Are you kiddin'? When I was your age, I would lug fifty pounds of ice up five, six flights of stairs!

Al Czervik - Caddy Shack 1980

Here is a little DYI project that shouldn't be so hard to do. My old NiteRider Digital NiteOwl battery was no longer holding a proper charge, and was lately only being used for powering the NiteRider tail light that I've got. Options? A new light and adapter = $150 from NiteRider. A new lighting system = $100 - $180 for the one that I'd want. Use the two lighting sytems that I've got (NiteRider tail light and my Jet system for the headlight) = paid for, but a pain to charge and carry two batteries.

How about replacing the batteries myself? Good call. I ordered the five cells from Powerizer right here in Richmond. Prior to the order, I called to make sure I could simply replace the cells, and was told no problem. Just order the same size, get the ones with tabs, and decide if I want the Chinese version for $4.50 or the Japanese version for $9.00. Since my friend Mike has admitted me to the Cheap Bastards Club, I went with the Chinese version.

Step one was to peel back the vinyl case to expose the batteries in all their shrink-wrapped glory.Next I cut away the shrink-wrap and carefully removed the electronics and connectors.


I took the time to draw a simple diagram so I didn't screw up the reassembly, then I started soldering the battery tabs together. First two end to end, then the second two. Then I joined the two pairs together, then the circuit board to the fifth battery, then the fifth battery to the other four. I tightly wrapped the batteries with electrical tape because I don't have shrink wrap and I'm too cheap to run out and get some.

The result:

I'm no electrical expert, but I figure that this ain't rocket science. The exposed battery was labeled 4500mAh, I know it's a six volt light, there are five batteries and I could measure their size. Now I suppose had I wanted a longer burn time I could have used batteries of any size for this project, but the original case is water resistant and has a Velcro frame clamp. I figured, why not just rebuild it? Until recently, this pack has provided enough light for every night ride I've done. The key is to turn the brightness down when climbing or when not needed. This makes the batteries last a lot longer.

My aforementioned friend Mike has the same light but got himself the water bottle shaped battery pack from Powerize with a charger for his light. He still has to perform surgery because the cord isn't the same, but this is an easier option if you are less inclined to take the project this far.
You can buy a number of different pre-made battery packs from Powerizer, but you will need a smart charger of some sort. My project enabled me to use the charger I already had on hand which had the bonus of saving a few more bucks.

Results: A quick test showed the tail light worked fine, but not the headlight. I assumed the charge was too low so I set the charger for awhile and checked again. The fuel gauge indicates low batteries, but the light was plenty bright. I think this thing just might work! Yay, Cheap Bastard of the Week!

Getting the vinyl case off and on was a bit of a chore, but I can buy 11 six-packs of Bison Brewery Chocolate Stout with the cash I saved on a battery replacement, and I have something to blog about. (Which is not totally true as I've been too busy painting the outside of my house for the last few weeks to bother blogging. Once again, it's because I'm a Cheap Bastard TM.)

So if you are a Cheap BastardTM and want a lighting system, try to score someone's old one where the battery has died and they don't want to buy a new one. My total investment in this project was approximately $35 and 90 minutes of my time.

Update: Fully charged! Well, mostly charged. The four LEDs on the light read three solid and one flashing. Four solid would mean a full charge, so this is just below full. Not surprising since the instructions indicate full capacity is reached after 3-4x full charge/discharge. I think this one is gonna work...

Update II: I ran the light on high for over a couple of hours on its first charge. Success. Now what do I do with the empties?