Emergency Flashlight Now

Shake flashlights came on the scene a few years ago and made a big splash among parents and emergency preparedness fans alike: both groups tired of the hassles of buying and replacing flashlight batteries.  Since then, these lights seem to have fallen out of favor a bit, but don’t discount them as part of your emergency lighting plan.

Shake flashlights are sometimes called Faraday flashlights because they were developed using a principle discovered by Michael Faraday back in the early 1800s.  The principle is that when you pass a magnet through a coil of wire a small electrical current is created.  When you shake these flashlights, you are moving a magnet through a coil; the current created is stored in a small capacitor in the flashlight and then released when you turn the flashlight on.

Benefits of Shake Flashlights

1. They don’t need batteries.  No batteries to buy.  No batteries to store.  No batteries to go dead.  No batteries to replace.
2. Because they don’t have batteries, shake flashlights work well for long term storage such as in your 72 hour kit, the trunk of your car, or put away for emergency use only.  They also store well in higher temperatures where batteries lose their charge even faster.

Drawbacks of Shake Flashlights

1. You have to shake them to get them to work.  This seems elementary, but should be taken into consideration; you don’t want to rely on a shake light when you have hours of work in the dark ahead of you.
2. They’re not as bright as battery operated flashlights.
3. They contain strong magnets which may be harmful near electronics (including computers), credit cards, and pacemakers.

What to Look For When Purchasing a Shake Flashlight

First of all, look for a reputable brand/company.  A lot of the bad press surrounding these shake lights is the fact that there are many fakes on the market–flashlights that look and act like a shake light, but actually just have a big piece of metal to shake in them with some small batteries to actually power the light bulb.

Second, make sure you’re getting LED bulbs.  These bulbs last longer and use less energy than a traditional incandescent flashlight bulb.

Third, pay attention to quality details.  The magnet and coil inside may last forever, but if the casing, switch, or lens are cheap, the flashlight will not.  I like a flashlight made of a high quality plastic and prefer that it floats.  You may also look for some glow in the dark features which allow you to find this flashlight in the dark (a great idea when you’re turning it off and on to save power).

Are Shake Flashlights the Only lights you need?

We at Emergency Flashlight Now don’t recommend any single emergency light source as your only emergency light source, but we certainly recommend a high quality shake flashlight as an integral part of your emergency lighting plan.