Rechargeable or battery lights - ?

[Blue Hills]

Much prefer the ones were the batteries are not sealed in. Even bought rechargeable batteries to fit into them, already had the charger's required.

And, with a pack of four cheap batteries for a £1 it's easy enough keep them running.

agree with you generally but where can you get four decent rechargeables for £1?
I would always these days/for any new batteries I bought use low self discharge batteries - I bought some from Lidl that weren't and they are noticably poor. Their LSD low self discharge ones are better.

 

[Blue Hills]

I think batteries are rapidly becoming another scam like printer ink. Now that everything has a custom battery instead of an industry standard, manufacturers can charge what they like, and make products obsolete whenever they like by discontinuing the battery. The good old days of AAAs and PP3s etc are numbered.

agree with you about the scam (but there are many willing victims/fans) - but why are the days of AAA (and I assume you mean also AA?) numbered?
Or do you mean the lights that take them?
Generally way way less of those - so I have bought a fair old number of cateye rears as spares.

 

[Blue Hills]

I like my lights to be battery powered (AA or AAA) on the basis that if I end up a good way from home and the power fades, I can always dive into any convenience shop / garage etc and replace them. The rechargeable ones don't appeal as much given that they could fail halfway through a journey and you can't really charge on the go unless you have a power bank. Plus they'll no doubt come with yet another charger to add to the the 217 others in my kitchen cupboards. So for now at least, I'm still on Cateye and similar. Actually Wilko do some good battery lights that are very very similar to Cateye.

your lights shouldn't run out mid trip if the trip is at all predictable canucks - nothing to stop you topping them up before a longer trip or just carry a spare set of batteries or another light to clip on - one reason I have largely standardised on cateyes, and very definitely for rears. No problem to clip on a smaller cousin of any rear that has failed. I really would recommend a quality AA/AAA charger where you can control the charging for each of the four charging bays separately - preferably on slow charge most of the time but you can also ramp up if you ever need to in extremis. Used to be about £20, maybe now a bit more. Fast non adjustable chargers are to be avoided.

 

[Blue Hills]

shhh no-one mentions dynamos ok

have their uses for sure but expensive and not so great for swapping from bike to bike - bikes with common mounts. I have getting on for 10 bikes - a bit pricey to dynamo all of those.

 

[Blue Hills]

Might be worth carefully opening the lights to see what rechargeable cells are in there. You may find the spec on the side and have space to fit some replacement cells. Yes if its nicad or nimh probably not viable but a good chance its li-ion and you can match it somehow. There are so many different lights available now that at their heart are just using 18650 cells and they can be replaced either clipped out or maybe need a bit of soldering.

you have to be careful if going down that route to check that you are getting the batteries from a reputable source. Unless you want to take the chance of fires. Generally I find it easier to source rechargeable AAA and AAs from sources I trust.

 

[Blue Hills]

As an all year round commuter I have the definitive answer.

AAA's.

My regular commute lights on my current bike and the previous incarnation have been AAA's. These are perfect because they have a dependable run time so can be recharged in good time and should the worst happen and I do get caught out when unexpectedly on the road I have a backup set of spare batteries that can replace one front light and one rear light so I never have to risk being without.
I do have usb rechargeable lights, but these are only for special less critical occasions.
The AAA/AA system has got to be the most dependable and sustainable system there is?

always amuses/horrifies me to see the rush to USB lights on the back of commuting. Hell, commutes on a bike are one of the most predictable, and relatively short, trips there is. And even if a charge at work were needed (shouldn't really be) there is presumably mains power. If someone can't manage their battery lights for such a trip I don't think I'd employ them/trust them to get into work wearing their socks.

