Hope vision 1 run times

[potsy]

Have 2 of these lights that I use in tandem every commute,have both on power level 2.
Now one of them runs on Energizer 2450 rechargeables,while the other uses Duracell 2650 ones.

Strangely the Duracells pack up a lot earlier than the Energizers despite being a higher capacity.

Am charging them both up now and will swap the packs over to make sure it's the batteries and not the light itself.
Anyone else had similar trouble?

 

[Dan B]

Er, you don't say what run times you're getting.

I usually expect 2-3 hours running on level 3 (the brightest-but-one), on 2500mAh NiMH cells

It may be worth your while getting a charger that can charge each cell individually instead of in pairs/groups of 4, as otherwise you need to be quite careful about which cell you charge with which.

 

[potsy]

50 mins a day and used to get through 5 days no problem,the one with the energizers still does.
Duracell one has started cutting out on day 4.
Will look into the kind of charger you mention ck,can they charge 8 at a time or only 4?

 

[fossyant]

Sounds about right for run times. Could be the batteries - not the light.

Does your charger charge each cell on it's own ? Can it do a 'refresh' ?

If not, 7dayshop do one for about £10-£12 which has a blue LCD display that shows charge state etc, I have two. You may have one dodgy cell causing this.

A good 'refresh' on a charge can help sort it, and may even tell you if you have a dodgy cell. I use 12 batteries, rotating the lot every 3-4 days. I'm doing 90 mins a day on level 2 mainly (i.e. one set is charged as a spare, then goes in to a light whilst the other two sets are charged) - I use a 4 cell charger as above (one at work, one at home - although the work one is used most).

 

[potsy]

Charger is a Uniross,just does 2 or 4 no display or anything fancy.
Will try the battery swap thing on next weeks commute,if that confirms battery fault and not light fault I'll see about getting a better charger and a pack of 4 new batteries.

Turned the 'good' light on once I got home on full power and it lasted another hour so there's plenty of life left in that one,didn't realise 1 duff battery could be causing it.

 

[ianrauk]

Just had a look at the 7day shop site and ordered one of these

x8 battery Charger

Charges each battery individually rather then in pairs/fours etc

Cheers for the heads up Foss.

 

[potsy]

Looks good that Ian,let us know how well it works please.

Mine takes 4 batteries and needs 6-7 hours to charge them,pita at w/end when I have between 8 and 12 batteries to do.

 

[fossyant]

The one I had isn't shown anymore but the one Ianrauk has sounds great....might be good for me with my new AA 6 cell packs for my magicshines.... (now built and tested).

One duff cell can knacker the lot.

Also it's best to be able to charge each individual cell - you'll be surprised some times at how much one cell can be drained on a series connection (like on the Hope 1's) and some OK !

You can get some mega brill chargers that can tell total charge etc, but so long as you can charge each cell, you'll be OK.

 

[fossyant]

Looks good that Ian,let us know how well it works please.

Mine takes 4 batteries and needs 6-7 hours to charge them,pita at w/end when I have between 8 and 12 batteries to do.

You need a smart charger - mine does 4 in about 1.5 to 2 hours, so can do 12 during the day easily.

 

[fossyant]

Batteries - 7dayshop sell panasonic infinium hybrids for a good price - I like these in my hopes. Just bought 2 packs of 8 x 2500's from maplin for £12 a pack (£6 for 4) so that's not bad either (these have gone in my magicshine battery system)

 

[potsy]

Right,new charger and 4 batteries required then.Also have my Smart Lunar2 coming tomorrow so might as well get some AAA's for that as well.
Will look at those Panasonics.

 

[totallyfixed]

Fossy is correct, I had one dud battery in my Hope and the light went out on level 2 after about 15 mins. one other important tip, apologies if I am preaching to the converted, but never keep your batteries loose in a box together. This can cause cells to short out if they are touching each other, get a proper battery box.

 

[summerdays]

Just had a look at the 7day shop site and ordered one of these

x8 battery Charger

Charges each battery individually rather then in pairs/fours etc

Cheers for the heads up Foss.

That looks like one of our chargers ... though the main one we use charges other battery shapes as well such as the C and those square ones.

 

[marinyork]

Get a spare battery holder and take another 4 batteries?

 

[potsy]

Get a spare battery holder and take another 4 batteries?

That sounds far too organised for me marinyork,nice idea though.
Best thing about having 2 is when one goes I still have the other to rely on,and I turn the 'dead' one back on in flashing mode,lasts quite a while like that.