Exposure Lights - V...
 

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[Closed] Exposure Lights - Very Short Burn Time Problem

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Bought a Joystick around 3 years ago and used it for around a year before i upgraded to a full set of Ayups.

Never got the promised 3hrs on full (2hrs 15 at best) so when it was just less than a year old i sent it back to Exposure to see if they could fix it. They did something to it but it still wasn't great. Since then it has only had occasional use but i'm using it a bit more now on the road as it's far easier to pop on the bars than the Ayups. I charged it up the other week and used it a bit on and off and then left it overnight to run down completely and then fully recharged it.

Used it on Sunday and on full power it automatically changed down from Green to Amber after around 25 minutes and then down to Red by 40 minutes. This is way short of the supposed 3hrs and pretty poor imho for a £140+ light. My Ayups have always provided longer burn times than they state.

Can i still send this back to Exposure or is it best to send them an email? I know their service is meant to be excellent but will they just say it's 3 years old, wear & tear etc and tell me to bugger off? In my defense, the light has had a pretty easy life and i'd expect the battery to still be 2hrs+ plus at least.


 
Posted : 23/11/2010 3:26 pm
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you need to keep charging them even when they aren't being used. otherwise the battery dies off. it's in the manual (i think)


 
Posted : 23/11/2010 3:32 pm
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I sent mine back recently to have a new switch fitted - it was out of the 2 year warranty period so was charged - they also tested it and said its only getting about 2hrs15mins on high and they coulf fix this for £25(ish) - I didn't nother in the end, I'll wait till its gets very bad


 
Posted : 23/11/2010 3:34 pm
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Yes, always put them on charge after use, so they have a full charge in them before storing.


 
Posted : 23/11/2010 3:36 pm
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I'd give them a call and see what they say as they are reportedly pretty good with after sales service. A colleague had a new battery fitted in a 3 year old Enduro Maxx for £58 incl. postage.
Sounds like you've been unlucky with run times from new. Not much consolation, but I have a pair of 3 year old Enduro Maxx which still exceed the stated 3 hour run times.


 
Posted : 23/11/2010 3:38 pm
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slight aside to this but recent light reviews etc have suggested storing Li-ion batteries in the fridge or freezer, would this be ok to do with the exposures or would/could it have a detrimental effect on the rest of the light system as it's a single unit.


 
Posted : 23/11/2010 3:40 pm
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Just spoken to Exposure and they say send it back to them to have a look and then they'll give me a choice as to whether to pay to get it fixed by them or they can send it back if i choose not to. If it's circuitboard then roughly £45, Battery £35.

It's a 2 year warranty, i just wonder if that gets extended when it was sent to them after one year?

I did store it fully charged so am still disappointed by the lack of run time. I'll wait and see what they say.


 
Posted : 23/11/2010 4:08 pm
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has anyone dismantled one of these? I bet its just an 18650 in there or something you could change dead easy.


 
Posted : 23/11/2010 4:57 pm
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Yeah, it'll just be a 18650.

[url= http://www.edinburghrc.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=10734.msg7747#msg7747 ]Looking after Li-ion.[/url]


 
Posted : 23/11/2010 5:11 pm
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If it's the battery then check with [url= http://www.mtbbatteries.co.uk/index.html ]MTB Batteries[/url] as they might be able to sort it cheaper than Exposure. If you want to upgrade to a new model you could ask Exposure what trade in deal they'll do.


 
Posted : 23/11/2010 6:32 pm
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The thing is, what does 40% charge refer to? On a protected 18650 the lower voltage is 2.75v, which is 65%, so you can never even get to 40%, or does it mean 40% of the way between 4.2v and 2.75v?


 
Posted : 23/11/2010 6:50 pm
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you don't get an extended warranty on new batteries / boards etc.

I'd also echo the above sentiments regarding Smudge - highly recommended.

My experience of Exposure lights was very similar with runtimes getting shorter very quickly with regular use and their customer service certainly wasn't anything to write home about. My first Maxx-D went back 2 or 3 times as the burntime went from 3hours to about 40 minutes despite being religiously charged according to instructions etc. They usually took 2 weeks to turn around repairs which when it's your primary commuting light gets very expensive when you've got to pay extra train fares to cover the distance you would be riding daily. They did promise to lend me one in the interim but it never materialized and I spent too long chasing on a daily basis to get it sorted. In the end when my 2nd Maxx-D started to lose times I just got Smudge to make me a piggy-back battery for around £38, a whole lot cheaper than the equivalent Exposure 3-cell version and just as good IMO.

Now running a Trout Liberator and the external battery means that it's a cheap fix should run-times start to degrade...


 
Posted : 23/11/2010 7:09 pm

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