR, and the others were in the range of 60 to 500 INR. The varieties available were keychain light (1 LED), Hand light (2 LED), Flash light with rotating head (6+1 LED), and Lantern type (6+1 LED).
I am pretty much impressed with the one I got, and the finish is damn good. Does not throw light a lot, but is pretty decent and considering that no kind of electric charging or batteries is ever needed, this is surely one good thing for us anglers, campers and car owners.
The lantern is a good recommend for campers. The best part is that it is manufactured in Bangalore, and I was, for once, happy with the 'Indian Maal', and am posting this to push such entreuprenuers
I am contacting the owner who makes it and will see if he can give any discount for IFG-ians, considering that this can be one good bulk order for him.
Will post more information of products and prices, once I get in touch with the manufacturer.

Very interesting Anand! I would definitely be interested in the larger /lantern version.I agree, if indigenously produced it should be supported.
Regards,
Yaj.

That's a great product Anand. Good find. Let's go check out his factory sometime.

ashok

there are similar ones that i have seen at crawford market and lamington road (mumbai). the ones that i have seen involve a coil inside the torch body. the coil is moved inside a magnetic field which produces and EMF which charges a battery. (the body of the troch is made of transparent plastic so we can actually see the coil moving in the body)

The problem with these torches are that they are not very strong and due to the movement involved do not last long. i had one with me for a few months but only used it if my maglite died out. the torch cost me 60/-

regards,
Parag

tenx, does that have a neck strap on it or is there a provision to attach one?

Parag

archer";p="59186 wrote: tenx, does that have a neck strap on it or is there a provision to attach one?

It does come with a short strap, already fitted. However, one could remove this and put in a neck strap too.

archer";p="59185 wrote: there are similar ones that i have seen at crawford market and lamington road (mumbai). ...

I had seen one earlier too, almost 2 years ago, which did not have a crank, but a press-type charging mechanism. Initial use made me feel like it was sub-standard.
But this one that I mentioned above, has a good finish and seems sturdy enough for it to be mentioned

if they are sturdy enough, they should be a good unit to carry around. thanx for sharing.

regards,
Parag

Good find TenX.

Some feedback...
I wound the torch 2250 times and it lasted for over 4 hours, with about 40 minutes of full bright. Takes atleast 400 cranks on a fully exhausted torch to give a 'good' brightness...
Contacted the guy who makes it, but he is on a pilgrimage and will return back on monday. More info as and when I get it...

These are pretty simple mechanism.. you have a small dynamo which charges a capacitor, not a battery, and hence the chances of failure is very low. in any case no one tries to repair such items. I guess this should easily last 2-3 yrs of general use, provided the components are of good quality.

diskaon";p="59803 wrote: These are pretty simple mechanism.. you have a small dynamo which charges a capacitor, not a battery, and hence the chances of failure is very low. in any case no one tries to repair such items. I guess this should easily last 2-3 yrs of general use, provided the components are of good quality.

Thanks for the info... I also found some info on the web... and some of this is actually patented by some major companies like Nokia, etc...

For the 100 bucks I paid, 6 months of use would be more than adequate. Matter of fact, I am proposing to buy 6 of these for my layout security, 3 for work force, etc... It will work out cheaper than the cost of batteries over 3 months... and is eco friendly too

Hey anand,

see if this guy has something like this..

http://cgi.ebay.in/New-Rechargable-Torc ... 240%3A1318

I had bought one for Rs. 100 some time back .. but lost it.. it was quite a good and practical torch..though it was Chinese made


one more interesting torch here is the shake torch...
http://cgi.ebay.in/Shake-Torch-with-Bil ... 240%3A1318


diskaon

the second link, thats the one that i had. they are not very reliable. the throw of the light is very good, but they wont last long.

Parag