SR-1 Emergency Radio — The Radio That Actually Recharges Itself

Picture this: 2 a.m., the power's out, the storm is still going.

Your phone is at 12%. The TV is dead. The radio you bought "just in case" has a sealed battery that died two years ago — you never noticed, because you never needed it until tonight.

Now imagine the other version. The radio on your shelf has been trickle-charging from the window all week. Its screen shows the time, the pressure dropping, and — because it knows your county — a flood warning for your county, in words, not a siren for the whole state. When the cells eventually age out, you open the back, swap in two fresh ones, and the radio is new again.

That's the radio we're building. Not a gadget. A thing that works on the worst night.

Why we're building it

We read thousands of emergency radio reviews. The same six complaints keep showing up:

Solar that doesn't charge. Panels so weak the maker won't even publish the wattage.
A crank that snaps. Plastic cranks that break exactly when you need them.
A battery you can't replace. When the sealed cell dies, the whole radio becomes trash.
Alerts for the whole state. No county-level filtering, so you either get woken for nothing or switch alerts off.
Specs you can't trust. Battery numbers that contradict themselves on the same page.
Yesterday's ports. Micro-USB in a USB-C world.

Five decisions, and why each one matters

1. The wattage is printed on the body

A solar panel's wattage is the one number that tells you whether "solar charging" is real or a sticker. Most brands won't publish it — because the number is embarrassing. We print ≥2W on the body so you can check us. When prototypes exist, we publish the measured output in sun, not the lab number.

2. The battery is two cells you can swap

Every sealed battery has a clock on it — three to five years, then it's a paperweight. A radio you buy for emergencies should outlive its first battery. Two standard 18650 cells, a back you can open, a spare pack you can buy later. Five years from now, this radio still works because you spent $20 on cells, not $100 on a new radio.

3. Alerts for your county, in words

State-wide alerts train people to ignore alerts. SAME county codes mean the radio wakes you only for your county — and the screen shows the alert text, so you know what is happening, not just that something is. A warning you trust is a warning you act on.

4. A metal crank, tested 500 times

The crank is the part you use when everything else has failed — dead battery, no sun, no power. A plastic crank snapping at that moment is the product failing at its only job. Metal shaft, 500-cycle test before we ship. Boring engineering, on purpose.

5. A screen that tells you what's coming

Clock, alarm, barometric pressure, temperature — always on. Falling pressure is the oldest storm signal there is, and it works with no network at all. The screen turns the radio from "a thing that makes noise" into a small weather station on your shelf.

How it compares

Feature	SR-1 (target spec)	Typical $99.99 brand radio
Solar panel	≥2W, wattage printed on the body	Wattage not published
Battery	Two 18650 cells you can swap (6,000–10,000mAh)	Sealed 10,000mAh — dead cell, dead radio
Weather alerts	NOAA 7 channels + SAME county codes, alert text on screen	SAME on pro models only
Screen	Always-on clock, alarm, pressure + temperature	Clock/temperature on some models
Crank	Metal shaft, 500-cycle tested	Plastic crank
Charging	USB-C in, USB out to charge your phone	Micro-USB on older models
Light	LED flashlight + reading light + SOS	LED flashlight
Water resistance	IPX4	Not waterproof on most models

Target specs, to be confirmed by prototype testing. We will publish real measured numbers — solar output, lumens, battery capacity — not marketing numbers.

Three ways to charge, zero ways to be stranded

Sun — ≥2W panelReal wattage, printed on the body. Trickle-charges the radio all day.

Hand crank — metal shaft500-cycle tested. It won't snap when you need it most.

Swappable cells — 18650 ×2Plus USB-C. And a spare pack later, so the radio outlives its first battery.

Who it's for — and who it's not for

For you if: you live in a hurricane, tornado or wildfire belt; you keep a go-bag and actually rotate it; you already own an emergency radio and found its battery dead when it mattered.

Not for you if: you want a Bluetooth speaker that happens to have a radio; you want the cheapest radio on the shelf and don't care if it works in year four. The $29 radios already exist. This isn't one.

Why $99.99

Three things cost real money here: a solar panel big enough to mean something, a metal crank assembly instead of a plastic one, and a screen with real sensors behind it. The $79.99 early-bird is the first 200 backers — the people who fund the first production run get the lowest price. Standard crowdfunding price is $99.99, against the $99.99 pro radio it replaces — with a battery you can swap.

Price

$79.99
Early bird — first 200 backers
Lock it with a refundable $10 deposit when crowdfunding opens.

$99.99
Standard crowdfunding price
Same radio, same specs.

$19.99–$24.99
Spare battery pack (add-on)
Swap cells, don't replace the radio.

What happens next

Now — validation. This page. We're finding out whether enough people actually want this before we pay for tooling.
Next — prototype testing. Real solar output, 500 crank cycles, battery cycle life. Measured numbers published, good or bad.
Then — crowdfunding. Only if validation passes. Early-bird list gets first access and the $79.99 price.
Finally — shipping. After crowdfunding succeeds. If it doesn't fund, deposits are refunded in full.

Join the early-bird list

Questions, answered honestly

Is this real yet? Not yet — we're in development. This page exists to find out whether enough people actually want this radio before we pay for tooling. That's why there's no charge today.

When will it ship? After crowdfunding succeeds. If crowdfunding doesn't fund, deposits are refunded in full.

Why no Bluetooth? It would add certification cost and weeks of delay for a feature nobody asked for in a blackout radio. We cut it on purpose.

Where are you based? Our US company is in Pittsburgh, PA. Manufacturing is in China, like nearly every radio in this category.

Will NOAA and SAME work outside the US? NOAA weather radio and SAME county alerts are a US system (with some Canadian coverage). Outside that area you still get FM/AM, solar, crank, USB charging and the light — but not the weather alerts. We'd rather say that now than disappoint you later.

Is the battery included? Yes — two 18650 cells in the box. The spare pack is the add-on.

The emergency radio that actually recharges itself.