I have not yet been in a drenching rain with my MiNewt but am wondering if it will short out. The wires on the light are so short that the battery must be mounted on the head tube with the connector facing up. If this connector is not completely waterproof then the socket will fill with water and...Kaaazooowwweeey.

Has anyone had enough experience with this to verify the MiNewt's performance in rain?

I have had mine in the rain twice now, no problems. It wasn't a cats and dogs situation, but nothing could get any wetter than it already was. I did put a dab if dielectric grease on the the terminals after my first test run, just for overall protection.

I don't see it advertised as such, but I have a feeling Niterider had some water resistance in mind when they designed this light. My connectors fit together pretty tight anyway, not worried. I wouldn't go pouring sea water on it, but I'm not sure rain water is conductive enough to worry about anyway for this voltage (could be way wrong on this one).

Mine died on Paris Brest Paris. It started turning itself on and ended up in permanent blinking mode. The button on the batterypack lets water in.

You'd think that Niterider would have thought of making the thing waterproof or highly water resistant. I have been in some nasty downpours with my niterider HID though and it never gave me issue so I don't understand why they wouldn't do this with the led lights.

Given that they make dive lights you would think they would know a thing or two about waterproofing...
Actually the button on my minewt wasn't properly seated when I got it...I had to push it in so I can see how that could be a problem...everything else looks pretty well watertight.
Plodsucker how many wet hours did your light endure before it went out?

It died going into Brest, so 29 hours or so.

Apologies for getting your name wrong plodderslusk (shouldn't post right after a 6hr ride!).

29 wet hrs doesn't sound too bad.

Congratulation on the PBP ride, plodderslusk. Thanks for the info on the MiNewt everyone. I am going to check the seals on the switch and maybe put a bit of lube on the connector and then hope for the best. Will carry a Cateye 410 (really very ineffective for seeing but has flash mode for being seen) as a backup. The Cateye is supposedly good to 50 feet.

I am fretting that the time I took reseating the 'button' on my wife's minewt left some gaps. I think I nailed it, but I guess won't find out for sure until it's weathered some precip.

it is resistant, not proof.

stick some grease in the ends of the connectors for rain rides

how about strapping the battery under the handlebar or getting an extra piece
of connector wire so it doesn't aim up ?

Re the cateye 410...I use it as my backup dive light, probably been along on 20 or 30 dives...has been down past 30m no worries. Little bit of rain aint gonna bother it.

I think I'll put my minewt battery in a bag if it ever looks like a downpour is coming.

Got caught in a downpour with this light last night and it had no issues. I have the battery under the top tube (no issues with cord length) and use fenders on my bike so it was relatively protected from the rain but did still get a bit wet, with no ill effects.

Bump...

I am having some issues tonight with my light, I am wondering if moisture is playing a role.

Last I used it was 4 nights ago when it was extremely humid and pretty warm out with some light rain hafway through. It shut off once then, but I wiggled the connection and went the last 5 mins of our 3 hour ride no problem.

It took a full charge today, but will now only stay on for a few seconds before turning itself off. All indicators are blue while it is on. Tried blowing on connections to no avail. Have the whole unit in the fridge right now trying to dry it out.

If the fridge fixes it, I am not sure if that is a good sign or bad. Good if the light isn't broken, bad that I can't rely on it. I think I am going to be swapping it at REI for something else either way...

EDIt: after 15 mins in the fridge it ran the longest yet of about 1 minute. It is acting as though it's overheating, the longer I leave it off in between tries, the longer it will stay on. low beam stays on longer than high.

Get some spark plug grease from the local autoparts store and goo the connectors up good. Then put the battery pack in a zip-loc bag. I'd think that would help considerably. It won't be water proof (don't go swimming with it) but it should stand up to some rain.

I'd think the risk of water in the connectors is pretty low. The voltage isn't that high there and even if water gets in it probably wouldn't be much of a problem. Those connectors are the same thing they use on military hardware so they should take some abuse and keep functioning pretty well.

Chri F. See post #2...

Yup, I was agreeing with you.

I'm just not too sure a bag on top of it all is going to help. I think it may have been the intense humidity of that night more than the actual rain.

Oh, left the light in the fridge over night and sealed it in a ziploc with the air sucked out while it warmed back up. It seems to be working fine now. Had it on for about 10 minutes. I did get myself a backup cat-eye EL-400 on the way home though.

I guess anything not 100% sealed can be susceptible to extreme humidity, was just thinking of Survivorman and the cameras shutting down from the same thing.

Well, as the OP I thought I would check in with my experience. I have done several rides now with a few hours of fairly intense rain and have not had a problem with either the MiNewt or a Dinotte AA light.

I'd think humidity would be just fine. But if the air temp dropped below the dewpoint during your ride then it could form condensation inside. If that happens in the future I wouldn't recommend putting it in the freezer. The humidity in a freezer can be quite high actually (note how ice crystals form on everything). Next time just let it sit in a warm place and it'll dry out as soon as the temp of the device rises over the dewpoint.

I run 2 different Niterider systems, TriNewt (LED) and Cyclone (HID), and haven't had any problems with rain or humidity.

NiteRider apparently reads BF and contacted me to have the light sent in for warranty repair. That is about as good as it gets, given the circumstances.

Not to doubt them, but I need the light. Not life and death, but I really want to stay on my training schedule and that involves night and evening riding in otherwise unlit areas. Wasn't sure how long it would take to repair and I wasn't sure that they would be able to diagnose it since it was working perfect after drying out in the fridge. I took it to REI to ask if they'd had any others with issues and they near insisted that I swap the unit for a new one(well, the floor model). I'd had this swap in mind, but wasn't going to press it at the time.

I am, as of now, happy and taken care of. I won't be 100% sure until we get another similar humid rainy night, but I am confident that both Niterider and REI will be there to back the light if need be.

I had mine buried in the snow and had no problems.