Taillight died on my ride home last night...
 

A week or so ago I bought a new taillight. I got the Serfas Thunderbolt. My commute is 7.5 miles each way, takes me about 25-30 minutes. I figured that the taillight would last a week worth of night rides home.

So last night I am on my 5th and final ride for the week, and it is pouring rain and dark. I keep looking down to make sure my light is still going and a little less than halfway home I notice it's off.

No problem, I unclip pull over and get my backup light out of my bag. A cheap $10 one I keep for emergencies and to give away to ninja cyclists.

I go to turn the light on and that one is dead too. Not sure why, maybe it was the rain or maybe it was the battery but I had never used it before.

I am now on the side of the road, in pouring rain, at night, with no taillight.

So I decide I would rather be missing my headlight than my taillight. I pull off my headlight mount and try to fit it to my seat tube. No good, won't fit. I pull off my dead taillight and get the headlight to fit on my seat post. Great now I can be seen.

I rode the rest of the way home with no headlight and my new "taillight" on strobe. Everything worked out but it was a pretty intense ride. Looks like I'll be charging my taillight more often and keeping a better quality spare on me. Lesson learned.

I always run 2-3 lights for redundancy (and perhaps for paranoia!). I invested in some Eneloop batteries and charge them weekly. Other than the lights jumping off the bike occasionally, all is good.

been there, done that, no fun. +1 for your workaround. the good news is the sun is coming up earlier and staying up later

Get on a charging schedule.

Been there with a Thunderbolt. They need to be charged more often I think. It depends on how you run it also. On full bright or bright strobe you might only get a few rides out of it. I found that low strobe would let me be seen and allow me to use it longer. I have since switched to a Planet Bike Super Flash Micro and the battery lasts much longer.

I was using a Cygolite Hotshot and always charged it daily. When I switched I figured by the specs I could get a week out of it. This was my attempt at going 5 days. Didn't work out. Just so happened to be a terrible night for it to happen. Murphy's law and all...

I have used it exclusively on the bright strobe setting.

Yep, that is why. You got 5 days out of it? That is pretty good. I don't think I got that many on the bright, that is when I switched to the lower strobe. My commute home is later at night, almost midnight. The lower setting creates plenty of visibility at that time of night where I live.

Wired Hub Dynamo Lights dont have run time limitations , as the rolling wheel turns the dynamo which makes the power to run the lights.

I won't ride at night without at least two taillights on at all times. I keep one on constant on the rack and a strobe on my helmet.

Maybe I'll try out the dimmer strobe. My ride home is usually between 9-10pm.

I want as little attached to my commuter bike as possible. It is nice to be able to take off the lights I have when I lock up somewhere.

Bring more Batteries then , can you change them in the dark? NB: a camper's head light is useful for night time road side repairs

I am just like you. I also love the multiple mounting options for the Thunderbolt.

I am just going to charge my taillight more often. I was testing if I could get 5 rides out of it, I can't. Now I know.

Judging by your avatar I'd guess we both ride single speed too. :thumb:

Work in a cubicle on a computer ? there are removable USB charged taillights , to plug in and charge while you work (& write to the BF)

Fixed gear here, but close enough. :)

As you can see from my above posts I use both a Cygolite Hotshot and a Serfas Thunderbolt. Both charge via mini USB.

"write to the BF" what is that supposed to mean?

Write to BikeForums = post here on the forum I am guessing.

I would never goof off online at work!! :lol:

I used to until they started cracking down on it. Now I have my phone to goof of on, and they aren't currently tracking that. Yet.

This is the main reason for always using a pair of rear lights. That way if one fails the other is still working (and you frequently won't even realize immediately that one has failed). Lack of battery charge is only one of several possible reasons for a light to quit working.

I know that cold temperatures can affect the light as well, specifically the battery life. I ran into that issue once already so I usually have a spare light with me in my bag. I also try to limit the really cold riding to the daylight hours if possible.

dynamo