• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 04:41
CET 10:41
KST 18:41
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners9Intel X Team Liquid Seoul event: Showmatches and Meet the Pros10[ASL20] Finals Preview: Arrival13TL.net Map Contest #21: Voting12[ASL20] Ro4 Preview: Descent11
Community News
StarCraft, SC2, HotS, WC3, Returning to Blizzcon!33$5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship6[BSL21] RO32 Group Stage4Weekly Cups (Oct 26-Nov 2): Liquid, Clem, Solar win; LAN in Philly2Weekly Cups (Oct 20-26): MaxPax, Clem, Creator win10
StarCraft 2
General
Weekly Cups (Oct 20-26): MaxPax, Clem, Creator win TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners RotterdaM "Serral is the GOAT, and it's not close" 5.0.15 Patch Balance Hotfix (2025-10-8) StarCraft, SC2, HotS, WC3, Returning to Blizzcon!
Tourneys
Constellation Cup - Main Event - Stellar Fest $5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Merivale 8 Open - LAN - Stellar Fest Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 498 Wheel of Misfortune|Cradle of Death Mutation # 497 Battle Haredened Mutation # 496 Endless Infection Mutation # 495 Rest In Peace
Brood War
General
[ASL20] Ask the mapmakers — Drop your questions BW General Discussion [BSL21] RO32 Group Stage BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ SnOw's ASL S20 Finals Review
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL20] Grand Finals [BSL21] RO32 Group B - Sunday 21:00 CET [BSL21] RO32 Group A - Saturday 21:00 CET
Strategy
Current Meta PvZ map balance How to stay on top of macro? Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile Should offensive tower rushing be viable in RTS games? Dawn of War IV
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread SPIRED by.ASL Mafia {211640}
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine YouTube Thread Dating: How's your luck?
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! Korean Music Discussion Series you have seen recently...
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread NBA General Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023 TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
SC2 Client Relocalization [Change SC2 Language] Linksys AE2500 USB WIFI keeps disconnecting Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
Coffee x Performance in Espo…
TrAiDoS
Saturation point
Uldridge
DnB/metal remix FFO Mick Go…
ImbaTosS
Why we need SC3
Hildegard
Reality "theory" prov…
perfectspheres
Our Last Hope in th…
KrillinFromwales
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1501 users

crank charging a phone, calculation

Blogs > mantequilla
Post a Reply
mantequilla
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
Turkey779 Posts
November 13 2016 17:13 GMT
#1
https://tr.aliexpress.com/item/Portable-Hand-Crank-Wind-Up-USB-Cell-Phone-Emergency-Charger-Dynamo-Hand-Crank-USB-Charger-For/32727699889.html?isOrigTitle=true

I have a led flashlight with a crank charger. Since leds use little energy it works quite well and charges pretty well with a crank. So I made some dirty calculations for the product above:

say we have a 2000 mAh battery. At 5v it is 2 x 5 = 10 watt/hour.

internet says 1 watt is 0.86 kcal/h, so 10 w/h is 8.6 kcal.

since average calories for adult male is like 2000-2500 per day, 8.6 kcal is roughly 3-4 days worth of calories. It means I have to burn my 3-4 days worth of energy in 1 hour to crank charge a phone.


are my calculations sensible?

**
Age of Mythology forever!
Cauld
Profile Joined February 2010
United States350 Posts
November 13 2016 17:18 GMT
#2
no, the calories you eat are kcals already.
mantequilla
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
Turkey779 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-11-13 17:29:35
November 13 2016 17:25 GMT
#3
so its 2500 kcal = 2 500 000 cal a day?

so it means calculation is off by 1000 multiple, so instead of 4 days, 1/250 of my daily calories is enough to charge a phone
Age of Mythology forever!
yB.TeH
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
Germany414 Posts
November 13 2016 18:05 GMT
#4
from your link:
Maximum output current: 500 mA
2000mAh / 500mA = 4h
which means you have to keep cranking it for 4 hours to completely charge you phone
but you'll never discharge it completely so 3 hours should be enough
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20319 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-11-13 19:58:20
November 13 2016 19:57 GMT
#5
On November 14 2016 02:25 mantequilla wrote:
so its 2500 kcal = 2 500 000 cal a day?

so it means calculation is off by 1000 multiple, so instead of 4 days, 1/250 of my daily calories is enough to charge a phone


yeah

Burning >1KG of fat from charging a phone would be pretty insane :D
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
loginn
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
France815 Posts
November 14 2016 00:56 GMT
#6
I was expecting a funny picture of AxCrank charging a phone. ^^
Stephano, Taking skill to the bank since IPL3. Also Lucifron and FBH
LtCalley
Profile Joined March 2011
United States244 Posts
November 14 2016 04:21 GMT
#7
On November 14 2016 09:56 loginn wrote:
I was expecting a funny picture of AxCrank charging a phone. ^^


same. lol
"No matter how good you are at something, there's always about a million people better than you" - Homer Simpson
Chairman Ray
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
United States11903 Posts
November 14 2016 05:25 GMT
#8
On November 14 2016 09:56 loginn wrote:
I was expecting a funny picture of AxCrank charging a phone. ^^


