Just got meself a "Daylites Solo", which I like very much - nice and bright, excellent handlebar mount, which allows me to swap in my EL-300 at a pinch. Battery's a bit heavy, but at this price point, I shan't grumble too much.
The only real turd in the punchbowl, so to speak, is the cheapo charging unit which is supplied with the light. Judging by the stern warnings in the instructions about not charging for more than 10 hours, it's an utterly dumb unit - am I correct here?
- I hope so, 'cos I took a quick trip to Maplin and bought:
1 x 2.1mm line socket (JK11M) @ £0.99 1 x 6v 500mA SLA charger, 2-5 Ah (LJ92A) @ £9.99 1 bag Lucar Male connector [Spade connector] (HF11M) @ £0.69
The Maplin socket doesn't come with a strain-relief sleeve, but by ripping apart the box/socket on the end of the Cateye charging lead, I was able to cut the cables where they joined the PCB, and re-use the strain-reliever that comes with that.
A bit of soldering at the socket end, and at the other end for the spade connectors, a bit of heat-shrink tubing here and there and I'm done.
Seems to work very well, and for me personally this "plug and forget" solution" is indispensible, as I am an absolute scatterbrain and am only too likely to overcharge the battery or not charge it at all. It's nice to get home of an evening and plug the battery in without having to think about how much charge it needs.
Apologies for the length of the post, but hopefully some of you will find some useful information herein...
> Just got meself a "Daylites Solo", which I like very much > - nice and bright, excellent handlebar mount, which allows me to > swap in my EL-300 at a pinch. Battery's a bit heavy, but at this > price point, I shan't grumble too much.
> The only real turd in the punchbowl, so to speak, is the cheapo > charging unit which is supplied with the light. Judging by the stern > warnings in the instructions about not charging for more than 10 > hours, it's an utterly dumb unit - am I correct here?
> - I hope so, 'cos I took a quick trip to Maplin and bought:
> 1 x 2.1mm line socket (JK11M) @ £0.99 > 1 x 6v 500mA SLA charger, 2-5 Ah (LJ92A) @ £9.99 > 1 bag Lucar Male connector [Spade connector] (HF11M) @ £0.69
> The Maplin socket doesn't come with a strain-relief sleeve, > but by ripping apart the box/socket on the end of the Cateye > charging lead, I was able to cut the cables where they joined > the PCB, and re-use the strain-reliever that comes with that.
> A bit of soldering at the socket end, and at the other end for > the spade connectors, a bit of heat-shrink tubing here and > there and I'm done.
> Seems to work very well, and for me personally this "plug and forget" > solution" is indispensible, as I am an absolute scatterbrain and am > only too likely to overcharge the battery or not charge it at all. > It's nice to get home of an evening and plug the battery in without > having to think about how much charge it needs.
With those parts could you have done this without damaging the original charger? I ask because I'm interested in giving this a go and would rather not have to take the standard charger apart.
> The only real turd in the punchbowl, so to speak, is the cheapo > charging unit which is supplied with the light. Judging by the stern > warnings in the instructions about not charging for more than 10 > hours, it's an utterly dumb unit - am I correct here?
Yes.
> - I hope so, 'cos I took a quick trip to Maplin and bought: > 1 x 6v 500mA SLA charger, 2-5 Ah (LJ92A) @ £9.99
> "nobody" <nob...@nowhere.com> wrote in message > news:ahlrq01nad11gkgl9bt4d4m426a160trvq@4ax.com... > > The only real turd in the punchbowl, so to speak, is the cheapo > > charging unit which is supplied with the light. Judging by the stern > > warnings in the instructions about not charging for more than 10 > > hours, it's an utterly dumb unit - am I correct here?
> Yes.
> > - I hope so, 'cos I took a quick trip to Maplin and bought: > > 1 x 6v 500mA SLA charger, 2-5 Ah (LJ92A) @ £9.99
>With those parts could you have done this without damaging the original >charger? I ask because I'm interested in giving this a go and would >rather not have to take the standard charger apart.
Yeah, it would work fine without damaging the Cateye in-line socket/ box thingy.
I only ripped the cable out of the Cateye kit to get the strain-reliever (you know, the flexy bit that surrounds the cable where it exits the in-line socket).
