Four hinged panels open out into something bright enough to light a whole room, then fold back into a block that fits in a market bag. Wall charge, USB charge, and a small panel on the body for topping up in the sun. Demand for these holds steady right through the year in Nigeria, and you can probably guess why.
Description
Nine at night in a house off Bodija. The lights went at four, the generator has maybe an hour of petrol left in it and somebody is saving that hour for the freezer. Someone unfolds one of these on the dining table and the room comes back. That is the product. Everything below is detail.
The shell is ABS, four blades on hinges, a hook at one end. Closed, it's a solid brick you can throw in a glovebox and forget about. Opened, the COB strips on the inner faces push light outward in every direction at once, which is what lets it work as room lighting instead of behaving like a torch that only points one way. Most builds also carry a second lamp on one of the side faces, for when you want a beam rather than a glow.
Now charging, because this is where buyers get burned. There's a small photovoltaic panel on the body and there's a USB input. The panel tops up. It will not fill a flat cell in a day of Nigerian sun, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling you a story rather than a lantern. We had a buyer come back to us last dry season convinced his units were faulty because they were dying after two evenings. He had never once put them on a wall charger. The box said solar and he took the box at its word. Charge from mains, let the panel stretch the runtime, and your returns more or less disappear.
Who you are changes the quote more than you'd expect. Open-market traders want landed cost and very little else, and they'll take the standard army green run without asking a single question about the cell inside it. Corporate and NGO buyers want their own colour, usually their logo, and they will read the certification paperwork line by line while barely glancing at the unit price.
Then there's the third crowd. Roadside assistance, event kit, camping outfits. They care about the flashing modes and the magnetic base, and they'll pay more for a battery that survives being left in a parked car at two in the afternoon. Tell us which of these you are before we price anything, otherwise you'll get a quote built for somebody else's business.
Lithium cells, SONCAP, and why we won't promise you a fast timeline
The cell decides how it travels. There's a lithium cell in every lantern, which makes the consignment declared dangerous goods. UN38.3 documentation from the factory and compliant packing aren't optional, and in practice it means sea freight.
SONCAP is issued in China, not at Apapa. The Product Certificate has to exist before the goods sail. Arranging it after the container has berthed is how people end up paying demurrage nobody budgeted for.
Which is why we won't promise you a fast timeline. Both files take time and both start the day the order is confirmed. Any timeline we give you has that window visibly inside it rather than hidden at the end.
One more thing worth settling early. The small panel on the body tops a lantern up across a day of sunlight; it won't fill an empty cell by lunchtime. A customer told otherwise comes back annoyed.
Specification
Below is what actually determines what comes out of the container. Every line gets checked against the specific supplier and against a sample you have held in your own hand before we put a price on anything.
| Body material | ABS shell with a matte finish. The four light panels fold flat against the body when closed. |
|---|---|
| Light source | COB LED strips across four folding blades, plus a separate side lamp on most builds. |
| Lighting modes | Six in total: full, medium and low across the blades, the side lamp on its own, and two flashing modes for roadside use. |
| Runtime | Up to about 10 hours on the low setting from a full charge; roughly 3 to 4 hours at full output. |
| Battery | Built-in rechargeable lithium cell. Capacity varies by build and is confirmed per order, never assumed. |
| Charging | Integrated solar panel plus USB input. Treat the solar as a top-up and charge properly from mains. |
| Water resistance | IPX4. Splash and light rain only, no immersion. Do not market it as waterproof. |
| Mounting | Hanging hook as standard. Magnetic base available on most builds; confirm it if you need it. |
| Colours | Army green, black and orange are the standard runs. Other colours are possible at higher volume. |
| Branding | Pad printing or laser marking on the body face. Custom colour boxes from 500 pieces. |
| Certification | CE, RoHS and FCC are standard on the builds we quote. SONCAP is handled separately; see the notice below. |
We do not publish prices, because the landed figure depends on the specification, the Customs valuation and the exchange rate on the day you pay.
Minimum order
Fifty pieces, counted across the whole shipment. Army green, black and orange in the same order still add up to fifty together. Push past 100 and the unit price moves properly, because at that point the factory runs full cartons instead of breaking one open to make up your number. If you're hovering somewhere in the eighties, ask us what the jump to 100 actually saves you. Sometimes it's worth it. Sometimes it isn't and we'll say so.
Lead time. Three to five weeks in production, then roughly 30 to 40 days on the water to Lagos, then clearing. Branding and non-standard colours sit at the long end of that production window.
What decides the right one
People land on this page and assume they're looking at stock sitting in a warehouse in Ibadan, waiting for someone to come and buy it. Nothing of the sort. Venocipal buys from Chinese factories to order, on your behalf, and this lantern is here because it's far easier to argue about a real object than an abstract one. You look at the hinges and the hook and you either say yes, that shape, or you say no, mine has a handle and a bigger panel on top. Either answer gets us moving.
So take the picture as an example of what we can put in a container for you. Colour, cell capacity, the marking on the body: all of that gets settled at quoting stage, because a trader in Dugbe buying on price and an NGO buying on paperwork need different things out of the same basic lamp. The method doesn't change. You show us what you want, we confirm it exists at a real factory at a real price, we put a sample in your hands, and only then does money move.
Fifty is the floor because that's roughly where a factory stops treating your enquiry as a nuisance, and where sea freight starts beating courier on cost. Below fifty you're paying air rates on something heavy and the landed cost stops working for resale. Custom printed packaging drags the number up toward a hundred. Everything else sits comfortably at fifty.
Common questions
How many do I have to take?
Fifty, counted across everything in the shipment. Mix your colours however you like. They add up to the fifty together, so you don't need fifty of each.
Can you print my logo on it?
Pad print or laser mark on the body face, and that works from fifty upward. Printed colour boxes are a separate question: 500 pieces minimum, because no box factory will set up a print run for less than that.
How good is the solar, honestly?
Modest. The panel is small and it charges slowly. Sell it as a rechargeable lantern with solar backup and your customers stay happy. Sell it as a solar lantern and a few of them will be back at your counter.
Should I take a sample first?
Yes, and we'd push you to. One unit of the exact build we intend to quote, so you can judge the brightness, the hinge action and the real runtime before any deposit leaves your account.
How long does the whole thing take?
Three to five weeks in production, at the longer end if you're branding it or asking for a colour outside the standard runs. Then sea freight and clearing. The SONCAP work runs while the factory is still producing, so it rarely pushes the end date.
Mine looks different from the one in your photo.
Then send us yours. Ours is on the page so there's a physical object to argue about. Different housing, bigger cell, a handle instead of a hook, a mode set you prefer: photograph it or link it and we'll go and find who builds it.
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Show us the lamp you actually want
Work from this one if it suits you. Tell us the colour, the quantity, and whether your name goes on the body. Or ignore it completely and send a photo of something else, from a marketplace listing, from a shop in Dugbe, from a WhatsApp status you screenshotted at midnight. We'll trace it back to whoever builds it, confirm the specification, and give you a landed price for Lagos. Quotes cost nothing and tie you to nothing. If your quantity sits under the minimum, we'll tell you straight and point you at the version that does work at that size.
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