rangerdavid

So I pulled mine out since it's beginning to get dark earlier this time of year. Charged the battery overnight, plugged it into the light, and NOTHING!!!

I've kept it in the OEM box since it's last use this past spring, no damage, it just died.

Has anyone else had this problem with theirs? anyone have any coupons for Geomangear so I can order another one??

Thanks,


RD

ItsJustMe

Well, it makes sense to find out whether it's the light or the battery or just the cord. Odds are the head isn't dead. Check the voltage at the battery. Probably not the cord if it was working when put away.

If it's just the battery, you can buy just that.

My MS is still fine. I run it with a Tenergy 8 cell pack these days. The original pack is around somewhere and worked last I checked so they don't ALWAYS die. I have seen a few reports of some people drastically losing battery capacity after a few months, but it doesn't happen to everyone.

bullschuck

Yeah, same story. I pulled mine out and left the batt on the charger for an overnight. I should have known that there was something wrong b/c when I plugged in the batt to the charger, the little light on the charger didn't turn red or amber or anything. It just stayed green. Now it won't power the light. I haven't pulled out my multimeter to check the voltage yet but I'm pretty sure it's a dead battery. Yuck. One season. It is one-third the price of my MiNewt but that three or four year-old battery is still running strong.

So I'll probably get another batt and cross my fingers. If it is the batt, then I'll take the old one to Batteries Plus and see if they can open it up and replace the cells to give me a backup.

rangerdavid

Where can you get a replacement battery? Geoman no longer have the batterys on his site.

bullschuck

You can use the new battery. $50. From other posts here it seems the new batt is just the old batt in a better container. I think you can even unscrew the cylinder and see the old battery inside. Same connector as the old one.

balto charlie

Might be the charger. When the charger stays green then one can assume the light is fine, the connectors are probably fine but the problem is down to the charger or the battery. My NiMH charger(4 years old) started acting up. Turns out there was a loose wire at the charger plug. When I jiggle it the light goes from red to green. Don't know how different NiMH and Li batteries are though.

ItsJustMe

Odds are high that if you crack it open, there may be corrosion inside, or at worst it's a bad protection circuit. Best case, a little soldering will fix it. Worst case, you need to buy a new protection circuit.
BatterySpace only has 2 cell units, you could use two of these, or look around and find a 4 cell unit.
https://www.batteryspace.com/pcbfor74...mit2round.aspx

Or you could just buy the one from Geoman, or an equivalent from BatterySpace. they claim this is waterproof though I'm not certain that the TrailTech plug is identical/compatible to the MagicShine plug.
https://www.batteryspace.com/li-ion18...hinacells.aspx

rangerdavid

Ok, so I did find a replacement battery on the Geoman site and ordered that one. I'll let yall know if that fixes the issue..

bullschuck

Hmmm, the battery was stored inside (I think). I can't see any water damage. I'll check the charger - battery cable connection but the plug really seats firmly in there. I don't know if there's any play. I'll break out the multimeter and see what we can see.

bullschuck

I cracked open the battery last night between kid events and dinner. No visible corrosion on the protector circuit board. I still haven't gone digging for my multimeter to check the cells. Now I'm uncertain if it's the battery or the charger.

lawrencehare

It might indeed be the charger, mine went into melt-down mode this morning here at work as I charged up the battery for my ride home. I went to get coffee and returned to my office to find a tremendous stink and the brick almost molten hot - far too hot to touch. I turned off power on the power strip and waited until it cooled, unplugged and found the bottom all melted and bits poking through the holes in the case. So I would suspect that perhaps the charger has gone awol in a less dramatic way. These are lithium batteries and in theory should never get too low a voltage as below a certain point they can reverse polarity, you should always got SOME charge on the battery which should be measurable with a voltmeter. It might be too low for the light to glow, but there should be something there. You might want to check the power output on the charging brick before discarding the battery. In my case, at least I know where the fault lies. What to do about it is another matter.

