.99 Hand Crank Flashlight

I got this cheap .99¢ hand crank flashlight.  It's not the kind that the handle is tucked away in it then you release it and then you crank it around in a circle.  This is the kind that you squeeze it and it turns these gears inside the flashlight.  It's even see through so you can see for yourself.



Well my bicycle light that runs off the generator that I've been relying on, the light bulb went out so I have to wait until Chip needs to go to Home Depot so I can buy more lights.  In the meantime I've been using this light that I got from the dollar store that uses 4 AA batteries.  Well, the batteries died after 2 uses and each use is about 1 hour before the sun comes up.

So I decided that since I have this hand crank light that I will take it with me on the bike trail but I was having to hold it in my mouth because I didn't know how else I was supposed to use it lol.  So the next day I used black electrical tape to tape it to the handlebars but the only problem is that I couldn't crank it to charge it and I couldn't turn the switch on and off very easily because of the tape.

So the day after that I decided that it needs to be mounted.  I mean like mounted mounted.  Not just taped or use that double stick tape or something.



Yeah, you can see that I got creative with it lol.  The screws I found in the tool shed were twice as long as this, in fact they were attached to some molly bolts but I had some nuts that fit them.  So I sized the screws up to the length I thought would be appropriate then I cut them with the hacksaw then I filed them at the ends so that the nuts could go on easily.  Then as you can see I used one of those garden hose repair kits, I discarded the piece that you stick into the hose and I just kept the piece that gets screwed onto the outside of the hose.  I had to drill the holes that the screws were in so that the holes were big enough for these screws that I used to fit inside, also the bottoms needed to be open.

I mounted this onto my handlebars where the dollar store light went and it worked great for 2 days.  Then today, the third day, I was on the bike trail then all of a sudden the light began to fade out until there was no more light.  So, while riding I began to crank it.  Nothing.  I cranked it and cranked it for a couple of minutes.  Nothing.  No light came out of it.

The sun started to come up so I gave up on it and figured I would have to probably take it apart because apparently I didn't put it back together properly when I screwed the holes into the casing to mount this.  Well, it was fine.  There was nothing wrong with the way I put it back together.  I don't understand why it's doing this to me now.  It was just a .99¢ light but that's totally not the point.  It's supposed to turn back on from cranking it.

Anyway, I'm gonna have to find another way lol.  Maybe I'll ask Chip if he can bring me to the Home Depot for the light bulb for the generator light since that is my other free alternative to having a light and not needing batteries.