|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?
A couple of my old headlights died due to batteries accidentally being
left in them long enough to leak. The old lights were Cateye HL-EL530s, that took 4 x AA batteries. http://www.cateye.com/en/products/detail/HL-EL530/ tho mine wasn't that one, mine was the previous-generation that had a rectangular beam due to a second focusing cone inside the main reflector. I cleaned them up a bit with some vinegar and water, but they're probably toast. The reflector surfaces look pretty gray. So I'm shopping around for ANY kind of headlights that take 4 x AA batteries, and there is none. The best I can find is one that takes 3 x AAA, but that doesn't put out anywhere near what the previous lights did. The best that Cateye offers now is the EL135, which is 3 LEDS and only 2 AA batteries. http://www.cateye.com/en/products/detail/HL-EL135/ I don't need a whole lot of light, I had two headlights just in case one failed. And I don't want anything with an external battery pack, even for free. Years back the rechargeables cost too much ($100+ just for the smallest systems). Now they're cheap enough, but they suck compared to the disposable-battery ones. At Nashbar, the Nashbar-brand Wedge headlight is 100 lumens, costs $20 and uses 3 AAA batteries. The run time is given as 15 hrs on high, 30 hours on low and 60 hours on flashing. Nashbar also sells the Cateye Volt 100, the lowest-end Volt model. It is USB rechargable and the output is given as 100 lumens... But the runtime is given as "2 to 30 hours depending on mode". Uhhh... no sale. I'm trying to spend money here and just not seeing a lot that's interesting. Plus--on the LWB recumbent, the lights have to be mounted upside-down. And the old Cateye lights were "waterproof", while almost all of these new ones are just "water resistant", and I'd bet, not nearly so if mounted upside down in the rain... So far the best candidate is the little 3-AAA flashlights with handlebar mounts. They're round beams but have a spot-flood focusing lens at least. Plus they all have high/low/flash modes now. |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?
On 2017-05-10 09:05, DougC wrote:
A couple of my old headlights died due to batteries accidentally being left in them long enough to leak. The old lights were Cateye HL-EL530s, that took 4 x AA batteries. http://www.cateye.com/en/products/detail/HL-EL530/ tho mine wasn't that one, mine was the previous-generation that had a rectangular beam due to a second focusing cone inside the main reflector. I cleaned them up a bit with some vinegar and water, but they're probably toast. The reflector surfaces look pretty gray. So I'm shopping around for ANY kind of headlights that take 4 x AA batteries, and there is none. The best I can find is one that takes 3 x AAA, but that doesn't put out anywhere near what the previous lights did. http://en.bumm.de/produkte/akku-sche...r/ixon-iq.html Quote "4 rechargeable Ni-MH batteries, each 2100 mAh, no memory effect. Charging time approx. 5 hours using provided charging unit. Power supply by 4 non-rechargeable AA batteries possible". However, their stuff tends to be expensive. I said good bye to the li'l battery lights a long time ago and now have a 1000 lumen light on each bike. On the road bike powered by a 8.4V 8800mAh Li-Ion pack which gives me 4-5h at full bore. The MTB has a battery half that size. In the garage I plug in and it'll be ready for the next round. What I still have to do is make electrical boxes and regulators so I can power some modified bright rear lights that then also do not require swapping out batteries anymore. The topper would be a hub dynamo to keep things charged but that might never happen. The only mod I did to the front lights was installing diffuser discs so they won't blind others and throw a nice amount of light horizontally. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?
On 5/10/2017 12:05 PM, DougC wrote:
Plus--on the LWB recumbent, the lights have to be mounted upside-down. And the old Cateye lights were "waterproof", while almost all of these new ones are just "water resistant", and I'd bet, not nearly so if mounted upside down in the rain... Why mount upside down? Can you not fashion a mounting bracket of some sort? If I wanted a battery powered light, I'd probably try the IXON that Joerg linked. But I'd do whatever necessary to mount it right side up, if only for the optics. -- - Frank Krygowski |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?
