I had this issue with my old headlight as well, but those got trashed anyway since being too large by modern standards. Both times i picked up two items and it`s always amusing to see how they deteriorate in the very
same fashion...well atleast the wires do. Slowly dawning on you now what i am on to or you way ahead of me?!

The electric cable of a bicycle light always seem to develop a weak spot, limiting the reliability of the light.
Most times at joints where there is a fold in the cable and maybe you do like me, use rubber bands on there.

So my million $ Q is, can i get new cables for bicycle lights and just solder them on? I mean there is absolutely
nothing wrong with the actual light unit or battery pack. It`s those godawful wires that need to be replaced.
Maybe some of you on here know if some guy on ebay or someting is selling, cause i`d like to buy see

I may have heard through the grapevine that the actual length of the cables have a saying in this matter.

Thanks for enlightening me (i`ll have to assume that phrase has been used a few times in here)
Bjørn in Norway

You don't say what type of light you have. I have soldered on new cables on cheap clones (Magicshine type) lights several times.

For me they always fail around the connector, so being extremely careful to pull straight without twisting much only on the connector body rather than yanking on the cable makes them last much longer.

In the end though I wind up cutting the wire and soldering on a new end. I just buy the extension cords for $5 or so and cut those for new ends.

Yeah sorry about that. I have a Cree light whatever that is. It was around $70. Picked up two of them around 3-4 years ago. The first batch actually had a problem with the battery pack not charging properly, but i did get a new improved product, and i still use those. Here`s a link to what i have. It`s the one with only one light bulb/diode not three.

600lm 4-Mode Cool White Crown Leder Bike Light hodelykt m / Cree XM-L T6 - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

I am very satisfied with this light and the battery really endures, but with time i will need to replace the wires/connections
like you were on about...and frankly that time is overdue already

Yeah, that looks like the sort of light that typically sells for about $25 in the US these days. $70 4 years ago might be about right. That's exactly the sort of light I use. As I said, I just buy the extension cables and lop off whichever end needs replacing, or use the whole cable if the fraying is somewhere else. Here's the sort of cable I get, I just buy 3 or 4 of them at a time and that lasts me a couple of years or more across my bikes and lights.

1060 mm Extension Cord Line Battery Charger for Cycling Bicycle Light Bike Lamp | eBay

As for batteries, generally you have no idea how good the batteries you're getting are, and getting one that has actually good waterproofing is difficult for any reasonable amount of money.
So I have switched to this:

4X 18650 Battery Pack Water Resistant Case Storage Cover for Bike Bicycle Lamp | eBay

It's just an empty case, but it has protection circuitry and a bonus USB charging port, and the waterproofing on it is very good. I loaded mine with unprotected Panasonic cells so it should be very good. And when the cells die in a couple of years I can just drop in new ones.

Alright, now we`re getting somewhere Thanks for the link, just what i needed. I don`t know what you mean by the varying quality of the batteries, but the ones i got with my Cree set still works great and will last for hours. I only use them in the winter season which is coming up here in Norway right about now (darker days really) I presume you buy one of those $2 sets from China and cut them in half right?! I understand you should strive to make the wires the very same length as the original ones, but i am no expert. Funny with LiPo batteries and the likes how they don`t loose their peak charge even after months sitting on some shelf. That plastic battery case i can do without. I`ve never had any problems with wet battery packs even if using them in bad weather. Now, if i could only dig up my soldering iron, i know i have it here somehwhere, lol...

Wire length doesn't matter much. If they get too long I suppose there might be a lot of resistance, but unless you're making 3 meter long cables I doubt it matters much.
I've had really cheap battery packs that were down to half their capacity in a year. Generally I get 3 hours on a new pack, but lately I'm also running a Designshine taillight which draws it down to less than 2 hours, and my commute is now over 1.5 hours one way, so I can't afford degraded batteries (I do carry a spare pack though).

I've definitely had packs get wet and ruined. I've had to trash two packs because they flooded and the electronics were unrecoverable. The ones that are just shrink wrapped are not waterproof, the rubber coated ones are better but I haven't tested them heavily.

Speaking of wire / cable lenghts, one of these fine days some clever guy should definitely take the opportunity and design some type of bicycle headlight that has everything incorporated into one unit. These loose hanging electric cables is definitely a thing of the past.

I don`t know why you`ve experienced that problem. I use that stiff fabric sleeve with the velcro lock over my battery pack and i never once had an issue with the pack suffering from exposure to humidity. The only real thing that bugs me to a certain extent about the CREE light is the rubber ring mount which tends to make the light droop forcing me to readjust it.

