A few days ago, the National Editor talked about the Ambient Weather WR-111B Radio in one of our reviews. I admit, he wasn’t thorough with it. A few matters of concern were raised over the weekend when I received some emails from few people asking about Ambient Weather emergency radio troubleshooting guide.

If you happen to own this radio and don’t know much about average charge time, charging your cellphone through the radio, some other issues that probably make you feel regrets, don’t worry. You can either chuck this radio out of the window or read the following Ambient Weather WR-111B FAQ for troubleshooting from the comfort of your home:

• I am tired of cranking the Ambient Weather “best hand crank” radio. What does it take to fully charge the unit?

First of all, there is nothing wrong with your radio. It’s the battery that’s probably in need of changing. The Ambient Weather 111B uses a Lithium Ion battery; they are easily available online through any retailer.

To best utilize the battery power to its full potential, never charge the radio on half or slightly drained battery. Let it exhaust and then crank the radio for a maximum of two minutes. Repeat the cranking process again for 2 minutes and then reset the radio. That’s about it.

The solar panel at top of the radio can be used for constant charging. The flash light also comes in handy when you need to charge the radio through alternative sources. If you charge the radio of one minute, it will “crank” out 70 minutes of unparalleled performance. Cranking it for 2 minutes will take your radio beyond the 2 hour performance period.

“Ed The Weatherman” at Amazon is the official Ambient Weather Radio series representative. He has skillfully handled all kinds of questions. To battery related queries, Ed has got the following specifics to help you decide the best charge time for your 111B Emergency Radio Model.

The battery rating is 800 mAh / 3.7V
E = 800 mAh x 3.7V/1000 = 2.96 Wh
If you hand crank a fully drained battery to fully charged:
E = 2.96 Wh / (0.001163 Wh/cal x 0.7) = 3637 calories

(where 0.7 is the efficiency of the hand crank, or the conversion of kinetic energy from cranking to stored electrical energy.
This is equivalent to a 180 lb man walking briskly for about 35 miles! This gives you some idea of the energy required to charge a cell phone and why cranking should be used as a last resort.

• The radio is out of stock usually. Why is that so?

To be honest, that’s the stupidest question I have ever read so far. Why would a product go out of stock? Think about it. There can be two reasons. First one being a fault in the radio due to which the entire product line is recalled that is not the case here. The models before the WR 111B had issues but this one does not have many complaints.

Secondly, look at the radio’s ratings at Amazon. They are more than enough to convince skeptic buyers about the radio’s promising performance. The only reason it is out of stock is because of the high demand percentage. Too many people order the radio at once, which causes the Ambient Weather Emergency Radio guys to go out of stock! Period.

• How many minutes of Cranking are the best for WR-111B Battery Life?

If you haven’t the very first question, you should do that right now. Still don’t know about the average crank time? Well, the best bet is to crank the twice for 2 minutes. Or on the average, I’d say that a minute of two of cranking the 111B WR Ambient Weather Emergency Radio is more than enough. However, charging the radio through an electric outlet would be most convenient and quick.

Nothing beats conventional charging methods. As Chucky from Child’s Play series used to say, “a classic never goes out of style” – hence the notion, charging this radio through electric wall outlet is preferably better.

• Can I use Headphone or Earphones with this Radio?

Of course you can. Fortunately, the WR-111B model is one of the most compatible models that Ambient Weather has released so far. The radio possesses multiple jacks to support a refined audio experience. You have to make sure that the headphones’ pin/ jack is the appropriate size. The rest will be taken care of automatically. You will experience louder volume and overall better sound quality with headphones/ earphones.

• Where Can I get a copy of Ambient Weather WR-111B Radio Manual? I Lost Mine…

I have not contacted the Ambient Weather company for permission. So I cannot paste their entire PDF WR-111B Radio Manual here. I really wanted to do that. However, at the official company website, they have the manual available for instant download.

Here’s the Link for Ambient Weather WR-111B Radio Manual Download. 

http://site.ambientweatherstore.com/Manuals/wr111.pdf

The manual will look something like the following screenshot.

• Can I Charge my iPhone with the Ambient Weather Radio?

Yes, you can charge your phone with the radio. It’s not just the iPhone, there is a complete array of compatible smartphones that can be charged through this amazing radio. But do it at your own risk. How so? The iPhone was not designed to be charged via a radio.

There could be complications. I’d say that you should turn the iPhone off and then start charging it. If you leave it on, the charge amount coming in from the radio may not be enough. Therefore, the battery will not be charged, or the overall charge time for the iPhone will be dead slow.

Same goes for Blackberry owners. Someone asked if he could charge his Blackberry phone with the Ambient Weather WR 111B radio. Yeah, you can charge it but I don’t know if it will be good enough. I tried charging my HTC One X and it said that the charge amount needed to charge the smartphone was not enough.

Maybe my radio was already on low charge. Whatever the reason was, at least I didn’t get a satisfying experience. 

• I charged my radio for 9 hours under bright sunlight. I’m guessing that the solar panel on the Ambient Weather radios sucks!

Wow dude, you really know how to make a statement. The solar panel works great. There is no issue with charging the radio through solar sources. But cmon’ 9 hours, and that too under a “brightly lit” sun? It could be the battery; maybe your battery is all out of charge because you have been charging it for a long time.

I had an old teacher who used to teach us Electromagnetism as a subject. He told us not to charge any battery if it has half the capacity of charge left in it. Let the battery drain completely and then give it a full charge. This ensures a long life for your battery’s performance. 

• Hi, I just bought the Ambient Weather WR-111B Model and I was Wondering if I Could Play my MicroSD mp3 song collection. Is this possible?

I hate to break it to ya, but this is probably not possible. The device supports other devices but that is from charging perspective. This is an emergency radio, not an all in one jukebox where you can entertain yourself 24/7.

You are free to write to Ambient Weather support for this matter though. Their email is Support@AmbientWeather.Com . Call them at 480-283-1644 between Monday to Friday anytime.

On a side note, the Radio does have ports for earphones. However, these ports are only appropriate for charging battery based devices. You can plug external speakers. I had a 2.0 Mercury Audio system for portable entertainment purposes.

I plugged the speaker cable to the WR-111B audio port. It ran fine. You have to remember that the speakers are supposed to be powered via an external source. Otherwise you will not be able to hear anything.