On 5/10/2017 10:21 PM, Andy wrote:
On Wednesday, May 10, 2017 at 11:05:06 AM UTC-5, Doug Cimperman 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.
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.
You might want to ignore bicycle lights per se and be creative. :-)
There are many flashlights that meet you light needs.
One produces 1000 lumens.
And they are way cheaper.
All it takes to mount them are 2 adjustable clamps.
Use NiMh batteries.
I made a light system using a SLA battery that was as bright as a car headlight.
Andy
Well I did order a couple 'normal' flashlights with handlebar mounts. I
just preferred a bicycle-specific light, because decent ones usually had
a rectangular beam rather than a round one.
The aversion I have to rechargeable things is that they're never charged
when I need them to be. With things like a laptop or a tablet I can just
hook them to the charger and keep using them (assuming I'm wherever the
charger is) but you can't do that with bicycle lights. If a light has
the *option* of rechargable batteries that's okay, but I don't want
anything that is limited to using rechargeable batteries only.
Also we note that the Cateye HL-EL530s that died were probably at least
8 years old, and maybe older. They probably weren't very bright compared
to what modern lights/LEDs are now. And the reflectors looked rather
gray anyway.
The failure of most of the China lights is that they have poorly
designed reflectors (like those used for incan bulbs). I do like the B&M
lights, just because of the LED-specific reflector design. And the
reflectors of the other two Cateyes aren't looking real good either.