IIRC, Maplin don't carry any suitable strain relievers, but a turn or 5 of electrician's tape or a few layers of heat-shrink tube would do the job. Or nothing at all, as long as you treat the in-line socket gently.
nobody wrote: > On Wed, 1 Dec 2004 18:09:45 -0000, Hywel Jenkins > <hyweljenk...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> [snip stuff about mackling sla chargers]
> >With those parts could you have done this without damaging the original > >charger? I ask because I'm interested in giving this a go and would > >rather not have to take the standard charger apart.
> Yeah, it would work fine without damaging the Cateye in-line socket/ > box thingy.
> I only ripped the cable out of the Cateye kit to get the > strain-reliever (you know, the flexy bit that surrounds the cable > where it exits the in-line socket).
> IIRC, Maplin don't carry any suitable strain relievers, but a turn or > 5 of electrician's tape or a few layers of heat-shrink tube would > do the job. Or nothing at all, as long as you treat the in-line socket > gently.
Right, I'll be in Maplin today then. One more question - how do you know which way to connect the +/- wires to the inline socket?
Following on from changing the charger, it should be fairly straight forward to replaced the curly cable on the battery with on that can be more easily wrapped around the frame, shouldn't it? Providing the cables inside the battery box are accssible, that is.
>nobody wrote: >> On Wed, 1 Dec 2004 18:09:45 -0000, Hywel Jenkins >> <hyweljenk...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> [snip stuff about mackling sla chargers]
>> >With those parts could you have done this without damaging the >original >> >charger? I ask because I'm interested in giving this a go and would
>> >rather not have to take the standard charger apart.
>> Yeah, it would work fine without damaging the Cateye in-line socket/ >> box thingy.
>> I only ripped the cable out of the Cateye kit to get the >> strain-reliever (you know, the flexy bit that surrounds the cable >> where it exits the in-line socket).
>> IIRC, Maplin don't carry any suitable strain relievers, but a turn or >> 5 of electrician's tape or a few layers of heat-shrink tube would >> do the job. Or nothing at all, as long as you treat the in-line >socket >> gently.
>Right, I'll be in Maplin today then. One more question - how do you >know which way to connect the +/- wires to the inline socket?
+ve goes to the centre connection in the inline socket. Should be the wire coming from the charger with the white stripe on it.
One caveat. This kit is by no means any kind of "rapid" charger. - it seems to need a good, solid overnight run to get my battery up to 6.7 - 6.8 V (no load) on my multimeter. I have no idea exactly how long this takes, as I'm asleep a lot of this time!.This is fine for me, but might not be for other folk...
ISTR that Maplin also do slightly more expensive chargers that will dump current into the battery as fast as possible, and at a higher voltage until the battery is nearly charged, then throttle back the voltage and current to a safe long-term level. This might be better if you need a quick turnaround.
>Following on from changing the charger, it should be fairly straight >forward to replaced the curly cable on the battery with on that can be >more easily wrapped around the frame, shouldn't it? Providing the >cables inside the battery box are accssible, that is.
Dunno about that - the battery terminals are easily accessible once you unscrew the halves of the "bottle" container, and are simple tab or spade connectors. Don't discard the fuse assembly, as this will protect your wires and battery, in case of a short.
Good luck!
PS. When your battery finally gives up the ghost, Maplin's L21AC is a drop in replacement for the Cateye battery, for only £6.99. You don't get a new bottle/holder, but there again you're not laying out £20 like Cateye would prefer you to.
> One caveat. This kit is by no means any kind of "rapid" charger. > - it seems to need a good, solid overnight run to get my battery up to > 6.7 - 6.8 V (no load) on my multimeter. I have no idea exactly how > long this takes, as I'm asleep a lot of this time!.This is fine for > me, but might not be for other folk...
I went to buy a charger the same as yours but there was no stock so being there I bought the "3 stage charger" for £19.99. The downside of this is that its output is only 300mA so it'll take forever and a day but in my case that isn't a problem as I'm only a sporadic user and have two battery packs. The main thing is that I can leave a battery on charge without fear of damage. As a point of interest (to boring bastards like me anyway) I've been monitoring it in operation and also the original Cateye charger. A battery supposedly fully charged by the Cateye unit was only reading 6.33v no-load which, unsurprisinly, was the same reading obtained from the charger both no-load and connected to a battery. I wish I'd timed the respective discharge rates but now can't be arsed so will have to rely on a subjective trial to see if the new charger seems to do a better job.
Incidentally, the Maplins supplier has a retail web-site and although they are a few pennies dearer it provides an alternative source: www.sunpower-uk.com
