tesco torches....alternative power

[mds101]

I'm fed up of ripping the cover off rechagable batteries to make them fit in. I have tried to file down inside but not really made much difference.

So I'm thinking, is it possible for an electronic nobody to set up a different power source, still using aa rechargables but using something from maplins?

Can I do somehting with some solder that will take some wiring from the switch on the torch through the battery box to the head of the torch?

How do I put a second torch through? If someone knows how this would work, could you draw a quick basic diagram that I could follow and that I could take to a man in maplins and ask him for the bits.

 

[Panter]

You can buy battery boxes very cheaply. Assuming you want a remote power source, you could cut the torch body right down to make it lighter and more compact, then just solder some wires from the battery box to the connections on the torch.

Wouldn't look pretty, and I'm sure you'd need a good dollop of tape, but there's no reason you couldn't.

 

[Mr Celine]

I did something similar with one of mine. I didn't shorten it because I fix it to the bars with a big rubber band (a spare for a tent guy) and I still wanted to use the switch on the end.
I drilled a hole through the body, soldered a flex to the appropriate connections and soldered the other end of the wires to a pair of maplins battery holders, wired in parallel to give the same voltage from 4 AAs but double the run time. The battery holders are inside an old water bottle, which sits in one of the cages. Flex holes are sealed with silicone kitchen sealant.

Looks a bit home made, but no one else can see if its dark.

4 Maplins 2700mah AAs easily outlast my 3 hour night rides and for a total cost of less than £10 is more than double the brightness of my £50 cateye EL530.

 

[mds101]

Thank you. Mr Celine, that sounds about perfect. I was thnking about running two lights, but that would be a bit 'wires everywhere' and I'm probably better be better off using two battery holders, each running one light off four. That sound a bit tidier, I don't want to be looking at spaghetti junction all day and night.

Presumably it still works off the torch switch.

I wouldn't really be bothered about cutting them down, as the body holds the light on the bars and they balance quite well. Alhough I have a third I could try it out on.

I'd thought about buying some sort of compact tubing to hold batteries, should be able to get somethign and with a little grommet and a bit of silicon it should be relatively water tight.

To be honest I can't believe it is as simple as I thought it was. I'll try and post a picture when I've done it.

 

[ufkacbln]

Quickest way is a piece of dowel with a wire contact at either end inside the battery case - easy to cut and fit, small sealed hole and a battery box

 

[semislickstick]

I found in the original edition torch the batteries are a bit tight with rechargeable's, uniross seem to work ok, the 7 dayshop ones need the cover taking off and thin selotape wrapped around, is that safe? But in the later torch they fit fine.

But someone did do a 'sawn off' version of the torch and a 4 AA battery pack to attach under the stem, I'm sure it was posted here.

 

[Wobbly John]

I run a pair on Dynamo. I've got them wired in series and one switch operates both lights. The same setup would work if you used something like a 7.2V radio controlled car battery.

I've got a webpage showing the set-up here

I would recommend going the dynamo route if you can. I went out and did 174 miles Saturday before last, with lights on all the way. This was using my single cut-down version which gives a bit less drag then the twin torch version.