Originally Posted by sbhikes
I wish I had a dynamo light instead of the Nightrider light I paid $120 for. Maintaining the battery is just too complicated.
If the battery just needs to be "topped off" (how do you know??) you charge for 4 hours. That means I'd have to charge it as soon as I get home and stay up until at least 10pm (I go to bed early) so I can be sure to unplug it in time. Don't forget!
If the battery is exhausted (which you aren't supposed to do), charge it for 9 hours. The only way I can do that without setting an alarm clock for the middle of the night is to charge it at work. That I don't mind, but what if the battery isn't exhausted yet, but there's not enough power to get home? There's nothing to indicate this.
Dynamo sounds perfect. No babysitting batteries.
I have a simple $5 timer from Home Depot that my charger plugs into. You know, the kind that you plug your house lights into when you go away on vacation to trick would be burglars into thinking you are home. Simply plug your charger into the battery and set the little peg in the timer to turn off whenever you want it to.