• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 17:40
CEST 23:40
KST 06:40
  • 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
Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview8[ASL21] Finals Preview: Two Legacies21
Community News
[TLMC] Summer 2026 Ladder Map Rotation05.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start)43ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo25Weekly Cups (June 8-14): Clem and Solar double, PTR tested0RSL: S6 Finals played at BlizzCon 202611
StarCraft 2
General
take on 5.0.16 5.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start) ?Bug in new patch Daily SC2 Player Grid - feedback wanted SC2 Planner - The StarCraft II Build Planner
Tourneys
RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament GSL CK #4 20-21th June Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28) Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2)
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 531 Experimental Artillery Mutation # 530 One For All Mutation # 529 Opportunities Unleashed
Brood War
General
Fact based Zerg Upgrade Tier List BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ STARCRAFT MOVIE - Last Night at the Command center BW General Discussion Battle cruiser feet vs Carrier fleet
Tourneys
[BSL22] GosuLeague Casts - Tue & Thu 22:00 CEST [Megathread] Daily Proleagues CSLAN 4 is Coming! Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Why doesn't anyone use restoration? Simple Questions, Simple Answers Relatively freeroll strategies Creating a full chart of Zerg builds
Other Games
General Games
ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo Rogue Command Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Beyond All Reason Nintendo Switch Thread
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor 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
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread [H]Internet/Gaming Cafe Tips and Tricks The Games Industry And ATVI
Fan Clubs
The HerO Fan Club! The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion Cricket [SPORT]
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Facing Challenges in Mobile App Development
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
How To Predict Tilt in Espor…
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
I'm an arrogant trash talke…
FlaShFTW
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
Why RTS gamers make better f…
gosubay
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 7565 users

crank charging a phone, calculation

Blogs > mantequilla
Post a Reply
mantequilla
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
Turkey781 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
Turkey781 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
Germany419 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 Kingdom20335 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
Spain18325 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 12h 20m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
mouzHeroMarine 809
ProTech148
Livibee 81
ViBE2
SpeCial 0
StarCraft: Brood War
ZZZero.O 125
League of Legends
Doublelift2774
Counter-Strike
summit1g8186
minikerr20
Super Smash Bros
PPMD33
Other Games
Grubby4789
FrodaN1285
shahzam558
C9.Mang0242
UpATreeSC176
Organizations
Other Games
BasetradeTV171
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 17 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 101
• Hupsaiya 90
• musti20045 22
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• sooper7s
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• blackmanpl 10
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
League of Legends
• TFBlade1161
Other Games
• imaqtpie1149
• Shiphtur179
Upcoming Events
The PondCast
12h 20m
Douyu Cup 2020
1d 7h
Oliveira vs Trap
Jieshi vs XY
soO vs FanTaSy
TY vs Coffee
OSC
1d 18h
Douyu Cup 2020
2 days
Neeb vs Impact
MacSed vs Cyan
Scarlett vs Kelazhur
INnoVation vs Dear
Douyu Cup 2020
3 days
Maestros of the Game
3 days
herO vs Classic
Maru vs Serral
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
3 days
Douyu Cup 2020
4 days
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
4 days
Online Event
4 days
[ Show More ]
RSL Revival
5 days
RSL Revival
5 days
WardiTV Weekly
5 days
RSL Revival
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-06-19
WardiTV Spring 2026
Heroes Pulsing #2

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
CSCL: Masked Kings S4
YSL S3
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSL Season 21: Qualifier 1
SCTL 2026 Spring
Maestros of the Game 2
Murky Cup 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026

Upcoming

CSL Season 21: Qualifier 2
CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
Douyu Cup 2026
BCC 2026
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
Eternal Conflict S2 E1
Heroes Pulsing #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
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 © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.