Show me your solutions – Battery location of Cree XML

JesseD

I have just take delivery of one of these from a chap on eBay and must admit for a cheap front light I am mightily impressed with the build of the light unit and the amount of light it gives out (although I will buy a different diffuser for it), what I am not so impressed with is the little battery pouch with the Velcro strap that I believe you can mount under the stem. Mine broke when fitting this morning which has led me to think there must be a better way of mounting the battery, so I am wondering what others have done, what ingenious solutions have been found etc?

Would love to get ideas from those who have this light and how you have routed the cabling and located the battery, preferably with pictures if you can.

Thanks.

diy

Water bottle, though personally I prefer lights with removable cells as the vast majority of cheep ebay lights come with batteries that are made with 10 year old recycled 18650s that can barely hold 1.5Ah.

There is a thread in MTB section where these are discussed in detail.
viewtopic.php?f=20005&t=12807034&start=3180

A good quality 18650 will cost £5-8 each, so a light with an XM-L LED (now about 4 years old) costing £20-30 isn't going to have particularly good cells.

johnmiosh

When my Velcro strap broke it was during a ride and almost dropped the battery into the front wheel.

I wrapped the cable around the battery and electrical taped it to keep it in place. Put it back in its case with just the connector showing. I wrapped the light connector round the bar, taped it leaving just enough to meet the battery connector. Battery is toestrapped (x2) to the underside of the stem.

No issues after regular rides over two years

JesseD

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19713033#p19713033]diy[/url] wrote:

Water bottle, though personally I prefer lights with removable cells as the vast majority of cheep ebay lights come with batteries that are made with 10 year old recycled 18650s that can barely hold 1.5Ah.

There is a thread in MTB section where these are discussed in detail.
viewtopic.php?f=20005&t=12807034&start=3180

A good quality 18650 will cost £5-8 each, so a light with an XM-L LED (now about 4 years old) costing £20-30 isn't going to have particularly good cells.

Woah, 160 pages, that's one big thread!

Thanks for the heads up about the batteries, will see how I get on with this one and then look at other alternatives if it dies.

JesseD

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19713045#p19713045]johnmiosh[/url] wrote:

When my Velcro strap broke it was during a ride and almost dropped the battery into the front wheel.

I wrapped the cable around the battery and electrical taped it to keep it in place. Put it back in its case with just the connector showing. I wrapped the light connector round the bar, taped it leaving just enough to meet the battery connector. Battery is toestrapped (x2) to the underside of the stem.

No issues after regular rides over two years

Yeah this was my concern after the tab broke, I did have visions of hitting a bump and the battery dropping into the front wheel and sending me over the bars. Good to know that your fix hasn't resulted in any further incident after soo long.

craigr

Same deal with mine a few years back velcro strap broke off.
I got similar to this http://www.wiggle.co.uk/scicon-fuel-bag/ and worked great.
Better for me as more than 1 strap holding it in place.