Came here for this as well, disappointed
Probe1
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States17920 Posts
November 14 2016 06:00 GMT
#9
That is an amazing miscalculation.
우정호 KT_VIOLET 1988 - 2012 While we are postponing, life speeds by
Acrofales
Profile Joined August 2010
Spain18110 Posts
November 14 2016 15:36 GMT
#10
On November 14 2016 02:25 mantequilla wrote:
so its 2500 kcal = 2 500 000 cal a day?

so it means calculation is off by 1000 multiple, so instead of 4 days, 1/250 of my daily calories is enough to charge a phone

Well... yes, except that between 60 and 75% of your daily calories are spent on merely keeping you alive and in rest. So the useable calories are only 25-40% of that.

Moreover, the efficiency is going to be lost at a further two points:

1. Converting chemical energy into kinetic energy (to turn the crank... note that I am already completely bypassing all inefficiencies of the metabolic process in your body)
2. Converting kinetic energy into electric energy (in your crank charger).

The latter is quite efficient, so lets say only 10% is lost to heat.

Unfortunately, the former is only 25% efficient according to http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2011/11/mpg-of-a-human/

So that means, the total calories available for spending on charging your phone are actually only:

2500kcal * .25 *.9 = 562,5kcal

In other words, you will spend ~1/65 part of your daily calories. Still not bad, but not as good as 1/250 either (still better than 4 days worth

However, returning to the first point, you also only have 25-40% of your daily intake available for freely spending, which is (assuming your resting state is highly efficient=

2500 * .4 = 1000 kcal, or, in kinetic energy, 250 kcal.

Converting that kinetic energy into electric energy with your hand crank:

250 * .9 = 225 kcal.

So, charging your mobile phone takes ~1/26th of the energy available to you (assuming you eat 2500 kcal worth of food) for spending on moving about.

Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 19m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
ProTech139
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 6812
Zeus 673
Larva 496
actioN 464
Killer 347
Soma 297
ToSsGirL 97
sorry 67
Jaedong 37
NaDa 35
[ Show more ]
Sharp 22
Hm[arnc] 16
NotJumperer 15
Bale 14
Sacsri 14
HiyA 10
Mind 8
soO 5
Stork 5
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm121
League of Legends
JimRising 488
Reynor89
Counter-Strike
fl0m2397
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor68
Other Games
summit1g17848
C9.Mang0270
XaKoH 109
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick640
Counter-Strike
PGL151
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• LUISG 20
• Adnapsc2 15
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos2546
• Stunt687
Upcoming Events
CranKy Ducklings
19m
IPSL
8h 19m
dxtr13 vs OldBoy
Napoleon vs Doodle
LAN Event
8h 19m
Lambo vs Clem
Scarlett vs TriGGeR
ByuN vs TBD
Zoun vs TBD
BSL 21
10h 19m
Gosudark vs Kyrie
Gypsy vs OyAji
UltrA vs Radley
Dandy vs Ptak
Replay Cast
13h 19m
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d
WardiTV Korean Royale
1d 2h
LAN Event
1d 5h
IPSL
1d 8h
JDConan vs WIZARD
WolFix vs Cross
BSL 21
1d 10h
spx vs rasowy
HBO vs KameZerg
Cross vs Razz
dxtr13 vs ZZZero
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
1d 23h
Wardi Open
2 days
WardiTV Korean Royale
3 days
Replay Cast
3 days
Kung Fu Cup
4 days
Classic vs Solar
herO vs Cure
Reynor vs GuMiho
ByuN vs ShoWTimE
Tenacious Turtle Tussle
4 days
The PondCast
5 days
RSL Revival
5 days
Solar vs Zoun
MaxPax vs Bunny
Kung Fu Cup
5 days
WardiTV Korean Royale
5 days
RSL Revival
6 days
Classic vs Creator
Cure vs TriGGeR
Kung Fu Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

BSL 21 Points
SC4ALL: StarCraft II
Eternal Conflict S1

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 4
SOOP Univ League 2025
YSL S2
BSL Season 21
Stellar Fest: Constellation Cup
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual

Upcoming

SLON Tour Season 2
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
HSC XXVIII
RSL Offline Finals
WardiTV 2025
RSL Revival: Season 3
META Madness #9
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026: Closed Qualifier
eXTREMESLAND 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
SL Budapest Major 2025
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.