Human power generators are ideal for preparedness as they are the ultimate backup. They will always work anywhere anytime and deliver full power right away.
Our hand crank generator is the best hand crank on the market and is perfect for charging cell phones, rechargeable lanterns, flashlights, radios and portable electronics you recharge from a USB. It can also be used with other devices with inadequate hand cranks on them if they have the ability to recharge from a USB or other wall outlet making the device usable.
What makes our hand crank different from other hand cranks is it’s a 10 watt generator. It is the largest pocket size on the market. It also has hand and arm sized grips and crank arm length. The plastic is a durable polycarbonate blend and four times the wall thickness of models designed and made in China.
Please see our videos and K-TOR YouTube channel.
Our 50 watt pedal generator is small (the size of a shoe box) and light weight (5.5 pounds), but has all the advantages of a pedal generator. You can pedal comfortably for long periods of time. It can be used to charge any sealed lead acid battery.
The unit is designed to be screwed down (highly recommended). This provides for a stable base so that the unit can be pedaled easily for long periods of time. Look at our videos to see how to charge a 12 volt battery.
Depending on your system, this may be used to operate a water well pump or furnace fan and electronics. After the last ice storm I rewired my household gas furnace to run off of an inverter and deep cycle battery. The battery, of course, can recharge from our pedal generator. If you would like information on this please contact us.
Refrigerators and air conditioners typically consume too much power. Consider a fan and dried or preserved food.
References
300 Watt Modified Sine Wave Inverter
150 Watt Modified Sine Wave Inverter
Charging AA, AAA and CR123A Batteries
We are often asked what size battery or inverter to buy. Start with what you are trying to do. As an example, how can you run your heat when the power is out? Inverters are not very expensive and a 1000 watt inverter has plenty of power. Looking at the furnace at your home it should be about 300 watts. Since one horsepower is 750 watts, 300 watts is a 1/3 horsepower motor on the furnace fan. I have a 32 ah battery so this is about 384 watt hours. This means I can run my furnace off of this battery, continuously, for an hour. In the case of a power outage I would run my furnace for 15 minutes continuously four times. I would estimate twice a day for two days at 15 minutes each to stave off the cold. If I wanted to run more frequently or more days I would get more batteries or a bigger one. An inverter is about $80 and a 32 ah deep cycle battery $63. Below are the links to the advanced power box guide and the government guide to energy use for appliances.
The same kind of calculations can be made with any intended application. Let us know if you need help.
Also consider the Cree Rechargeable Flashlight sold on our website. We usually do not sell products made by others but have been asked frequently on recommendations of flashlights. We tested many hand crank flashlights and lanterns and found them all poor quality. We came across rechargeable flashlights and liked this one because of the size, cost, brightness and integrated USB charging connector. This prevents the inevitable problem of finding the charger. We tested this product and have found it good enough to sell on our website.
If there is anything you would like to see in this section please contact us.