This web page is set up to help get the word out that there are people, at flea markets, on ebay and at hamfests selling "Shake Flashlights" that are fake and do not function as represented. These lights claim to not need batteries. They claim to work on electromagnetic induction. If you move a magnet near a coil of wire it induces a current in the wire. These items purport to store that energy and power a LED (light emitting diode). While such items exist, a large percentage being sold are battery powered disposable flashlights disguised as "shake lights". I have read on the web that some fakes look exactly like the real ones so before you complain to a vendor or any authority make sure you have a fake.

From a consumer standpoint, misrepresentation of a product is always an outrage. In this case the outrage is magnified. Many people buy shake lights to eliminate batteries and help cut back on the number of batteries ending up in the waste stream. The fake items turn out to be disposable flashlights that fail shortly after purchase and end up in the waste stream along with their HAZARDOUS WASTE LITHIUM BATTERIES. Lithium batteries are not supposed to be disposed of in the waste stream.

I recently bought a few of these shake lights. I began to get suspicious when I turned the light on without shaking and found that the flashlight seemed to be going strong after 20 or more minutes of being turned on. They worked without any shaking. As a test, I left one on for about 3 days till the light faded to a dim glow. I then shook it for at least 20 minutes and saw that shaking did not have an effect, the light remained dim. This pretty much indicated to me that I had been scammed. A web search helped confirm my supsicion that imposters are being sold.

Needles to say I am pissed, I was tricked. I will be contacting various authorities to see what I can do to get these things removed from the market. In the mean time, if you fell victim to this scam and purchased one, you may want to consider taking it back to the person who sold it to you and requesting your money back. You may consider calling your local news media, the attorney general, better business bureau etc.

I disassmbled my light and documented the scam in pictures.

If you look here you can see the 2 lithium batteries through the clear shell.

This is the copper coil and to the right of it is the piece of metal (not too visible due to glare) that is supposed to be a magnet. It turns out that the wires to the coil are not hooked up to anything and the magnet is not really a magnet, these items are just props.

This picture shows the wires going to the lithium battery pack which consists of two CR2025 3 volt lithium batteries

Here is the battery pack disassembled.

Another picture of the coil with the magnet.

Here I pulled apart the end that houses the short iron prop that pretends to be a magnet. The black things are rubber bumpers to absorb the shock when the light is shaken.