We picked this topic today for two reasons. First off, the Summer Solstice Celebration Night Ride is one week away. Second, most of you who use lights have pretty well forgotten about them by now.
We have well over 13 hours of daylight every day now. It’s most likely that the lighting users among the crowd have just gradually set them aside and haven’t used them in weeks. Mostly, that’s a good thing, but you will want your lights again some day. So it is wise to give some thought to the maintenance and care of your lighting systems. An excellent way to ensure that you don’t have lights next Autumn, is to neglect them now.
Do you know where your lights are? If not, stop reading now, and go spend some time finding them. We’ll wait. Go ahead. Do it now.
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Glad you’re back. Did you find everything? Light unit? Battery? Cables? Charger? Mount? If so, good. If not, go look again. Find it all.
Now think. When was the last time you used your systems? That long ago? Did you charge them after the ride? Of course you don’t remember. It’s been a while after all. No! Don’t just put them on the charger. Wait a moment. We’ll get to that. This is about making sure you are good to go for next Monday, and for the next season too.
First, inspect everything. Are any of the cables getting cracked? Are the connectors in good shape? Everything clean and serviceable? Now is the time to note deficiencies and to go about taking care of them. You have the time to get stuff ordered and repaired if necessary.
Inspection complete? Good. The next step depends on the type of lighting system you are using. Look down below and you will see a set of maintenance procedures for each general type of light and battery. Find the one that matches you, and get busy. If you procrastinate on this one, you will end up in the dark, and you will be out of pocket for the repairs.
Disposable Battery Lights:
Remove the batteries. It’s that simple. If you leave them with batteries installed over the Summer, there is a very good chance that the batteries will expire in a nasty fashion. They will leak. The crud they leak is basically an acid. It will destroy the light. Store these things with the batteries out of them. It’s not a bad idea to purchase a set of fresh batteries now, and store them with the lights. (Note: the word “with” does not mean “inside”!
Battery Types:
Lead-Acid, Sealed Lead, or “Gel Cell”
If this is your battery type, it is less expensive, and heavier than some of the newer high tech batteries. Recharging after use is not quite as urgent, but lead batteries should not be partially discharged and then stored for long times. Lead-acid batteries should not be repeatedly deep cycled. This will greatly decrease their useful life. These batteries perform poorly in cold temperatures, but they do fairly well at higher riding temperatures.
Nicad (nickel-cadmium) & NiMH (nickel metal hydride):
There is a legend going around that these batteries develop a “memory.” The idea is that if only partially discharged, they will “learn” to not discharge fully. The source for this is the early days of the space program. This type of battery was used a lot in satellites. The systems that controlled the battery usage regularly discharged the batteries an exact amount, and then recharged them (from solar panels) by an exact amount. It is unlikely that any o fus will ever be able to duplicate the 90 minute cycle times, and the precision of a NASA satellite. So this isn’t much of a worry.
Nickle batteries should not be regularly deep cycled. They are best if they are run down to about 50% of capacity and then recharged after use. It is not a bad idea to run an occasional deeper discharge, but care should be taken to avoid running them all the way down.
Best practice: Before storage, charge the battery, then run it down to about an 80% discharge point. Recharge and store in a cool location.
Li-ion (lithium ion polymer):
These are a bit tricky. They don’t like to be “deep cycled,” and they don’t like to be too lightly used. Best policy and procedure.
Regularly discharge to around 30% to 50% of capacity.
Recharge immediately after use.
Store and use in a temperate environment. (These things don’t like heat or cold. Cool is good. Best if can be kept between 50 and 75 degrees F)
Should be cycled (partial dischrge and re-charge) at least once every month.
Do not over-charge.
Store only when fully charged.
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