The XION (plain and Premium model) may be all there is. I been looking
around a couple hours more and still found none that were 4xAA; they're either 3xAAA or 2xAA. I may try some cheapo ones on Amazon first however, since two of the XION Premiums would cost $90 + shipping. I didn't check out any Euro-specific brands because they usually cost so much more. Pretty much all the B&M lights that I've seen before were big expensive rechargeable ones. On 5/10/2017 3:33 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote: Why mount upside down? Can you not fashion a mounting bracket of some sort? If I wanted a battery powered light, I'd probably try the IXON that Joerg linked. But I'd do whatever necessary to mount it right side up, if only for the optics. The recumbent has chopper-style bars and a handlebar bag that covers the "top" side of the bars and prevents mounting lights right-side up. And with the Cateyes, they gave the same beam upside down. Usually I would remove the batteries in the lights I had, if I wasn't going to be using the bike much (like during winter). This time I just forgot. And I left the batteries in the rear lights as well, but none of them rotted. :| ------- Overall, the rechargeable performance is simply NOT in line with the prices. For the light that a 2xAA model that costs $20 may put out, it seems like you need to spend $50-$60-$70 for a rechargeable light to match it. Another thing I don't like about almost all of the lights I'm looking at, is that they have no horizontal adjustment at all. With the old Cateye lights, they had about 8 degrees of left-right adjustment. If the bars weren't perfectly straight where they were mounted, I still had a bit of room to adjust them centered, since I normally only use one at a time. I am aware of the extra bars just for mounting lights and whatnot. I didn't want to have to add that on. |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?
On 5/10/2017 6:45 PM, DougC wrote:
The XION (plain and Premium model) may be all there is. I been looking around a couple hours more and still found none that were 4xAA; they're either 3xAAA or 2xAA. I may try some cheapo ones on Amazon first however, since two of the XION Premiums would cost $90 + shipping. I didn't check out any Euro-specific brands because they usually cost so much more. Pretty much all the B&M lights that I've seen before were big expensive rechargeable ones. On 5/10/2017 3:33 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote: Why mount upside down? Can you not fashion a mounting bracket of some sort? If I wanted a battery powered light, I'd probably try the IXON that Joerg linked. But I'd do whatever necessary to mount it right side up, if only for the optics. The recumbent has chopper-style bars and a handlebar bag that covers the "top" side of the bars and prevents mounting lights right-side up. And with the Cateyes, they gave the same beam upside down. Usually I would remove the batteries in the lights I had, if I wasn't going to be using the bike much (like during winter). This time I just forgot. And I left the batteries in the rear lights as well, but none of them rotted. :| ------- Overall, the rechargeable performance is simply NOT in line with the prices. For the light that a 2xAA model that costs $20 may put out, it seems like you need to spend $50-$60-$70 for a rechargeable light to match it. Another thing I don't like about almost all of the lights I'm looking at, is that they have no horizontal adjustment at all. With the old Cateye lights, they had about 8 degrees of left-right adjustment. If the bars weren't perfectly straight where they were mounted, I still had a bit of room to adjust them centered, since I normally only use one at a time. I am aware of the extra bars just for mounting lights and whatnot. I didn't want to have to add that on. I've done custom mounts for several different headlights, mostly because I almost always have handlebar bags mounted. Those interfere with most handlebar mounted lights . But I'm pretty content when fabricating a mechanical solution to such a problem. -- - Frank Krygowski |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?
On 5/10/2017 7:12 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
... I've done custom mounts for several different headlights, mostly because I almost always have handlebar bags mounted. Those interfere with most handlebar mounted lights . But I'm pretty content when fabricating a mechanical solution to such a problem. Welp, I ordered a couple of tactikewl flashlights and some mounts off Amazon for about $50 (for two of each). The flashlights are 18650 or 3xAA and come with the rechargeable stuff, but also have the 3xAA insert too. They are claimed as waterproof and have no USB charging ports, so they /should/ (might?) keep working in the rain. There is not a great amount of choice it seems. Apparently roughly 95% of all the flashlights listed on Amazon is one of maybe 6 different China models, just sold under different names and prices. And if you disregard the "all-rubber-band-mounts" and the "fake-Two-Fish-mounts" that don't hold, then there's only about four different kinds of handlebar-flashlight mounts--a couple of which were only big enough for the 3xAAA lights, and so were clearly too small for the flashlights I got. I can make mounts too but don't really wanna. |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?
|
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?
