That would live forever, but with an eternal lantern ...

When I picked up this flashlight, I immediately remembered Duncan MacLeod, who would die only when his head was cut off. This "eternal" flashlight, like the immortal of the MacLeod clan, does not age, does not require batteries, it does not need light bulbs, neither ordinary nor energy-saving. He doesn't even have a battery that can grow old and stop charging. I really had a question, “what's the point?”. After all, we all know very well that releasing eternal things is not profitable. For the manufacturer is much more interesting to produce disposable items. Let's take a closer look at the “eternal” flashlight.



First, let's figure it out, but how does he even manage to shine? Did they finally think of a perpetual motion machine? No, it turns out to be much easier. A rather massive magnet inside (take care of your watch so that it does not magnetize or stop) produces a current when it passes through the coil. And for this you need a flashlight to shake well, up and down, up and down, faster, even faster ... UV, tired. Well, inside there is a capacitor that allows the flashlight to work even after it has ceased to shake. A LED is lit, though only one, which is hidden behind a massive focusing lens.
')

Through the transparent body of the flashlight you can see the magnet inside.


We carry out measurements. Almost completely discharged lamp, when its LED is barely noticeable, turn off and shake intensively for ten seconds. After that, the lamp more or less tolerably shone about three minutes, gradually reducing the luminous flux. By the fourth minute of the world was so little that we can say that it was discharged. You can shake the flashlight even when the light is on. From this, it only flashes quite brightly the moment the magnet passes through the coil. By the way, it is good to give signals to aliens, turn on and swing, one-two, one-two, and the flashlight flashes to the beat :)

I have a Sony LED mobile Sony Ericsson that can be used as a flashlight, which is always with you. For comparison: my Sony Ericsson flashlight, a meter away from the wall, gives a bright spot with a diameter of about one meter. "Eternal" flashlight gives a spot of light at the same distance of about 10 centimeters. However, he shines on. At a distance of five meters, the Sony Ericsson lantern already gives a barely visible backlight. In contrast to the "eternal lantern", which gives a light spot about a meter at a distance of five meters (if well shaken).

Now shake the lantern for one minute and see how much it will burn. I hope that the difference should be significant, shaking six times longer than the first time. Yes, and the Internet promises that one minute of shaking will allow the lamp to burn for thirty minutes. Honestly, after a minute of intense shaking, my hand began to fall off, but what could not be done for the sake of the experiment. And the thing is clearly not female. The length of the lamp is about 25 centimeters and the weight is almost 300 grams. To be absolutely accurate, then 298 (weighed on electronic scales).


The thing is not female, the length of the lamp is about 25 centimeters, and the weight is 298 grams

In life, obviously, you will not shake the lantern like that, and the result turned out to be not quite what you wanted. The lantern with great difficulty shone for about five minutes, certainly not 30, but I expected a result of at least fifteen minutes. It can be said that for the first three or four minutes it shone normally, and then it turned out the same way as the first time, the LED, of course, lights up, but barely, and can no longer illuminate anything. Yes, a capacitor is not a battery, shake it as much as you like, but it will shine for only three or four minutes.

I remembered from the same series a Soviet-era flashlight bug. Easier, pressed with two fingers (especially if you put a light bulb of less voltage). If I were given a choice of a Soviet bug and an eternal flashlight, I would choose the first one. Indeed, what a bug lacks is such a capacitor in order to put the lamp on, if necessary, to illuminate something, and not enough hands.

And so, for what you can use this "eternal" flashlight? Put at home, in order to highlight, if the ball rolled under the bed (a couple of seconds of shaking is enough). Highlight the counter on the stairs to write off how much electricity you have consumed (if you have poor eyesight). Highlight yourself if the electricity is turned off (to find a candle and a lighter). If you have such a phone as mine, then it is better to give this lantern to some summer resident. As a gift, it looks original.

Now we come to the question asked at the beginning. And how profitable to produce such a lantern? After all, he bought it once, and no longer need batteries, no need to buy anything. And very profitable. First of all. It is inconvenient to use it, despite the fact that it is beautiful and transparent. It shines a little and weakly, and you need to shake often (the hand falls off). You realize this only when you try to use it like a regular lantern, and not just to have fun shining, not shining. Yes, and heavy, I do not advise taking a hike. And secondly, he has a rather caustic plastic, i.e. it is enough to drop it a couple of times, and the flashlight is covered.

And drop it very easy. Design engineers have decided that the lamp doesn’t live forever. Let the consumer think that the lamp is “eternal”, and we will make the shape of the lamp round, and not just, but perfect round. If you try to put him on the table, then he, as if alive, immediately seeks to slide to the edge. If you put it vertically, the position is quite unstable (we remember that it is a long and heavy magnet just in the handle) and touch it slightly enough as it falls and begins to roll to the edge. Just turn away, like that "hryas" on the floor and is no longer MacLeod ... After all, living forever is so boring!