L&M Arc HID lights - which one and when?
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L&M Arc HID lights - which one and when?
Curious about your experience with L&M arc lights.
There seem to be 2 choices:
1. with NiMH batteries
2. with Li-ion batteries
The major problems I see with Li-ion
1. about $100 more than NiMH
2. shelf life is 3 years from date of manufacture, regardless of recharge cycles
So, questions:
1. How would you decide which one to buy?
2. If decide to go with Li-ion, how would you get the longest service life out of the battery.
3. How difficult is it, and does it make sense, to replace the L&M Li-ion battery with a different
Li-ion battery when it reaches the end of its shelf life.
There seem to be 2 choices:
1. with NiMH batteries
2. with Li-ion batteries
The major problems I see with Li-ion
1. about $100 more than NiMH
2. shelf life is 3 years from date of manufacture, regardless of recharge cycles
So, questions:
1. How would you decide which one to buy?
2. If decide to go with Li-ion, how would you get the longest service life out of the battery.
3. How difficult is it, and does it make sense, to replace the L&M Li-ion battery with a different
Li-ion battery when it reaches the end of its shelf life.
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Hmmm, maybe it's 4 to 5 years instead of three.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery
Disadvantages
A unique drawback of the Li-ion battery is that its life span is dependent upon aging from time of manufacturing (shelf life) regardless of whether it was charged, and not just on the number of charge/discharge cycles. This drawback is not widely publicized.
At a 100% charge level, a typical Li-ion laptop battery that's full most of the time at 25 degrees Celsius, will irreversibly lose approximately 20% capacity per year. This capacity loss begins from the time it was manufactured, and occurs even when the battery is unused. Different storage temperatures produce different loss results: 6% loss at 0 °C, 20% at 25 °C, and 35% at 40 °C. When stored at 40% charge level, these figures are reduced to 2%, 4%, 15% at 0, 25 and 40 degrees Celsius respectively.
If the battery is used and fully depleted to 0%, this is called a "deep discharge" cycle, and this decreases its capacity. Approximately 100 deep discharge cycles leave the battery with about 75% to 85% capacity. When used in laptop computers or cellular phones, this rate of deterioration means that after three to five years the battery will have capacities that are too low to be usable.
Li-ion batteries do not suffer from the memory effect, but they are not as durable as nickel metal hydride or nickel-cadmium designs and can be extremely dangerous if mistreated. They are usually more expensive
A unique drawback of the Li-ion battery is that its life span is dependent upon aging from time of manufacturing (shelf life) regardless of whether it was charged, and not just on the number of charge/discharge cycles. This drawback is not widely publicized.
At a 100% charge level, a typical Li-ion laptop battery that's full most of the time at 25 degrees Celsius, will irreversibly lose approximately 20% capacity per year. This capacity loss begins from the time it was manufactured, and occurs even when the battery is unused. Different storage temperatures produce different loss results: 6% loss at 0 °C, 20% at 25 °C, and 35% at 40 °C. When stored at 40% charge level, these figures are reduced to 2%, 4%, 15% at 0, 25 and 40 degrees Celsius respectively.
If the battery is used and fully depleted to 0%, this is called a "deep discharge" cycle, and this decreases its capacity. Approximately 100 deep discharge cycles leave the battery with about 75% to 85% capacity. When used in laptop computers or cellular phones, this rate of deterioration means that after three to five years the battery will have capacities that are too low to be usable.
Li-ion batteries do not suffer from the memory effect, but they are not as durable as nickel metal hydride or nickel-cadmium designs and can be extremely dangerous if mistreated. They are usually more expensive
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Li-ion would be good if you find you regularly need more than three hours of light in a night. Otherwise, you won't need Li-ion. The nickel metal hydride battery will do fine.
I wouldn't weigh the total life of either sort of battery much in my decision, if I were you. I'd be surprised to see a NiMH battery lasting much beyond three years of regular use. I replaced the first NiMH battery in my L&M light after about 2.5 years of regular use. That was too long, too. I made do with short lighting cycles for a few months when I should have gone ahead and just replaced the battery.
I do use the light a lot, but even with fewer uses I would be surprised to see a NiMH battery lasting much beyond three years. So, the life per charge and the replacement cost of each sort of battery are the more relevant considerations.
If you do decide to use the Li-ion, there are two things you can do to lengthen its life. Store it in the refrigerator, or even the freezer, but warm it up before you use it. Also, store it much less than fully charged. You'll still get good life without doing these things, but you can stretch things out a bit with this sort of maintenance.
I would think you'll find that it makes a great deal of sense to replace the battery when it wears down. I'm still using the original light unit, after about four years, and it's going strong.
I wouldn't weigh the total life of either sort of battery much in my decision, if I were you. I'd be surprised to see a NiMH battery lasting much beyond three years of regular use. I replaced the first NiMH battery in my L&M light after about 2.5 years of regular use. That was too long, too. I made do with short lighting cycles for a few months when I should have gone ahead and just replaced the battery.
I do use the light a lot, but even with fewer uses I would be surprised to see a NiMH battery lasting much beyond three years. So, the life per charge and the replacement cost of each sort of battery are the more relevant considerations.
If you do decide to use the Li-ion, there are two things you can do to lengthen its life. Store it in the refrigerator, or even the freezer, but warm it up before you use it. Also, store it much less than fully charged. You'll still get good life without doing these things, but you can stretch things out a bit with this sort of maintenance.
I would think you'll find that it makes a great deal of sense to replace the battery when it wears down. I'm still using the original light unit, after about four years, and it's going strong.
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I understand, the problem with NiMH is the drop in run time at 10F. I think it's about 30% of rated service. Yes, I agree it makes sense to freeze Liion in the summer.
Ah, how easy/hard is it to replace the battery? Do you have to get an L&M battery, or will any battery with same specs work? I imagine you might have to pigtail or solder the connector wire.
Ah, how easy/hard is it to replace the battery? Do you have to get an L&M battery, or will any battery with same specs work? I imagine you might have to pigtail or solder the connector wire.