General Cycling Discussion - How many years do you expect to get out of a bike light battery.

It is beginning to get noticeably darker earlier. Begin to think about the need for a light..I have two lighting system..A Cyrgo Lite and a Digital Evolution Nite rider system..
The little I ride at night, I tend to take the Cyrgo System..I like having dual 6 watt beams..It has a lead acid battery.6 volt. It has a slow trickle charger..
It takes a long time to fully charge..The problem with this system...You never know how run down the battery is...Guess, you can't over charge it..
So to test it.I ran two beams inside the house..I want to know how long to expect it to last when actually put into use outside.But, who knows when it is fully charged..? Not sure its' state of charge any time you charge it.
I bought it in 1999, it has not been used a lot and I am quite sure I have never let it run totally down..
After charging it 6 hours I noticed it got dimmer after 25 minutes. After 50 minutes and running two beams ,I felt it unwise to run it any longer or I might damage it. A 8 hour charge is supposed to run one beam 1.5 hours.Maybe it is still ok?
Think 5 years and you would still trust a lead acid battery?
The way I expect to get home on a two hour home commute with this system is to carry two batteries of an unknown charge.

If you use yours for half the year once a day, or around 180 days a year and charge it once every 2 days, or around 90 times a year. It should last you 5 years provided you take good care of it. YMMV though depending on operating conditions, charging conditions, etc.

I possibly have the same system as you, (Cygo Lite Night Rover is what I'm using).

The first time I forgot about having the battery hooked into the charger, I left it on for about 10 hours, and I knew that I didn't want that to happen again. After some searching, I bought a smart charger, one that senses the battery and won't overcharge.

If you use your system much, it might be worth spending the $35-$40 USD that it cost (at the time -- this was about 3 years ago). I got it from Power Sonic, www.power-sonic.com, (I use the 6250A I believe, it's not here for me to check).

Btw, I like having the dual lights in one head because you always have a backup should one burn out. I've used it for a few years now, and get about 2.5 hours using one lamp, and a bit over an hour using both, (which I almost never do), using the water bottle battery.


Joe

I have 5 years on a niterider classic, my run time is down to 1.5 hours on low. I ride every day to work, i use the light at least one way most of the year and run the niterider tail light too so I'm powering the low beam up front and the tail light in the rear, I also run the tail light only on cloudy/rainy days during the daytime. At the cost of the battery I may just get a new light.