Cateye EL500

Ron Hardin said:

I tried a 4th HL500 last night - it does make it pretty bright
compared to one, still not up where you can see the road surface against
high traffic interfering lights though, and, neat as it looks, it
does run up to $160. (Justification for wife - they also work as
flashlights, and have the same streamlined shape.)

The chief result was accidental - that the things go dim pretty fast
on NiMH batteries that run out, taking about a half hour to go from
full bright to see-me lights with no illumination for the rider;
two of the three lights already on the bike ran out on the same
trip. So carry a 4-pack of AA's if it's your only light. Lithium
is much lighter and impervious to winter and storage in a bike bag, I
guess, if you want a nice 10-year emergency pack.

You can load them in the dark if you remember the pattern orientation.
It's the same whether you hold the light upside down or not so you
don't have to see to load.

I load one with 1700 maH batteries and the rest with 2200, so there's
a warning before they all go out that it's recharge time. Dimming
would be too late in warning you.

I measured the light output of an HL-EL200 on NiMH and new alkaline
cells. It was *halved* with the 1.2V NiMH cells. In contrast, filament
bulbs usually burn brighter (at least on average over the cell's
lifetime) with rechargeables.

Zog The Undeniable said:

Quoted message said:

I load one with 1700 maH batteries and the rest with 2200, so there's
a warning before they all go out that it's recharge time. Dimming
would be too late in warning you.

I measured the light output of an HL-EL200 on NiMH and new alkaline
cells. It was *halved* with the 1.2V NiMH cells. In contrast, filament
bulbs usually burn brighter (at least on average over the cell's
lifetime) with rechargeables.

I couldn't tell any difference between new alkalines and the existing NiMH
by eye. The chief difference would seem to be that NiMH dies fast when it
dies, and alkaline tapers down over hours, at least I suppose it does.

I use alkaline in the LED taillights for that reason; there's lots of warning,
several rides, that you should change the (AAA) batteries, when you think, well
maybe I could change the batteries there, it's getting sort of dim. You could
go several more rides even then, and how bright do taillights have to be anyway.
--
Ron Hardin
[email hidden]

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

Ron Hardin said:

I use alkaline in the LED taillights for that reason; there's lots of
warning, several rides, that you should change the (AAA) batteries, when
you think, well maybe I could change the batteries there,

Odd; I use rechargeables because of that behaviour from alkalines. I hate
wondering if I should change the batteries or maybe let them go a little
further; with a rechargeable, it either works or it doesn't.

I have three tail lights one of which is dynamo fed, though, so I'm not
too worried if one of them dies on me.
--
David Damerell <[email hidden]> flcl?

Hi, Ron, your subject line is EL500 but your post is about HL500.

Anyway, I recently purchased an EL-500 and put lithium batteries in
it. Having only got to use it during a faily full moon, I can't tell
you what its like in real darkness but it does seem to have a pretty
good beam.

Lewis.

**********************

Ron Hardin <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I tried a 4th HL500 last night - it does make it pretty bright
compared to one, still not up where you can see the road surface against
high traffic interfering lights though, and, neat as it looks, it
does run up to $160. (Justification for wife - they also work as
flashlights, and have the same streamlined shape.)

The chief result was accidental - that the things go dim pretty fast
on NiMH batteries that run out, taking about a half hour to go from
full bright to see-me lights with no illumination for the rider;
two of the three lights already on the bike ran out on the same
trip. So carry a 4-pack of AA's if it's your only light. Lithium
is much lighter and impervious to winter and storage in a bike bag, I
guess, if you want a nice 10-year emergency pack.

You can load them in the dark if you remember the pattern orientation.
It's the same whether you hold the light upside down or not so you
don't have to see to load.

I load one with 1700 maH batteries and the rest with 2200, so there's
a warning before they all go out that it's recharge time. Dimming
would be too late in warning you.

Lewis Campbell said:

Hi, Ron, your subject line is EL500 but your post is about HL500.

Actually, he talks about (4) AA batteries so he's probably indeed talking about the HL-EL500. The HL500 takes C batteries.

Gonzo Bob said:

Lewis Campbell said:

Hi, Ron, your subject line is EL500 but your post is about HL500.

Actually, he talks about (4) AA batteries so he's probably indeed
talking about the HL-EL500. The HL500 takes C batteries.

--
Gonzo Bob

Right, my fingers tend toward HL when unattended.

I have an alternative of 2 HL-1500's which is what got put into
my finger memory. They also take 4 AA's, and are nice and bright,
but sometimes don't last the length of the trip, which is the
problem with them.

So anyway I have 4 EL500's now. They're okay, I guess. Brighter
would be nicer but they're tolerable. They do last the trip, in fact
several trips. Nicely made, apparently waterproof.

As I say, they dim out over a very short period when the NiMH batteries
do die, so you need an extra set of batteries, or use smaller capacity
batteries in one so that it serves as a canary in the mine and warns
you to recharge them all when you get home.

You don't want taillights going out so I use alkalines there, with
the led taillights. They just get slowly dim like LEDs are supposed to
do.
--
Ron Hardin
[email hidden]

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.