bike lights Bicycle light batteries - My pet project

[Lamber]

What is the recharge time on the battery pack?

 

Thanks for that - definitely worth testing as well!

 

My charger is rated at 1A @ 8.4V. Seeing as this is a 6.8Ah battery I would assume around 7 hours. The 1.8A chargers which are readily available should halve that.

 

I will test this over the weekend as well so that I can include it in the factual results next week.

[Jva]

Hi Lamber,

Thanks for sharing all the info, very interesting. Following the thread with interest.????

[dasilvarsa]

Thanks for that - definitely worth testing as well!

 

My charger is rated at 1A @ 8.4V. Seeing as this is a 6.8Ah battery I would assume around 7 hours. The 1.8A chargers which are readily available should halve that.

 

I will test this over the weekend as well so that I can include it in the factual results next week.

There is a 20% Efficiency Loss so I'd Say 8 hours 10 Minutes.

[DieselnDust]

The charge curve for li-Ion will drop the amps toward the end of the charge so the last 20% of the capacity will take 80% of the charge time.

My 13A,hr pack takes 14 hrs to charge completely

[Lamber]

There is a 20% Efficiency Loss so I'd Say 8 hours 10 Minutes.

 

Full charge time for the pack from drained to full was 7h46min - you were more or less spot on 

[Lamber]

Got some time to test the the 2100 lumen setting on the Extreme Lights with my Alpha Battery pack.

 

Total runtime in this mode was:

 

 4 Hours 18 Minutes 03 Seconds

 

​I was a bit disappointed seeing as I was hoping for a 4h30m + 

 

Because I needed to drain the pack fully to test the recharge time as per Hairy's request I continued to let the light run (it switches over from 2100 lumen to 200 lumen on its own as soon as the indicator light starts flashing red) but to my surprise the light continued in this mode for a further 7 hours and 34 minutes.  

 

The setup with the fan is shown below. Second picture shows the automatic switch-over from 2100 lumen to 200 lumen in the GoPro sequence.

 

Next test will be the 750 lumens setting...

 

[Lamber]

On 4/6/2021 at 4:26 PM, Lamber said:

Ever since I had a battery failure on the 2017 Trans Baviaans the topic of bicycle lights started to interest me.

 

An electrical engineer by trade - I figured that this cannot be as complicated and expensive as the market seems to suggest. Over the last 4 years (on and off) I have tested the good, the cheap and the ugly when it comes to batteries for endurance riding. 

 

My findings have led me to build my own prototype and yesterday I finally came to testing it with known parameters. For the first test, I have used the Extreme Lights Endurance light which seems to be most used light for the rides that I have mentioned above. My test setup includes a GoPro with sequence shooting at 60 second intervals within clear view of my G-Shock which was used for timing.

 

Extreme Lights claim 40+ hours' run time at the 200 Lumen setting when used with their 5200mAh battery - I am using the same Lumen setting but my battery is designed to produce 6800mAh at the same voltage.

 

My test is 24 hours in and things are looking good thus far - I will keep posting on this thread for anyone that is interested. After the test is completed I will share some findings which may or may not be informative/trivial.

 

I have had a lot of interest in these battery packs since posting my research and experiments on this thread.

I am happy to report that my initial feeling wrt pricing of these battery units were correct as I believed it can be done much cheaper. I have started selling these units for R850 (incl shipping) which is the 4 cell 6800mAh 7.4V unit. It is compatible with Extreme Lights, Pyrolights, Magicshine, Magiclight, Gemini and Fluxient LED lights.

I also sell chargers for the 3.7V & 7.4V battery packs. 

You can follow my progress on:

https://www.facebook.com/Alpha-Adventure-Gear-101204205423059

 

[DieselnDust]

39 minutes ago, Lamber said:

I have had a lot of interest in these battery packs since posting my research and experiments on this thread.

I am happy to report that my initial feeling wrt pricing of these battery units were correct as I believed it can be done much cheaper. I have started selling these units for R850 (incl shipping) which is the 4 cell 6800mAh 7.4V unit. It is compatible with Extreme Lights, Pyrolights, Magicshine, Magiclight, Gemini and Fluxient LED lights.

I also sell chargers for the 3.7V & 7.4V battery packs. 

You can follow my progress on:

https://www.facebook.com/Alpha-Adventure-Gear-101204205423059

 

would be interested in a charger with Molex connector if pricing is keen. My current charger is for 7.2V battery

[Lamber]

37 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

would be interested in a charger with Molex connector if pricing is keen. My current charger is for 7.2V battery

PM Sent.

Our standard chargers are R250 (including shipping) but this one will have some mods due to your unique Molex connector requirement.

[RocknRolla]

Can you make a battery pack for fibre ont and wireless router? I will order 2 units if they are cheaper than the fodder currently on offer on Takelot.

[Lamber]

18 hours ago, RocknRolla said:

Can you make a battery pack for fibre ont and wireless router? I will order 2 units if they are cheaper than the fodder currently on offer on Takelot.

I can supply this unit for R1400. There's a catch though - the 3 blue circled ports are all the same (like that of a battery pack) thus your ONT and Router plug must look like the red circled plug (like that of the bike LED light) in order to make it work. 

The ones on Takealot (that I've seen) have 1 x 12V port, 1 x 9V port and 1 x 5.5V port. Mine has only 2 x 12V ports so you can check your gear's supply voltage and let me know if this will suit you.  

[RocknRolla]

Thanks Lamber, Will revert soonest

 

[DuncanCT]

On 5/21/2021 at 11:35 AM, Lamber said:

I can supply this unit for R1400. There's a catch though - the 3 blue circled ports are all the same (like that of a battery pack) thus your ONT and Router plug must look like the red circled plug (like that of the bike LED light) in order to make it work. 

The ones on Takealot (that I've seen) have 1 x 12V port, 1 x 9V port and 1 x 5.5V port. Mine has only 2 x 12V ports so you can check your gear's supply voltage and let me know if this will suit you.  

I've done something similar with a 12v lead acid.

Just add one of these for the ONT... (or something similar)

BMT DC/DC BUCK MODULE 0.8-20V 2A - Communica [Part No: BMT DC/DC BUCK MODULE 0.8-20V 2A]

and unless your ONT has a 'different to normal dc jack' one of these should work...

CCTV ADPT PLUG MP121 - Communica [Part No: CCTV ADPT PLUG MP121]

[Lamber]

So here's  another update:

A client requested a 6 cell 7.4V 10200mAh battery and today is test day. Once again looking forward to results compared to similar units going for 2 x the price.

I'll post final times once the lights go out ????

[Lamber]

On 6/16/2021 at 11:17 AM, Lamber said:

So here's  another update:

A client requested a 6 cell 7.4V 10200mAh battery and today is test day. Once again looking forward to results compared to similar units going for 2 x the price.

I'll post final times once the lights go out ????

Achieved a very respectable 6.5 hours runtime on the 2100Lm setting.

 

Edited June 18, 2021 by Lamber

[Lamber]

I completed the first 4 cell 10 000mAh bike light battery in the country (that I am aware of) and will be testing it over the weekend.

This battery uses the (relatively) new 2170 size cells rather than the 1865 cells that I have been using in the past. The 2170's are used in the current line of Teslas but will soon be replaced by the 4680 which I'm also eager getting my hands on.

Pics below shows the size difference between the 6800mAh 1865 pack (black) vs 10 000mAh the 2170 pack (blue) - I'll call it "The Mega". If tested successfully - it will be ideal for the Munga/Freedom challenge riders.