Lawrence

InTheRain

I had the same issue. Not completely dead. However, the battery will only power the light for about 5 minutes. The charger goes from red to green. I'm thinking something is up with the battery that it won't accept a full charge.

I ordered a replacement from geomangear. If the battery lasts only one season again, I'll be done with magicshine. I'll pony up the bucks and go with a dinotte.

ItsJustMe

Did you actually measure the voltage? It's equally possible that the charger is barely charging the battery.

CCrew

Most rechargeables need to be charged every 30 days or so. Extended no load conditions will frequently kill them.

ItsJustAHill

Pretty much the same symptoms I had (charger LED showed green, but light wouldn't work) . A new battery fixed it, but it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. I picked up a Minewt on sale at REI to use as a backup.

electrik

Did you follow the advice in the literature regarding storing the battery at 60% charge or so?

socalrider

I have found over the year I have used mine, the battery loses it charge quicker and quicker.. I always spot charge about an hour before I ride so I know I can still go 2+ on high..

There seems to be a lot of complaining about a 90.00 light.. I always felt if I got 2 years out of it, that was great.. I was just tired of paying 400.00 for a top end name brand light and having the same issues with a battery failing and then going back to Niterider and them saying sure we can get you a new battery just pay us 150-200 and you will be fine.. For 90.00 I can deal with maintaining the battery or buy and extra one for 50.00, I am still way ahead..

electrik

Yup, all batteries die - there is no magic. Li+ goes a bit quicker if not stored properly. Paying $200 or $50 to replace one, you choose.

ItsJustMe

Yeah, even with the possibility of quick battery death, even if you have to buy a whole new light every year, it's still probably less money every year than buying more expensive name brand lights and just replacing the batteries every 2 or 3 years. And odds are good that when you go to replace the MagicShine, most of the time you'll be able to buy a nicer light for the same money.

My MagicShine is now a bit over a year old, and the new light that's selling for the same money is a much nicer light. I expect that in another year they'll be even nicer, and probably have a new LED and be even brighter.

bullschuck

Again, one of my points is that my $175 MiNewt, although made in 2007, is still running strong. The battery charges up just fine. And when they refreshed the line last year with a 200 lumen light head, I upgraded for $60.

So yeah, for $50 a year tops I can replace the battery and make my MagicShine all brand new. And for $60 from a competitor, I upgraded. For me, it's a wash. No advantage to MagicShine.

I guess I'm a *bit* sour about the battery not lasting a full year. I bought it last November and didn't use it much.

electrik

3 years and it costs you $235 and then you only got 200 lumen max out of it for how many minutes? Yeah it sucks these batteries fail, but i'm not sure it's a wash.

rumrunn6

I always ask my questions directly to geomangear because they are so knowledgeable and responsive.

colleen c

Honestly speaking, I would not mind if my MS died in another year or so. I'll use that as an excuse to get the newer light using more advance led and battery. There is so much more room to grow with SST 50 and SST 90. I also heard Cree has broke the 200 lumen/watt led or something like that earlier this year. Then there was talks of developing higher capacity of 18650, they were pursuing 4000 mah per cell or something like that from Panasonic.

These development reminds me of the days of computer when I spended $1200 for a 400 MHz with a DVD reader back in 98. Look at what happen since then.

electrik

Being on the bleeding edge of tech is costly... i wouldn't recommend it for most consumers

colleen c

Totally agreed, although in a world not so far away... is this place call China who seem to have a habit of making $$$$$$ stuff into $$. Of course they also make the word D-U-R-A-B-L-E into a smaller word as durable while at the same time of reducing cost, they are driving gas price up up and up. Go figure. (ok sorry I even mention it, we won't go there, it's been cover in a thread in the Commute forum)

Frankly, I'm surprise the maker of the MS has not venture into using the SST 50 on their headlights. I wonder why and when?