Papa Tom

I can't find a recent thread on this.

My old Nite Rider headlight used a battery pack that included five nickel metal hydride batteries, each about the size of a Chapstick container, all wired together and sealed in a watertight rubber wrap. This pack has not been charged in a few years and now won't take a charge at all.

I am not looking for advice on why I should throw this away and buy a new light. I'd just like to know if there is a way to build a new battery pack for, say, about $25 -- or if there is some type of ready-made replacement out there I should look into.

I do not need a lot of light and I will not be running it for more than about 15-30 minutes at a time, perhaps only a few times a year. Again, I am fully aware of the new lights that are out there and how much more efficient and affordable they are, but I have a thing about salvaging old accessories, especially ones that I never got my money's worth out of the first time around.

Ideas?

richart

Model number of light and/or battery pack? Got a picture? I have rebuild a number of hand-held radio battery packs over the years with good success.

canklecat

Some one-time-use and/or rechargeable battery packs that appear to be proprietary are really just ordinary batteries with terminals soldered together in series and wrapped in plastic. Disassembly usually reveals which types might be good replacements.

For example, the old French made Wonder light handlebar light of the 1970s used what appeared to proprietary battery packs, but these turned out to be three ordinary AA batteries with contacts soldered in series to the terminals and bundled together in plastic or paper.

Years ago a common trick among fans of the Tandy Model 100/102 -- the original Kyocera made laptop computer, which ran for many hours on four AA batteries -- discovered they could extend the run time by building their own simple battery packs from four C or D cells, bundled into a commonly available battery pack holder, soldered to the appropriate pigtail and connector, stuffed inside a small beanbag type pillow that served as a nice prop to keep the keyboard and LCD screen at a good angle for typing.

trailangel

Fix the cassette first before lighting.

ArmChairRider

Strap a 6 volt lantern battery to it.
They are dirt cheap at Walmart for $3.14 a battery.
5 older Ni-Cads will probably max out at 6.25 vdc.
(So you'll have a .25 vdc buffer on current draw)
The Rayovac Lantern costs less than $5 (including battery)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Rayovac-E...ntern/22086119
Plus, when you get hungry you can shine those cute furry pink-eyed ruminators while hunting at night.

prathmann

Get a holder for 5 NiMH AA cells:
and attach the leads to whatever connector is on the original battery pack. NiMH AA cells provide about 2 - 2.5 A-hr capacity which might be less than the original cells but it sounds as if a slight reduction in run time wouldn't be an issue for the OP.

Merco_61

Go to the nearest model shop and buy a 5-cell RX battery pack. Put the contacts you need on it. Finished.

Papa Tom

Literal LOL for that one! But how do you know I don't need the light to see what I'm doing while fixing the cassette?

These ideas about strapping common batteries together are exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

_ForceD_

There is a chain of stores here in SE New England (Batteries+Bulbs) that I've heard can/will create just about any sort of battery pack that you need. If you don't have a store/chain like this in your area, perhaps you could work with them over the phone, or send them the old pack so they can construct a new one for you.
https://www.batteriesplus.com/store-locator/ma/823?utm_source=local&utm_medium=googlemybusiness

Dan

10 Wheels

$20 bucks will cure your problem

CREE XM T6 1000Lm LED Headlight-20.02 Online Shopping| GearBest.com

You seemed concerned about spending $25 bucks and Still have an old out of date light.

Papa Tom

Tsk, tsk, 10Wheels. You didn't follow instructions. I am well aware of all the options for bike lights, and I even own one that performs incredibly well for a fraction of the cost of the one you recommended. However, I want to revive this NiteRider Extreme for personal reasons, perhaps to use it for something other than cycling. Thanks, anyway.

10 Wheels

Keep it in your bathroom

grounded B

Take the pack to a hobby shop that specializes in RC planes or cars.

They should be able to replicate the Ni-Mh pack exactly.

You need to stick with Ni-Mh, unless you also get a new charger. Each battery chemistry requires a different charge rate/method.

Steve

fietsbob

5x 1.2v batteries in series =6v ...... rechargeable batteries are 1.2v

drlogik 

Those types of batteries can be had on eBay and other sources. Crack open the battery box and see if you can find a match. Make sure you take photos of the battery setup so that you can rebuild it the correct way. Good luck. If it were me, I'd buy a new light before I'd go through all of that.

bulldog1935

the new 5-v LEDs with mini USB recharge are so nice, and you can buy so many good remote battery packs, even though I'm not supposed to, I say replace

Leebo

Less $ an option? Go to a big box store. Get a 100- 125 lumen flashlight for $10-12.00. Bungee or duct tape to bars. 1/2 the price for new stuff.

jimincalif

Usually packs are made up of standard size batteries, sometimes AA, or 2/3 AA, etc. You open it up, measure the size and then order new ones online with solder tabs, then you simply assemble a new pack using the old one as a model. I've restored/upgraded a couple of handheld marine radios this way replacing the old dead NiCads with NiMH. Pretty easy to do if you have a soldering iron.

NiMH batteries with tabs for soldering in all sizes

Papa Tom

I just ordered a set of five NimH replacement batteries with tabs from a company in Montreal for $29.95US, including shipping. I know this was crazy, but I hated the thought of throwing away my very first bike headlight, for which I paid something like $175 in the late 1990's. Now, I can use it as a "be-seen" for the 10-15 minutes I need it each morning. Of course, now the bulb will burn out.

DrIsotope

Could have adapted an R/C receiver pack with significantly greater capacity for less money.

Papa Tom

Yeah, I could have done a lot of things for less money, but at least I can sleep at night knowing that these will be the batteries the light was designed to work with. Plus, I made some new friends in Montreal who might be able to ship me a case of Clodhoppers candy if they ever start to manufacture it again.

ArmChairRider

That's great.
Not everyday someone can bring a nostalgic item of their life back to life.
Hope your charger works.
Yumm, crunchy fudge covered grahams.

Garfield Cat

That is the problem, not getting a solution to the battery pack.

If you disregard that "thing about salvaging...", then the problem goes away. The salvaging is what's standing in the way.

reppans

Guess it's too late now, but if the NiMh's are AA sized, then Eneloops Low Self Discharge are the Gold standard rechargeables. If used infrequently, you won't need to recharge between uses (retains charge for years). Costco sells packs with 8xAA and 4xAAA and Sanyo individual cell charger for <$30. Lots of cheap poor quality no-name NiMhs out there.

Papa Tom

They are not AA. They are something like 4/3????