What to do with my old cygolites?
So I have these cygolite night rover 6v 12w, lead acid battery lights.
I haven't used them much since I built a much brighter light out of a Lowes Task Force 3w cree flashlight by removing the back, wiring the head to a 2xAA battery pack.
But the Lowes light has a really nice throw and puts out a bright spot quite a ways in front of me, I wouldn't mind having something that lights up the road a bit closer. I have some Cateye battery lights that do a passable job, but the Cygolites were better.
It's just that the batteries are heavy and bulky and don't really last that long. And by now they're probably not good anymore.
Long story short, I'm ready to start playing with the cyglolites.
So what would work best?
Simply replace the SLA batteries with 6v Nimh packs. That right there would solve two problems - run time and bulk/weight.
Or I could over-volt the 6v to 7.2v. Bad idea or not? Would it be much brighter? Would I constantly be burning out bulbs?
Finally, if I went 12v by replacing the bulbs and getting a 12v nimh pack, would it be much brighter than a 6v system?