Broken down? Turn your pencil into a flashlight.

by Paul Michael on 21 July 2007 19 comments

pencil light

If there's one thing I know about travel, it's be prepared. But it's sometimes easier said than done. We all know we should carry emergency supplies in the trunk of the car, and one of those essentials is a flashlight. It can help you see the root of the problem under the hood or the beneath the car itself, and obviously it's invaluable at night. But if you don't have one, you can still see the light...if you have a pencil!

This clever guy shows you, quickly and easily, how to turn a regular pencil into a very bright light using only the pencil, some speaker wire and your battery. Remember it well, it may just save you from a night on the side of the road.

Photo by The Stock Exchange

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21 Jul. 2007 | 12:04 PM stephen

Don't mean to rain on your parade, but I see one almighty great flaw with this: I'm in the dark without a light - and I'm supposed to split a pencil down its centre, extract the lead, attach to leads to the 24V battery and twitch to the lead...

It would be the only time I hope there is a smoker in the car!
Why?
Because I'd burn their cigarette-lighter and all their matches before successfully splitting a pencil down its centre without breaking it into several dozen pieces. Both in frustration and improbability.

But the video is well produced, the font-choice, the muzac, yeah, whoever created that put a lot of dollars into into showing us one amazing act of frugality!

26 Jul. 2007 | 5:59 AM Guest

Surprised you were the only one to point out that flaw in the scheme!

So you carry around a pencil and speaker wire in your emergency kit...how do you find them without a FLASHLIGHT?
How do you do the pencil split, etc... without a FLASHLIGHT?

Maybe they should just carry a FLASHLIGHT in the emergency kit instead?

This guy has been watching too much McGuyver.

21 Jul. 2007 | 2:09 PM Paul Michael

...the inside of your car has a dome light. Something to see by while you perform the process, so that you can get outside and take a look at the problem. But I agree, it's not the easiest solution, merely a last resort.

21 Jul. 2007 | 3:23 PM Guest

that better be a LAST resort. if the wires touch together when the pencil lead burns up, they can weld themselves together turning the length of wire into a red hot mess, or even cause the battery to explode. theres also the issue of severe burns or catching something on fire with the white hot pencil lead. this is a neat idea, but quite dangerous.

21 Jul. 2007 | 7:49 PM Jared

I'm seeing a small market here for creating a long cord that plugs into your cigarette lighter and has LEDs at the end...

21 Jul. 2007 | 8:43 PM Paul Michael

is a nice idea. Alas, it's been done .

22 Jul. 2007 | 5:57 AM Myscha Theriault

Wow. Too bad my quicktime is malfunctioning. . . this sounds really neat.

2 Aug. 2007 | 10:31 AM Fred

Maybe this will come in handy one day. Thanks!

6 Aug. 2007 | 12:12 PM Guest

I THINK I WOULD RATHER USE THE DOME LIGHT BULB AND NOT THE LEAD IN MY PENCIL. SHOULD I JUST HUFF THE LEAD FUMES AS IT BURNS TOO.

9 Aug. 2007 | 1:25 PM Guest

No but you should definitely turn the caps lock off.

20 Aug. 2007 | 6:21 AM Guest

Though the material in a pencil is commonly referred to as "lead" it is graphite, i.e. it is carbon (C) not lead (Pb). See http://science.howstuffworks.com/question465.htm. So, breathing fumes from its burning probably wouldn't be much worse than breathing the smoke from burning logs. If it was really lead (Pb), it would be much worse.

22 Aug. 2007 | 9:03 AM Guest

That would be graphite fumes...carbon...not lead

12 Aug. 2007 | 12:04 AM Guest

A better idea is to remove the light bulb from the head lights, connect it to the wires and - you have a mobile light.

20 Aug. 2007 | 8:17 AM China Tattler

Hey it sounds like a nifty idea...that is until someone tries it and their car battery blows up in their face, or they are burned, or shocked.

Who they gonna sue...probably not the guy who made this video.

20 Aug. 2007 | 1:15 PM Expendable

This is to be used only if you don't have a working flashlight or AAA membership. Very McGuyverish - it's better to keep a working flashlight in your car for this. Or park under a streetlight to change that tire.