Freeplay Product Line – Power Independence!

When you stop and think about it, the age of technological wonder we live can never fail to amaze. Established limitations seem to be routinely overcome on a weekly basis, allowing us to do things that seemed science fiction a few years ago. For example, consider cell phones, satellite navigation or handheld music/video players capable for storing days of content. Despite these fantastic gadgets that rely on incredible high tech, sometimes it is the confluence of a series of clever ideas that really impresses. I was struck by this when I took a look at the products of Freeplay Energy (http://www.freeplayenergy.com).

Freeplay was formed from the ideas of the British inventor Trevor Baylis, who designed an innovative hand-crank system for powering radios in third-world countries, where mains electricity and batteries are hard to come by. Freeplay now supplies a range of products that rely on the technology, and by bringing together the handcrank power system, LED lighting technology and some intelligent marketing they have a strong product line that is well worth a look.

The key characteristics of the line nowadays incorporate rechargeable batteries into many of the devices as well as the hand-crank. The idea is that you charge before you head out into the field, but when the power gets low you have the handcrank to fall back on, so you will never be stuck with a useless device with flat batteries away from a power source. Everything comes with intelligent charging from the handcranking, including an LED indicator to signify when you cranking speed is optimally recharging the device. In practice, I found that a minute of hard work could give me around half an hour of power, dependent on load and features used.

They still do the AM/FM radio, though it has gone on a serious diet since I saw Trevor Baylis promoting his original device. It is now not much larger than a typical 9-volt transistor radio of a few years back, though of course it can’t compete with digital devices on size or weight. You do get a loudspeaker, earphone socket and a solar panel to supplement the handcrank charging.

Then there are a series of torches (or flashlights, as the Americans call them). The Sherpa is a handheld unit with an bright white LED lighting cluster, internal rechargeable batteries and the Freeplay handcrank. It has showerproof switches for a low and high light output, and can be charged with a supplied AC adapter or a mini-USB connection. Freeplay also does the Sherpa as a 3-unit emergency pack – a wall mounted unit that keeps the flashlights charged and has a red emergency light that comes on if the power goes out so you can find the unit in the dark. Should the outage last longer than the 20-hour life of the Sherpas, the handcranks will keep you illuminated. They also do a cracking lantern, named the Indigo, that is ideal for camping or night barbecues. Again, white LED lighting is the order of the day, arranged in a reflective circle for a pool of light around the lantern, and a backlit thumbwheel allows the brightness to be varied. There is also a separate directional single LED that is switch activated and can be used as a work light or reading lamp.

I used a Sherpa in my hand and an Indigo hanging from my belt during a two-hour night time walk a couple of weeks ago. It was a group effort, and as I was at the front the participants could always see the head of the column from the bright light of the Indigo, while the Sherpa made sure I could see where I was stepping. And from what I could see, my light sources were far superior to anything that anyone else was carrying. We did have one other wind-up flashlight in the group, but it was fairly dim using a conventional bulb, and needed a top-up wind at least three times in two hours to keep it going.

For the gadget hound who likes to go out into the great outdoors armed with a mobile phone or iPod, but needs to keep them topped up with power, the FreeCharge 12V couples the handcrank mechanism with a 12V DC car power outlet. Bring along a car charger unit with a USB port on the back, and you can charge most modern electronic devices with just the power of your arm. Particularly if you use the FreeCharge to top up a partly exhausted device, rather than something that is completely flat, it works really well. Flat devices can be resurrected, but sometimes the battery has a voltage ‘hump’ before it starts to take a proper charge, and it can be frustrating overcoming that when your arm is getting tired!

To sum up, the Freeplay line represents the cutting edge in power independence – and whether you get a light or a radio you will probably never have to buy another, or another battery. Throw in the fairly low pricing, and you have a winner.