Ebay cree lights.

RandG

I've put this in general as I'm looking for thoughts on a purchase not looking to buy.

I bought a pair of 3x cree xml lights from a UK seller at the start of November, and up until the other week, both worked fine, however, one of the battery packs is now only lasting around 15/20 minutes.

So can the folk on here tell me, do I still have my buyers rights on one years warranty on these goods? as I would like the pack replaced.

bennett_346

Unless you paid for a warranty you generally won't have one, but you do have buyers rights and electrical goods should last at least 6 months fault free. The onus is on the seller to prove that your lights are not faulty.

Since you have two that you bought at the same time i think this should go a decent way in demonstrating the other pack is faulty.

Ouija

Should also be pointed out that three XML's of any decent amp draw will seriously deteriorate a single 2S/2P battery pack because higher amp draw puts a lot more strain on the battery. There was even a MagicShine PDF somewhere that warned against using their Y Splitter cable to connect two XML heads to a single battery pack as it would shorten the lifespan significantly (one XML per battery pack unless the XML is running at a low ampage). Yet another reason to avoid those 2x or 3x XML's in one head unit unless they come with a six cell pack or two four cell packs and a joining cable.

bennett_346

The way i read it was he's using three lamps and three battery packs.

cooldad

RandG wrote:

I bought a pair of 3x cree xml lights from a UK seller at the start of November, and up until the other week, both worked fine, however, one of the battery packs is now only lasting around 15/20 minutes.

I think you read it wrong. Two lights, each with three heads, and a pair of battery packs.

bennett_346

Ah i see three emmitters to one unit, and one battery pack each. So if i'm understanding this they are selling a product that isn't meant to be used in the configuration they sell it in?

supersonic

It can be used that way, but the cells need to be high quality. I'd expect just under an hour at full tilt.

RandG

40-45 mins at full tilt, found that out to my cost. So I now only use them on the lowest setting (one led on) but I was always getting a full nights riding out of just that setting, not anymore with one of the packs.

Emailed them and seem they will send me another as long as I pay the postage , which seems fair, so all going well....we'll see.

georgebrailsford

I bought an ebay triple LED light and i've always been suspicious of the battery pack, sometimes it will charge to full and then have no power when i come to use it. Lithium batteries have the unpleasant trait of exploding if they're not looked after or poor quality too so thats something to be wary of like this one http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/sho ... =exploding

swod1

I have two of these Cree XML t6 lights and wondered has anyone modified or built up a battery pack with decent rechargeable batteries so you get longer usage times ?

Ouija

swod1 wrote:

I have two of these Cree XML t6 lights and wondered has anyone modified or built up a battery pack with decent rechargeable batteries so you get longer usage times ?

Yes to both. Built three battery packs with easy to remove batteries for my 4.2v torches and separate head T6's that run off a 4.2v current. Also made a 2S/2P pack with quick removable batteries for my 8.4v lights.

By far the easiest mod is to simply tape two 4packs together and join the outputs into 1 with a DC splitter cable (which in this case, is flipped around so that it joins the output of the two batteries). Requires no soldering or any other skills. Just the ability to use a bit of electrical tape. Doubles the run times and reduces the strain on the batteries so that they wear out slower.

Northwind

Those super-cheap 3XML lights are pretty shoddy- the switching/driver is daft frankly and the battery pack is poor. Shame, it's a real missed opportunity, I'd hoped some enterprising modder would design a full-power board for it.

Ouija

Northwind wrote:

Those super-cheap 3XML lights are pretty shoddy- the switching/driver is daft frankly and the battery pack is poor. Shame, it's a real missed opportunity, I'd hoped some enterprising modder would design a full-power board for it.

I don't think that the battery pack is poor per se, it's pretty much what comes with most Chinese XML lights. What's poor is the number of batteries in it. I run just two XML's off a 12 cell super pack (it's the only way to get decent run times on two XML's running close to 3amps). Those four cell Chinese packs are ok if your only running one XML of them (should get 2.5/3.0 hours from them) but are woefully inadequate to power three XML's without both damaging the cells and giving terrible run times. The very concept that you can run three XML's off just a single four cell pack is ridiculous unless the XML's are running at a very dim ampage setting. It's like powering your Ferrari with a 2 stroke lawnmower engine and then bitching about how bad that engines performance is (it's in fact a GREAT engine............................................. for a lawnmower).

Maybe the manufacturers will wise up to this weakness and start selling them with larger battery packs (2 four cell packs and a joining cable at the bare minimum).

Northwind

The pack's the worst I've had from any chinese light- I get about 2/3ds the runtime from my old bastid as I do with its own pack (which is now 3 years old)

The head unit's weird, it runs a mix of LEDs on full and low power but it never runs all 3 at full. So, why have 3? Just so you can say "3 XMLs ZOMG!", basically.

Ssscrudddy

Why not make your own battery pack with some tabbed Panasonic NCR18650B 18650's. Good batteries 3400mAh which I think can handle up to 7A draw

chemicalviking

just buy a decent Tumble and fall light like i did from evans a few weeks ago, 1600 lumen and i have done night rides with just that one light.