On Wed, 10 May 2017 11:05:04 -0500, DougC
wrote: So I'm shopping around for ANY kind of headlights that take 4 x AA batteries, and there is none. The best I can find is one that takes 3 x AAA, but that doesn't put out anywhere near what the previous lights did. There's a reason why you'll only find 2 or 3 AA batteries. While LED's require roughly 3.5 to 4.0 volts to operate. Something like this: http://us.tdk-lambda.com/lp/images/2011-10-chart.png This varies with LED type, color temp, bin, etc. You can barely do that with 2 alkaline AA cells at a nominal 1.5v each. It's easy to do with 3 AA cells. Actually, it can be done with 2 cells using a boost inverter to increase the battery voltage, but few do it. I think (not sure) that my Planet Bike 1 watt Blaze headlight does that. It runs on 2 AA alkaline batteries. https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Bike-Blaze-1-Watt-Headlight/dp/B0015R1NBW It's no longer in production. It's rated at 76 lumens. Roughly, todays LED's produce 75-80 lumens per watt of power consumption when warm. So, a 1 watt LED will produce about 75 lumens. Newer LED's are more efficient, but this is sufficient for a rough estimate of output. Incidentally, 3 AAA alkaline batteries have the same capacity as 2 AA alkaline batteries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAA_battery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AA_battery A AAA battery has about 1000 ma-hrs of capacity while a AA does about 2500 ma-hrs: AAA 3 cells * 1000 ma-hr * 1.5v = 4.5 watt-hrs AA 2 cells * 2500 ma-hr * 1.5v = 4.5 watt-hrs I don't need a whole lot of light, How many lumens would you estimate that you need? http://www.planetbike.com/page/learn/lightfinder Plus--on the LWB recumbent, the lights have to be mounted upside-down. And the old Cateye lights were "waterproof", while almost all of these new ones are just "water resistant", and I'd bet, not nearly so if mounted upside down in the rain... Look for IP ratings, not marketing buzzwords. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code Hint: You don't want waterproof. If it were, any standing water on the not so perfect seal would get sucked into the flashlight if the temperature drops and the air inside the light produces a partial vacuum. So far the best candidate is the little 3-AAA flashlights with handlebar mounts. They're round beams but have a spot-flood focusing lens at least. Plus they all have high/low/flash modes now. If you're not picky about beam pattern, you could probably get away with an LED flashlight and a handlebar mount. Something like this: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Schwinn-1W-Head-Light/19593671 For a battery, it takes either a single 24650 LiIon cell, a single 18650 LiIon cell with an adapter sleeve, or 3 AAA alkaline batteries in an included holder. Given your requirements, I'm not sure what to recommend. However, I would strongly suggest that you reconsider your aversion to LiIon batteries. For lighting of any type, they're far superior to alkaline. -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?
On 5/10/2017 9:44 AM, Joerg wrote:
snip Quote "4 rechargeable Ni-MH batteries, each 2100 mAh, no memory effect. Charging time approx. 5 hours using provided charging unit. Power supply by 4 non-rechargeable AA batteries possible". For a lot of lights, the output is significantly less on primary cells. Alkaline batteries have high internal resistance and can't provide the current that NiMH AA batteries provide. There are some good 4AA flashlights that could double as a bicycle light but these are high-end lights and are expensive https://www.fenixlighting.com/product/ld41-fenix-flashlight/. There is this 3xAA bicycle specific light: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X6FXCLN Someone selling a NOS HL-EL530: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cateye-opticube-hl-el530-cycling-light-/172654249234 There's also the option of powering a light with an external battery pack made up of AA cells rather than Li-Ion cells. For example, http://www.herrmans.eu/start-english/products?familyId=2208 will run on a 6-12V pack. But again, alkaline batteries will leave something to be desired. |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?
On 5/10/2017 5:44 PM, DougC wrote:
snip I can make mounts too but don't really wanna. Yeah, I make mounts. Not because I really wanna, but because I can make mounts that are a lot better than what is commercially available. I use the Maglite Delrin clamps on a piece of aluminum flat bar mounted to an aluminum or steel clamp for the bars. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Good website on bike headlights | [email protected] | General | 69 | May 18th 07 12:43 PM |
Good website on bike headlights | [email protected] | Techniques | 73 | May 18th 07 12:43 PM |
rechargeable lights | [email protected] | UK | 6 | July 30th 05 10:09 PM |
Streamlight Strion--Finally a good, easily available, 6W, 80 lumens,Adjustable Beam, Rechargeable Lithium Ion Flashlight | Steven M. Scharf | General | 0 | December 22nd 04 06:24 AM |
Streamlight Strion--Finally a good, easily available, 6W, 80 lumens,Adjustable Beam, Rechargeable Lithium Ion Flashlight | Steven M. Scharf | Techniques | 0 | December 22nd 04 06:24 AM |