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I'm in need of a cheap battery pack to power the front light. The plan is to invest in some proper batteries and maybe lights in the New Year, when I may have some money. My existing pack is hosed and has never had enough oomph to power the light when it's been on full. The light is one of these:
The current pack is 4x 18650, so I'm looking for 6x 18650 for the new pack. Anyone got a preferred brand, or should I just buy the first I find...?
Smudge at mtb batteries'll sort you out with something actually worth having at a reasonable price ime.
https://www.mtbbatteries.co.uk
Was planning on getting lights and batteries from there next year. I just need a battery to get me there...
You won't need 6x18650 to drive the light, a 4x pack will comfortably put out more current than the wires can conduct.
Assuming it;'s the standard 2S2P / 8.4V battery you need then if you want good value then get an empty solarstorm box off ebay/amazon, and then get some branded cells to go in it. Panasoinc, sony, smasung etc all have their benefits, some have higher capacities, other will do higher currents. Just get them from a reputable source. And a charger that charges the cells separately generally works better than one that just plugs into the battery pack.
Don't bother with cheap batteries, 4 /6 / 8 cells wont make a difference, it's the crap cells they put in them that's the problem (recycled laptops being the example / urban myth). I bought a light with an 8 cell battery just because I didn't believe it would be that bad, I just needed something for my commuter. I would barely do half an hour on the lowest (~500 lumen) setting.
mtb batteries should have something. if not they could probably make something for you at a reasonable cost.
I bought this to replace my Fluxient battery when it died-it's well made and has been good-got a nice bump up in runtime too.
Magicshine Battery
Maybe borrow something for the month if you know someone who's not using theirs?
I'd offer but don't have something that would work with those lights.
Decent 18360's are less than £2 a go from China now. Will take 2 - 3 weeks to arrive though. Add box as Spoons suggests & your're there. Batteries here if link works (yes, I use them) https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32807032859.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.73f14c4dbZoJfW
Your old cells might have sub 1000mah
Ebay item 253848470195 4x Panasonic cells 3400mah
Ebay item 192912346874 trustfire box, with spring contacts both ends
Your choice of waterproofing, or stick it in your pack and use the light on your helmet.
£25 all in. Take the lid off the cells between uses to disconnect though or it will discharge through the USB
I use the same box but with scavenged cells from laptop batteries from work, usually find you get a few with over 2000 mah in them from branded laptop batteries
you could buy a case like this
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-Durable-8-4V-4x-18650-Battery-Pack-Case-Waterproof-USB-Interface-Battery-Box/123992960467?hash=item1cde8e6dd3:g:rjgAAOSwy6Jd4Qnu
then some nice batteries like these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100-GENUINE-Samsung-18650-Lithium-30Q-3000mAh-15A-Li-ion-Battery-Vape-Batteries/263614755035?hash=item3d60a9f0db:m:m5u1y1VJ4r0GXQ9AWt6nlGw
I bought a battery a few yrs ago from Fma_battery in eBay. Still going strong...
Like this:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F223776676827
Ebay item 192912346874
There used to be instructions out there to dissable the USB port on the similar solarstorm boxes. I never did as it's useful on bikepacking trips as the charger is a lot quicker than a conventional USB bank. But they do drain them annoyingly quickly if left assembled.
I've just built up a pack with these & they are very good (I tested them @ 1.7A for over 140 minutes)