Hand Generator

How much effort does it take to light a light bulb?

Client: Various

Value: £200+

Aim: To produce an exhibit that allows users to get a real idea of the energy required to light a lightbulb. We talk about low power and watts, and volts but we wanted something that really shows this in an interactive way.

What we did: This exhibit was first developed for the Lab in a Lorry but we have built it for various clients. It always gets a good reaction and is an instant way of getting people to appreciate the energy required to light a bulb.On the lab in a lorry version, a hand-crank generator is connected to three outputs; a halogen bulb, an LED bulb or an AUX output. It is mainly used to compare the difference in effort required to illuminate the halogen bulb compared to the LED bulb.The AUX output allows users to connect the hand crank to other devices, such as a radio, mobile phone or mp3 player.On other versions, we have made this very simple, just with two bulbs and a hand crank. The idea is the same and this could form a good part of any exhibition on energy.