Powertraveller Announces Wind-Up Crankmonkey

Looking for all the world like a high tech coffee grinder, the newly announced Powertraveller Crankmonkey is a hand-cranked portable power source which works independently of the presence of mains electricity, batteries or even sunshine – put simply, you just wind it up to produce power.

5V Power Out

The new charger generates power for 5V devices and can be used, for example, to charge smartphones, GPS units, action cams and head-torches making it ideal for, say, mountain rescue teams, climbers, skiers or sailors in emergency situations.

Powertravellers says the Crankmonkey ‘can generate enough power to switch on a smartphone and make a call in just two minutes’ or, with ten minutes cranking, provide up to 6 – 7 hours of light for a Petzl head torch, 20 minutes of talktime on an iPhone 6. With a solid hour of cranking – rather you than us mind – the device’ll apparently fully charge a Go Pro Hero 4. 

Tough And Waterproof

The Crankmonkey is waterproof rated to IP65 standards, charges 5V devices using a micro USB output and weighs a claimed 346g with dimensions of 150 x 96 x 45mm. 

From the outside it looks like a hand-cranked version of the Powertraveller Powermonkey Extreme, but there’s no battery inside. Instead the inside is filled with a selection of gears, a rotor assembly and cunning electronics that convert your arm-power into handy electrical juice. 

More Information

The Crankmonkey will retail for £99 and will be available in black and red anodised finishes. It’s available from Wednesday 15 July, but we suspect it’ll be soon as it’s already available for pre-order at some US online stores. More at www.powertraveller.co.uk