Jemsquash said:I am wondering what is the best option for my lights in terms of batteries. I have a Dinnotte 5W led light which should give me roughly 1 &40 min burn time on high power. It uses 4 AA batteries. This is ample for my comute since I usually cycle in one direction during daylight hours.
My concern is backup batteries. I want backup batteries but I am not sure if rechargables or just disposables are better. The rechargables should suffice for me with the backups hardly being used. When it comes to summer I will probably use neither sets of batteries. What I don't know is which batteries will last better. Will rechargables last through summer without being recharged?
If I do go for disposables will alkaline suffice or do I need those lithium ion batteries?
I guess this is not a huge issue since a set of batteries only costs 17 AUD.
PS. I am in awe of my Dinotte light that I got. I've only ridden with them twice now so I have yet to tell how they pan out over time.
Use NiMH batteries, but instead of backup, consider using them in rotation. If you buy a total of 3 sets of batteries, you would use one in the light, one as the 'backup', and one in the charger at home. After using the light, move the 'backup' to the light and the ones from the charger to the 'backup', and of course charging the ones from the light. That way you don't have a set of batteries just sitting idle for days or weeks. That's not good for rechargables as they lose a few percentage points a day.
During your 'off' season, use the batteries in other devices to keep them from sitting idle. I alternate using mine between the bike headlight and one of my digital cameras.
I'm not sure what sort of smart charger the DiNotte light uses, but the best charger I've found is the Maha MH-C204W. It's very compact and lightweight and it's a world charger. My daughter used it to charge batteries for her digicam on trips to Australia, Great Britain, and France. So, if you do any traveling, that's a plus. It also has a deep refresh cycle that helps older batteries to maintain better performance.
Maha Powerex batteries are also very good. The AA size are usually a fairly good value. They have always been reliable compared to other brands, like Energizer or Ray-O-Vac. With those, sometimes I've had really good performance, sometimes really lousy. Panasonic and Sanyo are also fairly good, but the output isn't as high as the Maha batteries.
Lithium Ion batteries are very good, but too pricey to use in a light, even as backup. They do have an extremely long shelf life, though. Alkalines are a perfectly good emergency battery for an LED light. Just remember to buy a fresh set once a year and use the old 'emergency' set in a low priority item like a television remote.
Whatever you decide, good luck with the new light and hope the info helped
