Lenaxia

It's now 9.12pm, well past sunset, dark outside and I just realized that I:

a) won't be leaving work for another hour or so, and
b) my lamps are out of juice and I have no replacement batteries.

Tonight shall be fun.

colleen c

Look at the bright side (bad pun), the pedstrian will love you for no blinding light

I took one of my P7 and one charger to use as a work flashlight. During the shorter daylight of Fall, I at least have a backup light if my primary light on my bike or helmet fails.

ClarkinHawaii

Look at it this way--the vast majority of our days are forgotten almost before the day has ended. What you have now is a day whose memory will be vivid in your mind for the rest of your life . . .no guts no glory!

Absenth

It could be worse. You could be like me, and lacking a proper headlamp all together.

The 9 LED thing I have is good for flashing for attention, and worthless for lighting the road.

iforgotmename

Can you stop and get some? Worth it in my opinion.

serra

If it just takes AA's or something I'm sure someone would be willing to give you some.

parker63

You could always try falling asleep at your desk. Boss comes in, finds you passed out at your desk, and assumes you were working like crazy all night long. "Go on home...you've worked enough...enjoy your weekend!" Solved the battery problem, and get a bonus day off to boot. Score!

Lenaxia

Unfortunately there is no one left in the office to ask for batteries, everyone is pretty much out of here by 7. Also I can go days without seeing my boss because we live in cubicle farms, so chances are he wouldn't see me tomorrow.

Fortunately though, basically my entire commute is along bike trails (off of streets) and back roads, so not having lights isn't too big of an issue... I hope, plus as much as I'd like, I don't pass any stores on the way home, and going to a store would be out of the way and put me in more danger than I would normally be. Sadly enough.

I'm outta here in about 15 minutes if everything works properly, we'll see how things go.

serra

Oh dear, um, be careful! Let us know if you're alive tomorrow, not that I doubt it of course.

peliot

I'm a big fan or reelights (www.reelight.com) - they are LED lights that are powered from the wheels (with a magnet attached to the spokes). They aren't bright enough to see with, but plenty bright to be seen by cars. I just leave them on the bike all year round, and then if I get stuck late, I don't have to worry about whether my lights have batteries.

sggoodri

I keep a small LED lamp in my bag for emergencies. You can also keep extra batteries and a cheap safety light at work. Lastly, if the workplace has a flashlight and duct tape.....

BarracksSi

This is why my dynohub bike is my default around-town bike.

idiotekniQues

use rechargeables and keep a spare charger at work.

NoSho

I saw some blogger who had a small maglite attached to his bars with an old tube. This seemed like a really smart backup lighting solution to me.

AdamDZ

That's why I carry a CRE Flashlight as a backup and I have two rear blinkers.

A.

truman

I no longer have an extra charger to keep at work and top off the batteries, so in the dark months I keep a Petzl Tikka Plus headlamp in my bag both for this situation, and for after-dark repairs. It's not enough light to ride fast by, but it shows the hazards and potholes and alerts cars to my presence.

If you run AA or similar batteries, a spare set of rechargeables and a cheap charger at work are easy to manage.

xtrajack

I had issues Monday when I was getting ready to go to work, first time since I got the Magicshine that I have had any issues with it.
I couldn't seem to get a solid connection with the battery cord, took me four tries to connect so that the light would stay on while I was stuffing the cable in to the bag.
I headed out to work, I went about a 1/4 mile, lights went out.
I turned around, went and got the truck, went to work. Wednesday, I hooked up a bottle dynamo , that came on a bike I bought at a yard sale, so that I would have a back up light if I have a repeat performance.

I think that the problem was that there was so much moisture in the air after it rained all night Sunday night. It was really foggy Monday night.
I haven't had any issues since then.

rumrunn6

yeah, something similar happened to me last winter. then I started traveling with my charger and a backup headlight. of course I never needed them. ugh

Lenaxia

Haha, thanks for all the suggestions guys. I think I'll end up just keeping a set of spare batteries at work all the time now. I expected some warning before they died out but guess not.

Anyway, I made it home safely, though it was pretty crazy riding at 10.45 at night. Some of the underpasses on the bike trail I use were nerve racking as I went through them since there was virtually no light out.

genec

This is why my commuter has 3 separate lighting systems... 2 battery powered and one generator powered.

The ultimate lighting is a rechargeable niterider system... but I have to remember to recharge the lights... about every other day in winter... But well worth it as this is both "see me" and "see the road" lighting. up to 32 watts forward and 25 red LEDs backward. The battery supplies about 2 and 1/2 hours of light on the brightest setting. My commute is about 50 minutes. First back up is alkaline LED lighting... just have to check the batteries about every 6 months or so... This lighting is good "see me" lighting and provides some "see the road" ability. The 3rd system is an old sanyo generator that gives the crudest "see me" lighting. It is dependable, but dim and drags on the wheel. I've been thinking about rewiring the generator to an LED light... but have not looked into the actual power requirements to see if it will work.

I am pretty good on doing the charging as the charger sits right next to the bike in my garage... And really the only time I need this lighting is in the darkest months of winter. But on the high speed roads I travel, I will NOT go without some form of lighting.

Does it all weigh a lot... yes, but then so do the racks, fenders, and panniers on my commuter. This is a commuter, not a racer... I save "watching the weight" for the other bikes.

AndrewP

My lighting system uses multiple LED lights. The batteries dont go through mass die-off like lemmings. I have white and red blinkies permamently attached to bike. I have a couple of little LED flashlights in my trunk bag ($2 each) and a red blinkie on the back of the trunk bag.. I also use a CatEye 5 LED and Planet Bike 2 watt LED when I plan to ride after dark.
When I notice a light is getting dim, I replace or recharge the batteries as convenient

mikeybikes

Dynamo lighting - never fails. Seriously, don't know how many times I got stuck at work with dead batteries or something. I got used to carrying spares around and thought, "There has got to be a better solution."

genec

It's nice, but more of a "see me" system for areas without heavy, fast, urban traffic. I used to rely on Dynamo lighting back when I lived in an area where the predominate speed limits were 30MPH.

mikeybikes

I don't know about that... My IQ Cyo R N lights up the road quite well. I see pot holes well in advance. The modern LED dynamo lights are nothing like the old halogen ones.

Booger1

If it takes AA batteries,Sanyo Eneloops are your friend.They will hold an 80% charge over a year.Put spares in your bag.