uoficowboy

Hi - I'd love to find a rechargeable taillight that uses a standardized size of li-ion cells. 18650 would be nice - but there are other standards out there that are less common but still available... Does anybody have any suggestions?

ItsJustMe

Some people have used 18650 flashlights with red LEDs in them. Here's one:

Buy Ultrafire WF-501B Philips Luxeon K2 Red LED Flashlight (1*18650/2*CR123A)

Personally I think the spread is too narrow.

The Axiom Pulse 60 is USB rechargable and is quite bright, on flash mode it runs probably 8+ hours for me. I don't think I'd want anything much brighter except if I was riding in extremely hazardous conditions in full sun conditions. All the 18650 would do at that point would make it run dozens of hours instead. Useful for touring in places where it's days between recharge places I guess.

uoficowboy

Thanks - I have the same concern about the spread being too narrow with a normal flashlight! I want people to see me - not be blinded by me!

The pulse 60 looks reasonable - but I am hoping to find something with a replaceable, rechargeable li-ion battery. That may not exist... Not sure.

Null66

The original magicshine 808 clone with red wide angle lens.

Amazon.com : Red Wide Angle Lens for Magicshine MJ-808 or similar bike light : Bike Taillights : Sports & Outdoors

I have a cheap clone already.
I have the red lens on order.

Amazon.com : Red Wide Angle Lens for Magicshine MJ-808 or similar bike light : Bike Taillights : Sports & Outdoors

Can't vouch for these yet... I've seen pictures of other peoples set ups. So that's why mines due in...

PaulRivers

So...I see you live in San Jose California, wondering why you're looking for that? (I don't know of any). Nimh is cheaper and easier to replace the battery with. Since you're in California, I assume it's not a cold temps issue.

uoficowboy

Cold is definitely not an issue

NiMH cells could also work - I'm just used to using li-ion for everything. I wonder if most batteries designed for alkaline AAs would be happy with AA NiMH cells. Probably so.

Edit: forgot that I'm planning on getting a headlight that uses an 18650 - so it'd be nice to have everything using the same cells. Not a requirement though!

PaulRivers

You lucky bastard, I live in Minnesota.

I think this charger charges both 18650 and nimh AA cells -

NITECORE i4 (New 2014 version) Intellicharge universal smart battery Charger For Li-ion / IMR / Ni-MH/ Ni-Cd 26650 22650 18650 18490 18350 17670 17500 17335 16340 RCR123 14500 10440 AA AAA AAAA C types, with 2 X EdisonBright AA to D type battery spacer/converters
Amazon.com: NITECORE i4 (New 2014 version) Intellicharge universal smart battery Charger For Li-ion / IMR / Ni-MH/ Ni-Cd 26650 22650 18650 18490 18350 17670 17500 17335 16340 RCR123 14500 10440 AA AAA AAAA C types, with 2 X EdisonBright AA to D type

Curious what kind of headlight you're planning on getting. I've been happy with the latest Phillips Saferide, need to put more time into testing my Ixon IQ Premium. Either one has been the best bike light I've owned so far, and I own about $1,500 in lighting. They take AA nimh, though that wasn't my motivation for getting them (though it was a plus).

Never seen a tail light that takes 18650 cells. Will be curious to see if anyone else has. Seems like it's either a built in lith-ion battery, or there's numerous nimh battery options.

01 CAt Man Do

Some thoughts to add to the mix; You could also take one of the self-contained ( Li-ion) rear blinkies and run an external phone charging battery. Works with my Moon Shield and Cygolite Hotshot and yes you can buy external phone battery USB chargers that work off of standard 18650's.

I keep hearing people moan about how the internal batteries on the small blinkies aren't going to last long but if you run external batteries I wouldn't think that to be so big an issue.

My other rear light is a Xeccon Geinea I ( rear ) that runs off a 2-cell 18650 ( external ) battery. Of course that one is damn bright. If you're worried about blinding people coming up from the rear you might not want one of those. Personally my take on it is, "If the police and the other emergency vehicles on the road aren't worried about how bright their lights are I'm not going to worry about mine". To put this another way, "Better to be transported alive with bright lights a-flashing then to be transported half dead ( in an ambulance ) with bright lights a-flashing".

ItsJustMe

I'm also a user and fan of the Magicshine 808. In the winter when I'm kitted for full dark lighting, it's what's on my bike. It shares a battery with the headlights so it's only one thing to bother with.