light for free

Has any one experimented with a gravity light?..

Richard,

Not yet. I was part of the IndieGoGo campaign for it last year and mine is somewhere in the shipping chain.

Once it arrives, I am sure it will get a good workout as I prefer to sit outside during the warmer months and read while I smoke my cigars. I am also banning myself to the outdoors year round for that practice once I get a rocket stove setup going. Sitting out in -10F is no fun unless I am ice fishing, and even then it is a little rough without some heat.

Anyway, according to Deciwatt (the group I supported in the IndieGoGo campaign) they are looking at commercialization of the product starting in the second quarter of this year (2014). There are figuring out who their retail/wholesale partners will be in the venture and all that other money stuff. I'm really looking forward to using mine in the cold we have now (real world testing and all that) and its continued use for me. There is a FAQ at this Linky Thing if you want to know more.

Bill

ETA:
When I get mine I will post some pics of it in operation here. Folks are starting to get them in Europe right now (their boat was closer) so I'm really getting amped about it.

Thanks Bill...appreciate the info.

Never heard of this before.

What a fabulous idea!

http://deciwatt.org/

I like manually powered gadgets like hand-crank radios, so this fits right in.

I picked mine up from the post office yesterday (Saturday), but all I've done is open the box and look at it. Some other chores have taken precedence over my testing. But I will be getting it out, setting it up and start testing it in the next week or so. Still no word on the retail partners, but my contribution not only got me a light, but it will also provide a free light to someone in the developing world. I don't think the organization has actually paired up the contributors to a recipient directly, so we'll just see what happens.
It is really a cool looking gadget and I'm looking forward to my real world testing here in Montana. I'll report back any issues I run into and keep you all updated from time to time on this.

Pics?

I wonder if this could be expanded to make it more than a personal light. I can understand they want to make the weight easily lift-able by just about anyone, and 20 lbs. fits that bill. They also want to make sure that the elevation wouldn't be so high that the light wouldn't be useful. If it's indoors, you don't want to make it more than ceiling height.

Some suggestions I could see to enhance its functionality:

- A community light, one that would light up an entire communal area. This would need to be brighter. Make it more sturdy and use a 25 kg weight (60 lbs) (even if it takes 2 or 3 people to assist in the lifting). In our American individualistic way, we focus on "personal this" and "personal that". In the 3rd World, most people do things communally, so having a larger, brighter light that can illuminate several work-areas would be a great idea.

- Detachable light. Like a shower-head that can detach... have an auto-spooling cable so that the light can be taken down and used to bring more light to a smaller area, such as a desk for doing reading/schoolwork.

Perhaps a crank and p
ullies to use leverage..I was wondering if anyone had tried anything with auto alternators and 12 volt batteries.seems like an amazing concept.

Seems like they would be amazing street lights...Everyone that walks bye picks up the wgt....When no one is around .Light goes out lol.

Here's the Gravity Light video:

What a great idea.

I am sure some forms of capturing human energy are being used at gyms but the idea that there are sweat houses full of people exercising and wasting all that energy boggles me. You would at least think they could light the building if not heat or cool it with some energy generated off the equipment.