Bargain Ebay bike lights

[Scougar]

Has anyone considered (or tried) an alternative battery, or an external battery?

 

[Carge]

Considered - YES
Tried - NO

I carry another 6 AAA as spares just in case.

 

[Scougar]

10440 cells are the same size as AAA's (although 3.7v vs 4.5v as I understand it), perhaps they can be wired in parallel?). I wonder if this would give any advantage of NiMh? (3x 1.2v NiMH = 3.6v and 1000mAH capacity vs approx 3x 3.7v li-ion in parallel and about 900-1100mAH capacity).

Still, adpating an external battery pack would be preferred for a handlebar light, but as suggested above for the helmet.

For an external battery pack I was thinking something like this: http://www.batteryspace.com/li-ion1...bber37v8800mah3256whtrail-techfemaleplug.aspx

It's 4x 18650's in parallel so only 3.6/3.7v but high capacity (much more than 3x AAA's). I assume the light won't draw more than the battery can handle??

It's just the connection inside the light I'm trying to sort out now (so I can hook up and external power source.

EDIT: Do you guys think that you could safely use 4x 1.2v (NiMH) batteries so that it gives 4.8v to the light? (if you use 3x alkaline you would get 3x 1.5v = 4.5v if it's wired up this way???). I'm asking as I'm thinking of putting a external packing using NiMH batteries instead as I already have a nimh charger for AA batteries (which offer much better capacity).

 

[Lysander]

I thought about different batteries, but stayed with the cheap-and-no-extra-fuss approach- get a dozen rechargeable so there's plenty spares and yer sorted.

 

[Carge]

Agree with Lysander - spending another £40plus for more battery-juice kinda defeats the object.

 

[Easy_Rider]

I thought about different batteries, but stayed with the cheap-and-no-extra-fuss approach- get a dozen rechargeable so there's plenty spares and yer sorted.

Problem with a std rechargeable is they are 1.2v instead of 1.5v each so even before you set off the voltage has dropped 20% and hence the light output is less. You need decent batteries with a huge increase in amperage to bump up the "Watt" output.
Watts = Volts x Amps.

 

[8690q]

I've just been oot for a bimble with my bargain lights.

The handlebar mounted lights are ok on their own but were pretty useless once i turned my bargain headtorch on. Wow !

For an extra £ or 2 over the handlebar mounted light it is very bright with a great spot and a little flood.

It runs off 3 aaa batteries and it appears to be the same led as the other lights but is so much brighter.

If you're considering trying to upgrade the handlebar lights then I wouldn't bother. Just buy the headtorch as it gives out the kind of light you want.

It runs an external battery pack and seems to be the same led so maybe you could graft something nice out of a headtorch and a handlebar light.

 

[Carge]

What sort of runtime are you getting from the headtorch?
And any chance you could repost the link to it please.

 

[8690q]

Runtime is about an hour.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWAX:IT

 

[Scougar]

It must be a different setup on the LED if it only runs for an hour VS over 3 hours for the same batteries.

I am still suprised there aren't any 3x AA battery head torches though, they have so much better capacity and cost the same as AAA's. BTW some of the head torches come with 1x 18650.

I still want to upgrade the battery pack to either a better internal solution, or as mentioned a 4x AA setup with NiMH giving 4.8v and MUCH better run-time.