I run MonkeyLights on my front wheel and just leave them on. I don't notice the wheel being out of balance. You mount the led board and the battery case opposite from each other so they sort of balance each other out.

I love the MonkeyLights. They get me noticed on my winter commutes in the dark, which is what I want, and I run them just for fun in the summer if Mrs. G1nko and I are riding back from the local watering hole.

You must have your reasons for wanting to take them off, but I just leave them on. The Monkeys come with a metal anti-theft strap you use in place of a zip tie, if that's the issue. The Monkeys use a small rubber grommet between the spoke and the led board to reduce noise. I would suspect repeatedly running zip ties through them would quickly ruin the grommets.

One charge on Sanyo Eneloop 2700s lasted over 2 months of daily 30-minute o/w commutes in the winter, b-t-dubs.