# The "Forever Flashlight": what's wrong with this picture? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 8, 2003, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-forever-flashlight-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/167334 "2003-04-08T16:29:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-forever-flashlight-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/167334/1 "2003-04-08T16:29:34Z")
Far be it from me to spread my Spam to others, but today’s email was quite humorous. OK, its up there with the Nigerian Scam Artist who wants me to send him money to release all his governments frozen funds. Designed without batteries, it has a magnet in a tube surrounded by copper coiled wire. Shaking the flashlight runs the magnet back and forth through the tube, which negatively charges the copper coil and powers the bulb through a capacitor. Evidently, if you shake it and it will give you 5 minutes of flashlight life. Here is the link that was with it: [Flashlight homepage](http://store.yahoo.com/special-offers/light2.html) Now there’s just one problem: on that site, there’s a graphic of what charging the flashlight will look like. Now maybe I’m wrong, but a guy could get beat up going around the woods shaking a flashlight like this: [http://www.frontlinedm.com/images/flashlight-ani.gif](http://www.frontlinedm.com/images/flashlight-ani.gif) ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-forever-flashlight-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/167334/2 "2003-04-08T16:37:41Z")
So now if you don’t shake it you’ll go blind? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-forever-flashlight-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/167334/3 "2003-04-08T16:37:42Z")
Hey, I was “shaking my flashlight” just last night… Seriously though, with my limited knowledge electrical matters, it sounds like this would work. Is there a technical reason this wouldn’t work, or was it just the pic that you found funny? ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-forever-flashlight-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/167334/4 "2003-04-08T16:40:30Z")
What’s wrong? It only takes 3 shakes to get it to spray it’s light like that. NO ONE is that fast… ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-forever-flashlight-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/167334/5 "2003-04-08T16:48:11Z")
Premature illumination? Gives new meaning to “the speed of light”. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-forever-flashlight-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/167334/6 "2003-04-08T16:48:59Z")
Would it be fair to say that the engineering team were ‘wankers’? ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-forever-flashlight-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/167334/7 "2003-04-08T16:53:09Z")
I think you only get beat up if the flashlight is turned around. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-forever-flashlight-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/167334/8 "2003-04-08T16:58:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > \*\*I think you only get beat up if the flashlight is turned around. \*\* [Beavis] …he said “beat”… [/Beavis] ---
**Author:** ![Medea\_s\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-forever-flashlight-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/167334/9 "2003-04-08T17:26:02Z")
Hammacher Schlemmer sells something like this, its really fun. You don’t have to beat it up like the picture shows, just tip it back and forth for a bit so that the magnet swings through the wire coil and charges the capacitor. Neat gadget. Geek toy. ---
**Author:** ![AntaresJB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AntaresJB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AntaresJB)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-forever-flashlight-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/167334/10 "2003-04-08T20:11:05Z")
I don’t see how you can even remotely relate this to the Nigerian scam. It’s a real item, it actually works, my dad owns one, I believe we got it from a Marshall Fields catalog. Either ours holds a charge longer or they’re just underestimating, cuz you don’t really need to shake it for quite as long as 30 seconds to get 5 minutes of light. Also, not only does it not have batteries, it doesn’t have a lightbulb. It’s an LED instead, gives very clean blue-white light. It’s a really good product, actually. Must everything be about sex? ::sigh:: Sometimes a flashlight is just a flashlight. ---
**Author:** ![SweetLucy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@SweetLucy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SweetLucy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-forever-flashlight-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/167334/11 "2003-04-08T20:23:33Z")
That’s just too funny! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-forever-flashlight-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/167334/12 "2003-04-08T20:29:12Z")
The picture doesn’t move for me. Damnit. And I was ready for a good laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-forever-flashlight-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/167334/13 "2003-04-08T20:34:16Z")
“Visible for up to a mile!” Sounds like a lot of other phallocentric spam. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-forever-flashlight-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/167334/14 "2003-04-08T20:44:39Z")
> [@](#): > > The picture doesn’t move for me Give it some recovery time…maybe you could talk dirty to it?..