Wind-Up AA Batteries Put Your Wrist Muscles to Use

We’ve seen crank-powered gadgets such as radios and flashlights so why not cut out the middle man and just crank up the battery directly? That appears to be what designer Qian Jiang was determined to do with these Wind-up Batteries. Designed to be used with a conventional wall charger when one is available, the batteries feature a back-up hand crank to provide an emergency power source. While I don’t imagine cranking away on a tiny, AA-sized dynamo for 20 minutes is a walk in the park, it sure beats going without you camera when the whales begin leaping out of the water on your cruise. Outside of the reversed LED indicator lights (red for full, green for needs charging), these batteries would be a welcome addition to our utility closet. [via Yanko]