Batteries

[Rusty_S85]

I cant find a speedometer cable clamp that will fit my fork (I need a 22mm as my fork is 22.60mm and everything I find is 25mm and up). So since I want to buy a few things I am looking at batteries for my tail light and for my future headlight if I can find one to use.

With that said I am looking at rechargeable batteries that I can either A) unplug and plug into a charger without removal from bike or B) easily removeable to be charged off the bike.

Right now I am looking at the following battery pack.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Exell-12V-1...058604?hash=item3f73b31fec:g:gZQAAOSw-0xYfPSk

Its nice and small and I am sure I could squeeze it into a plastic project box which will allow me to use half circle rubber lined clamps to mount the box to my frame first before placing the battery in the box. This will allow the battery to be easily removeable and allow for a mounting place for my switch for my lights.

Problem is there is no real word on what charger to use with this kind of battery. Wanted to see what other people have done battery wise, I am trying to stay small but large enough that wont go dead in an hour powering a single LED headlight and a single LED tail light.

 

[6blueoval9]

Whatever light you get be sure its a low amperage draw..1000mah isnt very big capacity wise.

You might want to try li-ion battery cells used in Vaping.

You can get 3.7v nominal voltage cells with a capacity of 3000mah and be capable of handling 20 amps continuos draw... You would wire them in series for increased voltage...when they are fully charged they are at 4.2 volts each cell so you would only need 3 of them to get 12.6v.

Ni cads will get dimmer and dimmer as voltage drops...li ion cells will maintain brightness untill near its depletion....you jist have to be careful not to go below maybe 3.4 volts per cell or 10.2v so you dont ruin the cells...they dont have charge memory so you can top off the charge at any time.

You can buy a little digital volt gauge to monitor voltage.

With a light that draws maybe 2 amps you would have several hours of bright battery life.

Just an option for you

 

[6blueoval9]

This where i buy my li ion batteries from...you can find chargers there as well...i use the cheaper nitecore chargers ..they work just fine.

liionwholesale.com

You can use larger 26650 sized batteries or the smaller 18650 size..both last about the same but the 26650s are lower amperage which may or may not be a big deal depending on amperage draw....just mind the amperage ratings and dont exceed them.

 

[Rusty_S85]

This is the tail light I have.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074K9WGV3/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It says 20 watts but its a tail light/brake light. As of now I wont be using the brake light feature. I might add it in later once I devise a plan to activate via my brakes without having to run electrical wires up to the handle bars. I'm trying to keep the bike as clean looking as possible.

That's why instead of mounting a 12V generator and then a 12V regulator/rectifier it would be in my opinion less clutter by having one box which houses a 12V battery to run my headlight/tail light. I don't plan on riding at night but would like to have them functional.

My other option is to junk the battery powered tail light and locate a Carbine tail light. I am looking at Carbide Headlights but so far everything reasonably priced is either not complete or they are banged up to hell.

 

[6blueoval9]

I like that street legal light kit zeda has

 

[6blueoval9]

4am comes early for me..have a good night.

 

[Steve Best]

I used to use a carbide miner's lamp in the Army to blacken my sights. Bought it new from England. I later sold it and used a babyfood bottle with a pinhole in the cap to do the same thing. We would spit in it, put the cap on and light the flame. As I remember the miner's was quite bright and would run a long time (hours) on a refill of water and calcium carbide. It did require a lot of cleaning. I would rather have a battery operated LED light any day.

 

[KCvale]

I like the 18650 LI batteries, I have used them on bike lighting and I use 3 of them in my 'Police Flashlight', it's over a 1' long and you don't want to be on the wrong end of it if you you are up to no good ;-}


https://liionwholesale.com/collecti...h-li-mn-flat-top-batteries?variant=1016396444

 

[Rusty_S85]

Same here I would take a battery LED light any day but to keep the bike clean of wires and batteries I would consider it as a option.

KCvale, that looks quite a bit like the battery for my Streamlight I use at work. I'm not against using something like that. Just trying to find something that I can hide in one of those plastic project boxes so I can put my on off switch on the side and hide the battery and all electrical connections.

 

[KCvale]

I use these alot.
https://www.amazon.com/Onedayshop®-...1507833348&sr=8-3&keywords=bicycle+cree+light