So I have these cygolite night rover 6v 12w, lead acid battery lights.

I haven't used them much since I built a much brighter light out of a Lowes Task Force 3w cree flashlight by removing the back, wiring the head to a 2xAA battery pack.

But the Lowes light has a really nice throw and puts out a bright spot quite a ways in front of me, I wouldn't mind having something that lights up the road a bit closer. I have some Cateye battery lights that do a passable job, but the Cygolites were better.

It's just that the batteries are heavy and bulky and don't really last that long. And by now they're probably not good anymore.

Long story short, I'm ready to start playing with the cyglolites.

So what would work best?

Simply replace the SLA batteries with 6v Nimh packs. That right there would solve two problems - run time and bulk/weight.

Or I could over-volt the 6v to 7.2v. Bad idea or not? Would it be much brighter? Would I constantly be burning out bulbs?

Finally, if I went 12v by replacing the bulbs and getting a 12v nimh pack, would it be much brighter than a 6v system?

Experiment and see. Since you have an alternative you can afford to see what happens. Then let everyone know your results.

Subbing in NiMH could be easy enough. And you never know, you may want to make a usable setup to "loan" to people that you want to night ride with you some time.

PM more info about them if you want to sell them. I'd like another light that has a hot spot - so i can aim it at on coming cars.