Just ordered four of those suckers on ebay. That chinese seller sure likes to make smalltalk, lol. Man do i need those cables asap!

Just a sidenote. My 13 y.o. bicycle lock just quit on me the other day. Basically the lock cylinder didn`t want to play ball anymore. More
or less impossible to unlock it any longer. Was a round hollow key. So i found a guy in another city selling a brand new ABUS steeloflex 1000 (80cm) at a nice price. Only downside is you can not click the lock shut, you have to physically lock it with the key which is a bit laborous.

Maybe I'm missing a joke but there are plenty of lights like that.

There are reasons for separate packs though. Getting 3+ hours on a charge in full brightness 600+ lumen mode mainly. Also being able to go as long as you want by swapping batteries.

I run a Cygolite Metro 550 as a summertime light and also for backup in case my main light fails, but it won't do in the winter, it only runs 90 minutes on high, I'm in pitch black both coming and going on rural roads with high speed traffic for 90 to 110 minutes one way. In the summer I just want a strobe since I'm in daylight both ways.

Plenty may not be the right choice of words. Perhaps i`m living in an underdeveloped country afa bicycle technology goes cause i ain`t seen any yet. Single unit headlights tend to come in a smaller more aerodynamically fashion where you have to load them up with your batteries of choice, but that`s not what i had in mind. Someting like a Cree light with that big bulky battery pack in one unit is what i am implying. Linky link link please if you have one. Those Blackburn lights won`t cut it for me either if you`re familiar with those. My local bicycle (retail) shop seem to think all their customers are suckers. Asking $50 for One such BB light.

Blackburn Voyager and Mars Click Light Combo | DICK'S Sporting Goods

Good thing Dick here`s not trying to be a complete dick..

Right off hand I'm finding perhaps 50 or so options from major manufacters and a lot more from off brands/Chinese no-names.

That's to say nothing of the folks like many here who have been just clamping an 18650 flashlight on their bar for a few years now. Here's a post I made on the subject back in 2012, all the same stuff is available but it's even cheaper now.

https://www.bikeforums.net/electronic...l#post14043976

Here's one manufacturer, Cygolite:
https://www.cygolite.com/product/
They have 11 models of fully self contained front lights.

Performance bike has their house brand, Axiom. They show four models.

Niterider has quite a few:
https://www.niterider.com/road/
I count nine models there.

Light & Motion has some:
Road Biking - Light & Motion
They have 5 or 6 models plus some color options.

Planet Bike and Knog both have a few options too.

Lezyne has several models:
https://www.lezyne.com/products-led.php

Cateye has 11 models going up to 1600 lumens:
https://www.cateye.com/en/products/category/3/

Dinotte:
https://store.dinottelighting.com/new...tery-p210.aspx

Gloworm:
https://www.action-led-lights.com/col...-contain-light

Magicshine:
https://www.action-led-lights.com/col...ble-bike-light

B&M Ixon Core:
https://www.bikelightdatabase.com/bu...ixoncoreflash/

Fenix has 4 models:
https://www.fenixlight.com/ProductSer...x?cid=3&tid=28


If I go onto Amazon and search for Bicycle Headlight, many, perhaps 100 different options come up that are not major name brands. They're probably pretty decent - these days making an acceptably good LED headlight isn't that hard. Even some of the $20 ones are probably OK, I'd expect runtime to be low on the really cheap ones as they're probably saving money by using cheap cells.

I know I'm missing a few lesser known but good brands, maybe someone else can fill in. This is a good starter list though.

Of course you can always remove the old wires and solder new ones in. Length shouldn't matter as ItsJustMe said since on your bicycle the wire length isn't going to be long enough to change the resistance much. I'm always repairing electronic equipment around our house.

This was my last light.
3000LM CREE XM L2 LED 8 4V Front Bicycle Light Bike Lamp Torch Outdoor 4 Mode | eBay

Batteries not included.

I had a more powerful one, but the good one got stolen and the replacement had a mounting problem out of the box.

Anyway, this one seems to work good for my purposes.

Standard 4 battery packs last about 5 or 6 hours, I think.

I do see a bend in the wires with the inner wires (insulated) exposed, but so far it hasn't caused me any problems.

Most Chinese sellers do ship internationally, although there is an interesting long list of excluded countries.

My Shimano Dyno Hub plug kept coming loose from the hub.

Until what?