I'm becoming more interested in the idea of touring and the question of lighting for both seeing and being seen popped in my head, for those times where you start out before daylight or don't make your destination before dark. I'm curious about how people here deal with any battery needs? For extended touring, do you just carry extra batteries (and replenish when needed) or carry something like a small wall and/or solar charger to keep rechargeable batteries fresh?

I have a handlebar mounted 9-50v LED light but it needs a new battery pack. My choices are a Li-Ion pack (lightweight, EXPENSIVE, requires a special wall charger) or build a AA holder that can provide power (heavier, cheap, flexibility to run almost any AA battery, rechargeable AAs could be charged in the field with a solar charger, already have a large number of NiMH batteries and a wall charger). This light would double as a trail light for night mountain biking and as an exterior light for my campervan. Both Li-Ion and AAs (NiMH) have their advantages but wanted to know what others do.

Thanks!