rumrunn6

charge your stuff!

made the mistake of nite-before charging 2 cams & 1 mp3 player but not my main light! wound up charging the main light about 1.5 hrs before my ride. made it thru OK, but was dumb not to charge the main light the nite before. guess it's been a while since I needed it so was out of practice

1nterceptor

This is one of the reasons I run multiple lights. In case 1 malfunctions(in this case low batt.);
hoping the other 1 is still good. Very important for the rear; might not even know the light(s)
went out or fell off:
Lights on my Brompton by 1nterceptor, on Flickr

rumrunn6

I did think to stow a bright headlamp in my bag before leaving. dunno why I did that & not one of multiple bike lights I bought for other family bikes

dynamo sounds better every time you mention it

noglider 

@rumrunn6, the sooner you try it, the sooner you'll say you should have tried it sooner.

It does take a bit of planning, but that's actually harder than the installation. You could even start with a bottle dynamo, because it's cheap, lightweight, and easy to install.

rumrunn6

well, gonna be a while. just bought a new battery last fall. just need to remember to charge it

PaulRivers

Dynamo lights do solve this issue nicely.

For my battery lights, my solution is to always charge the light on the bike. I only buy lights that charge by plugging a cable into them (which is like 90% of all lights nowadays), then I put the chargers by the lights and just plug in the chargers at the end of every ride. Modern chargers with lith-ion batteries turn themselves off automatically, so it works well.

Still possible to forget to charge everything all at once, but it's either all charged or none of it is.

unterhausen

dealing with battery lights just doesn't fit my personality. Although I do have a charging ritual before all big rides. I try to be done a day beforehand.

queenillasng

Beautiful photo btw! 1nterceptor!

TimothyH

Along with uploading from the GPS and taking a shower, plugging in devices as soon as I get home from a ride is part of my routine.


-Tim-

1nterceptor

I plug my stuff when I get to the office. While my laptop at home has 2 USB ports; my work station has over 6.

Thanks, @queenillasng. Even though I have a limited budget; I'm a bit obsessed with lights.
Brooklyn Bike Rave by 1nterceptor, on Flickr

Athens80

+1. It's part of the end of ride routine. Park the bike, insert the USB plugs.

darkstar173rd

using 2 sets of lights, (See me lights) light&motion $150 and a 400R taillight $200 both USB powered and (I can see lights) the base being 36 hole blk son28 hub, luxos U 90lux remote battery cache USB charging port headlight and B&M topline taillight total somewhere south of $700 works for me.

rifraf

For my mileage, fit and forget is king.

Love my Son28 dynohub, Edelux headlight and Philips Lumiring taillight.

The bonus is it keeping my phone and gps and headlight torch charged whilst I tour.

It just works, has done for some years now and I've been so impressed, I bought the same set up for my single wheel trailer.

noglider 

I don't carry a spare headlight, though perhaps I should. On the bike I normally commute on, I have a dynamo powered B&M headlight, a dynamo powered tail light, a USB rechargeable flashing tail light, and a button battery powered spoke light. The headlight has proven to be completely reliable. Any of the other lights can fail without making me feel nervous, though that's rare. The rechargeable tail light doesn't need frequent recharging. I don't know how long it takes to discharge, because I charge it once every two or three weeks, and that's shorter than the discharge cycle. The button battery lasts a few months before needing replacement. The spoke light is not very bright but because of its placement, it is very noticeable.

Occasionally, I ride a racing bike to work. I like to keep that bike light and don't bolt anything to it. I use a USB rechargeable Cygolite headlight which I live in (irrational) fear that it will discharge. I use the same rechargeable tail light and button battery spoke light, which means I have only one rear-facing tail light instead of two.

buddy

Before I go for a ride I have to charge my phone, bike computer, main light, red light and back up battery.

I have to start charging a few days in advance.

A real pain in the butt.

Just saying.

noglider 

Yeah, modern life is like that. My phone's battery doesn't hold a charge well any more, so I charge it at night and at least once in the day. If I'll be away from power for more than a couple of hours, I carry an external battery.

I once made a list of things I have to charge and how often. It was big. I charge my bluetooth headphones every few days. I'm impressed with how long it lasts. I think it takes a week or two before it's discharged.

buddy

The cost of modernity. What happened to the day we just road our bikes with a downtube shifters and didn't even have a speed ometitor.

ItsJustMe

I always have a backup light in my bag fully charged anyway, so if I forget, I can just run that and live with an only partially charged backup. I wouldn't care if my bike comp wasn't working, but a single CR2032 cell runs it for 2 years so that's never really a problem. My phone runs 2 days on a charge and I have to charge it whether I ride or not. My BT headphones need charging about every 3 days and again, doesn't change if I'm riding or not.

I don't really NEED to charge lights during the summer, as I'm always riding in daylight. I do charge and ride with them but if I was ready to ride with no headlight, I'd just ride anyway. In winter I have to charge my front and rear lights, but my winter lights all run off a 7.4v pack. There's a charge cable in the garage where I park, I plug that in when I get home and unplug it before leaving in the morning.

KeepClimbing

PaulRivers, Just saw this on the charges, thanks for an excellent idea, on plugging all the chargers in.

jon c. 

I ride with downtube shifters and no computer, but I do think that modern USB LED lights are one of the greatest improvements to cycling since the derailleur. I remember riding with nothing but a barely visible light strapped on the ankle. Powered by two C cells, it don't think it lasted an hour. So you used it sparingly because you couldn't afford the batteries.

Daniel4

I usually carry a power pack for my smart phone. But if one of your lights run out of power, would it continue to work if it's plugged into the power pack?

rumrunn6

huh? I think not cuz it ran out of power. maybe I didn't understand the question?

noglider 

The question is whether it operates while being charged. Some devices do, some don't.

1nterceptor

I'm in the office right now. The only light I have is a Cygolite Hotshot Pro(80 lumens).
It's charging on the USB plug of my desktop; but not completely drained of juice. I
turned it on; it lit up.