Solar And Crank Powered Radios

Solar And Crank Powered Radios

Many people today are acquiring a solar crank radio as part of their home emergency preparedness kits for any potential natural disasters. Hurricane Katrina, the wild fires of Southern California, and the string of blizzards this Winter has caused many people to realize how unprepared they are for these uncontrollable forces of nature. Every home should have one of these kits stored away somewhere safe and it should include a first aid kit, some canned goods, water sanitizing tables, several flashlights, and a solar crank radio. This last item is one that many do not consider much at first, but after a while you realize that having some form of communication with the outside world will be a must. These radios are quite amazing, as they are completely self contained regarding power as you it can either us a solar panel for energy, or you can crank the handle to generate electricity. Let us take a closer look at these unique radios, and find out how they can help you become prepared for the worst. The very first thing to realize is that these very cool and powerful solar crank radios can either be powered with batteries you supply, or powered by plugging them in to a wall socket and run off standard house hold electricity. Many units will also have a way to plug in a USB cable to a computer to charge the battery pack that comes with it. That is all fine and well, but they can also be powered by either solar power or by hand crank generator. These radios have a small solar panel located on it and all you need to do is exposure it to a source of light or outside to sunlight and it will charge the built in Ni MH battery pack. These specialized battery packs are supposed to be recharged to ninety percent of their capacity for over ten years, so they are quite good at what they do. The panel comes attached with hinges so you can rotate it to gather the most direct source of light. Solar is fine but when it is cloudy or gets dark you have a problem, and this is where the crank generator comes in. These units have a handle on the side and you turn it to rotate the self enclosed generator, which in turns powers up the built in battery pack. You generally will have to turn the generator for several minutes to get about one minute of life in to the batteries, and the solar unit is much easier to use. Most of these solar crank radios will come with several different bands of radio. Of course they all come standard with the public radio bands like AM and FM, and tuning in to these stations is very simple to do. What makes them also very special is that many units will come with the short wave frequencies as well. Short wave frequencies will allow you to tune in to many home operated radio broadcasts which are ideal in emergency situations. Some of these radios will also come with special radio bands like weather, police, fire, or marine radio signals which are extremely helpful in emergency and disaster situations. You will find the short wave and specialized radio stations will get the clearest and best reception at night, while daytime signals are somewhat limited. Some of these special radios come with their own antennae that uncoils and you can string them across the room. If you are thinking about adding to your home emergency preparedness kit then you ought to consider adding a solar crank radio available. Find out more information, reviews, and availability for a solar crank radio by visiting http://solarcrankradio.com