 

[I like Skol]

Eneloop batteries have proven reliable for me after reading about them on this very forum. Best of all worlds. Decent capacity, long Lifetime and hold charge extremely well if not used for extended periods

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I would like a system with a powerpack mounted somewhere and wires to the lights at the front and rear
The powerpack could contain more cells and only one thing to recharge - on an ebike I could just keep it with the bike battery

Of course - on an ebike it makes more sense to power the lights from the bike battery - but it would costs silly money to upgrade the Bosch system on mine!

 

[Blue Hills]

OK - I see
I did try rechargeable AAA (or AA) - I generally found they lost charge quite quickly if not used

These must have been older generation ones.
Low self discharge rechargeable AAA and AAs retain a very substantial amount of their charge even if left sitting around for months on end. And so need less pointless and damaging recharging.
Check out eneloops.

edit - beaten to it on eneloops - but will leave for emphasis.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

These must have been older generation ones.
Low self discharge rechargeable AAA and AAs retain a very substantial amount of their charge even if left sitting around for months on end. And so need less pointless and damaging recharging.
Check out eneloops.

edit - beaten to it on eneloops - but will leave for emphasis.

Last time I tried I was using Duracell rechargeables - not recently but within the last 5 years
Got them for the bike but tried them in all sorts
gave up after a bit - even clocks needed them recharging far more frequently than normal batteries
resurrected them after a year or so and tried to recharge them - mostly dead and wouldn;t charge


then I saw some usb ones for £2 on PlanetX's sale and they have been great

 

[I like Skol]

Last time I tried I was using Duracell rechargeables - not recently but within the last 5 years
Got them for the bike but tried them in all sorts
gave up after a bit - even clocks needed them recharging far more frequently than normal batteries
resurrected them after a year or so and tried to recharge them - mostly dead and wouldn;t charge


then I saw some usb ones for £2 on PlanetX's sale and they have been great

What type of charger are you using? A smart charger is really an essential to look after rechargeable batteries. Any El'Cheapo dumb charger (like the ones Duracell have typically included in their battery & charger combo packs hung up near the checkouts in diy stores and supermarkets) will drastically shorten the service life of an otherwise good battery.

 

[Blue Hills]

What type of charger are you using? A smart charger is really an essential to look after rechargeable batteries. Any El'Cheapo dumb charger (like the ones Duracell have typically included in their battery & charger combo packs hung up near the checkouts in diy stores and supermarkets) will drastically shorten the service life of an otherwise good battery.

+1 - when I first got into rechargeables I bought a set of non low self discharge batteries and a fast charger from maplin - I was forever recharging the 10 pack of AAs as they drained charge just sat there (ie not a mega amount of lighting) and in short order wore them out. Even non techie me should have known something was amiss - the batteries got pretty damn hot when charging - I didn't fear a fire but it was became clear that a hell of a lot of that charging energy wasn't going into the batteries for future use.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Eneloop batteries have proven reliable for me after reading about them on this very forum. Best of all worlds. Decent capacity, long Lifetime and hold charge extremely well if not used for extended periods

It was a few years ago but I remember reading an article where they tested various brands of rechargeables and that the IKEA " LADDA" batteries were rebadged Eneloop.

 

[Blue Hills]

It was a few years ago but I remember reading an article where they tested various brands of rechargeables and that the IKEA " LADDA" batteries were rebadged Eneloop.

yes i am pretty sure that's the case - I have a couple of sets of "Ikea" batteries. They are good but take a bit of searching out. I fear the price may have gone up a lot since I first cottoned onto this.

 

[Tenkaykev]

yes i am pretty sure that's the case - I have a couple of sets of "Ikea" batteries. They are good but take a bit of searching out. I fear the price may have gone up a lot since I first cottoned onto this.

Just had a look at the IKEA site. It is showing two types of AA batteries, one type are 1900 Mah at £4 for 4 batteries, the other type is 2450 Mah at £6.50 for four. The pack of eight CR2035 for £1 looks a bargain.
I think I remember that one way of telling that the IKEA batteries were the rebadged Eneloops was the country of manufacture being Japan.