This is just dumb (battery rant)

Kieran_Burns

Hope 2 cell replacement battery: £47

Hope R1 light with 2 cell battery: £87

I could get the battery but it just hurts paying that much for it to use with the old vision 2 or get a new brighter R1, but it just hurts paying that much when I don't *need* to.

Muttermutter

arthur_scrimshaw

Can you find something on DX which is an equivalent voltage/capacity battery?

Kieran_Burns

DX?

veronese68

Are they not just 2x 18650 batteries? Had a quick Google and found a few comments.

CubeMark

DealXtreme or dx.com

UndercoverElephant

Any discarded laptop batteries are usually just a load of 18650s wired together.

walkingbootweather

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Any discarded laptop batteries are usually just a load of 18650s wired together.

To be fair, laptop batteries are usually just a load of 18650s wired together whether they are discarded or not

arthur_scrimshaw

CubeMark wrote:

DealXtreme or dx.com

This

Kieran_Burns

Ah. So just get a bunch of 18650s and a holder then splice in a hope compatible connector? I've an old splitter cable that could be used for that.

Then a decent 18650 charger.. all that would probably still come in cheaper than the Hope battery option.

dork_knight

You could send it off to Hope, I returned a Vision 2 about a month ago as the battery had stopped working and again I returned two Vision 2 units about 12 months ago as they also stopped working.

Last year they replaced the battery units and updated the cable connections on the lights.... the one returned this year was one that was serviced last year mind you.

They were well out of warranty last year but they serviced them free of charge last year and this year, great service from Hope and just the cost of insured postage to them.

Manc33

I think those pale blue Samsung are currently the best 18650's, but I might be wrong, it might have changed by now. It used to be AW IMR.

China batteries: Claim 3000mAh / are actually 1000mAh

AW IMR batteries (assuming genuine): Claim 2000mAh / are actually 2000mAh

Thats my experience with them. Samsung will be what they say they are in mAh.

Also those 18650's in a waterproof pack as a separate item (not one that came in a bike light kit) are far superior to the ones in the kits (that aren't waterproof anyway).

If your Hope pack is 8.4v and it does have 18650's inside, then you only have the connector to worry about, which is probably gonna be some proprietary thing on the Hope, just guessing they would do that, never seen one.

DX.com. Thats where I got both my 4x18650 and 6x18650 from - ten hours of lighting (on one LED) for about £20. Even my 4x pack takes 8-10 hours to charge, I ain't complaining. Its when they charge fast you wanna worry.

Stuff took about 8 or 9 working days from DX.com to the UK.

Kieran_Burns

It's not the the battery pack is dead (although I did bin one some time back) it's the splitter cable: it never quite works correctly (iffy connector on the several I've tried) so I'd like a 4 cell (got) for the vision 2 and a 2 cell (to get) for the District 3.

So I'm looking for a 4 cell battery pack to power the Vision 2.

This one: http://www.dx.com/p/8-4v-4800mah-waterp ... 14#reviews I guess

arthur_scrimshaw

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Ah. So just get a bunch of 18650s and a holder then splice in a hope compatible connector? I've an old splitter cable that could be used for that.

Then a decent 18650 charger.. all that would probably still come in cheaper than the Hope battery option.

It will certainly be cheaper than the Hope solution, the shipping from China isn't too bad even at this time of year but will still be a few weeks.

Manc33

Kieran_Burns wrote:

So I'm looking for a 4 cell battery pack to power the Vision 2.

If the connector fits, those are about £10 posted (for the waterproof one thats higher capacity than the cheap ones they include in light kits).

http://www.dx.com/p/8-4v-3600mah-waterp ... IB8HKrYu-p

Now, this claims to be 3600mAh which sounds low, but I think it probably really is that capacity because the ones in kits that last half the time claim to be 6400mAh, now way, no how. :roll:

Thats the exact one I ordered and it has been flawless.

You might want one with a screw fit, those ones don't have the screw fit.



Even if it didn;t fit you could probably flog it on eBay for about £15 (non-waterproof ones with no cloth bag go for about £10).

vermin

Those Vision 2/4 connectors are temperamental but, in my experience, Hope provide the most ridiculously helpful customer service. Why not get in touch with them and see what they can do.

UndercoverElephant

vermin wrote:

Those Vision 2/4 connectors are temperamental but, in my experience, Hope provide the most ridiculously helpful customer service. Why not get in touch with them and see what they can do.

I once heard a story about a man who found a broken hub in a skip, told Hope about it and they paid off his mortgage to appologise. Wasn't even a Hope hub.