First example of a Poporo Luminoso.

For this first test we used a servo as a generator.

Poporo luminoso - Version 1 - How it was made

This is a hybrid between a commercial flashlight and the DIY example we used as a kickstart.  The Battery can be replaced for a large capacitor.

For constructing the Poporo Luminoso (luminous poporo) we looked a the way that a Chinese self recharging flashlights was made and searched the web for information which led us to this design http://dailydiy.com/2006/04/11/diy-windup-flashlight-from-a-servo/. This seemed like an easy option because it used a servo inverted as a generator,  so we decided to build our own adaptation of this design.
This was a very fast and practical way to do it, the relation with in the servo is about 14:1 one turn of hand for 14 turns of the motor, which generates a voltage of approximately 6 volts.

The rest of the electronics are very simple, the generator is attached to one accumulator that can be a big condenser or a lithium battery, with a diode blocking the electricity to go back to the motor and making it turn. A condenser to regulate the voltage, and a switch. The switch is connected to 3 white leds with a resistance to protect them.
Trying to fit this in to the calabasa (dry fruit shell) was another venture so we went to ask for help from our “DIY Sensei” - our neighbor Ruben for help. The calabasa holds the card with the electronics and the leds and switch are fixed to the calabasa outside.. a metal rod pops out through the upper opening of the calabasa so that the user of the poporo luminoso can turn the generator with a stick or the hand, charging it for a future use.

Why the Poporo luminoso?

The basic ideas is to solve a battery pollution problem within the Sierra Nevada which results from the use of flashlights and radios that work with disposable batteries. By making available workshops on how to make DIY fashlights that are manually rechargeable we will provide the locals with not only the possibility of making their own flashlights, but also with general introduction to the concept of do it yourself electronics and the development of electronic tools that are suited to ones own cultural context. This workshop will use this idea to demystify the elctrical world, and to construct from scratch a flashlight and generator using local elements like a piece of glass to make a Leyden bottle “a battery”, some magnets to make a generator an so on..

To make the Poporo luminoso or what ever nut available there is to do a perfect flashlight we have been doing some research, since reason is a western concept, we searched different options to do it in a reasonable way, that means spending the less energy possible to get to our goal = recycle what ever you can get or spend the less money available that you can.. In the sierra nevada there is not much electronic junk out there and with what we’ll find, we’ll be able to do a little few examples of our world renowned poporo luminoso..  So we also tried the lessens expensive way to be able to do more than 2 or 3 or five..

If in this Chinese factory a whole RC helicopter costs 10 bucks…   how much will it cost their geared motor without electronics??  That’s a motor worth like 20 cents + plus some plastic elements all ready in their catalog???   We’re waiting for their reply. But I think it’s cheap!!

So the idea behind all this is, that if we can provide our electronic demystified workshop participants with the same elements that they build with their own hands, but in their electronic micro realm,  they can adapt them to their choice of nut, wood, bamboo or what ever natural element  they will found suitable to do the job as a flashlight…  and we hope that this workshop will get to their understanding of the electrical world so that when they will need to replace the batteries for their radio, they will think in connecting the cables of their flashlights to light up the local indigenous news from their black and silver box.