Specifically charging your batteries. Assuming you get one full charge per ride how much do you think it would cost to charge a battery pack?

0p. I do it at work

An insignificant amount compared to enjoying life?

DrP

Charging your battery pack is significantly cheaper than the cost of the pint(s) afterwards Andy 😉

0p. I do it at work

+1.

An insignificant amount compared to enjoying life

and compared to wear and tear and depreciation of your lights, bike and everything on it and you.

Saves wear and tear on the sofa though.

Look on the plug for the charger for how much current it draws, time how long it takes to charge and work it out.

1600 mAh 18650 cell @ 3.7v = 6Wh

my electricity costs 10.6p kWh

0.006 x 10.6p = 0.06p per cell per charge.

4No. of those run my troutlite.

Geek award of the day 🙂

Is the OP also on the central heating post, bragging how he never switches it on?

He’s just good at mental maths from sitting in his vault all day counting his gold 🙂

DrP’s twop twip:
“Costly electricity bills from charging your £300 lightset bringing you down? Simply go night riding when the sun illuminates your way – you’ll find you barely even turn the lights on…”

DrP

😉

I I look at the cost per mile of riding my bikes the additional cost of charging a set of lights for a night ride is such a small proportion it wouldn’t even register.

Lets assume a generic Chinese 2xXML bar light and 1xXML on the lid.
Average current draw of 1A per LED.

P=IV = 3×7.4 = 22.2W.
So for a 2hr ride on full beam we get to 44.4W/h
Units of electricity are measured in KW/h, and according to Mr Google, currently average £0.154
44.4W/hrs = 0.0444KW/h

0.154×0.0444 = approx 0.68 pence per ride

1950mAh per each 18650 cell (claimed), think it’s 3.7v so with 6 in my battery thats 6*7.2 = 43.3Wh (0.0433kWh), Google says about 13p per kWh so about 0.56p to charge the pack…

Assuming it was empty.

EDIT: took me a little longer than expected to beaten to it multiple times

what about the cost to life when you run over slugs/snails/toads/rabbits/badgers and hit the bats flying about with your helmet clad bonce? what about that cost Eh op? what about that cost!

The above assume 100% efficiency in charging which is rarely the case. Even at 50% it’s not breaking the bank.

0p. I do it at work

Plus another

My night rides have cost me £40 each as I spent £80 on a light and have used it twice. Solution ride more to bring cost down.

Use a dynamo light, would cost sod all to charge

Use a dynamo light, would cost sod all to charge

You’d have to buy more food to give you more energy to pedal against the dynamo!

“You’d have to buy more food to give you more energy to pedal against the dynamo!”

rob dean did the maths on that

2) Isn’t a dynamo draggy? Well, Please excuse the maths, but if you rode at 20mph for an hour the light would pull about 6W from your legs during this time, this is equivalent to approximately 5.2kcal. There are approximately 72kcal in a McVites Digestive biscuit, enough to power your light for just under 14hrs and that’s assuming you pedal down the hills and around every corner! So yes, it does draw a tiny bit of power, but I certainly can’t tell the difference and it’s a damn good excuse to eat an extra biscuit every few rides 😉

I have a revo – its good when i ride alone …. utter tosh in group rides as invariably they stop at the top of climbs before good decents to regroup …. by which point my lights gone dim so i ride the first 10metres blind 😀

Using oliverracings maths my E cargo bike costs 12pence to charge…. WIN

Dynamo roulette

My dynamo light has a cache battery, so stays on for AGES even when stopped.
However, it’s really a road light (b&m luxo usb thing) and not bright enough for proper off road…

DrP

so does mine DrP stays on for ages – brighter than my b+M IQx

how ever i dare you to ride down a trail thats fair gnar from the start with that….

trails with names such as “slack bastard” and “murder death kill”

im well aware of the cost of charging lights, but now the ground is 32% more damp than in summer, my tyres last longer due to reduced wear and tear.

when the temperature falls below 5 deg C, the battery lasts several minutes less, again reducing wear and tear on both tyres and essential bearings.

win win.

cheap chinese batterys /cree lightset, charge at work to avoid burning my house down

It’s not the cost of charging lights, it’s the amount you end up spending on post-ride hydration in the pub at the end of the ride that bumps the cost up!

I was just asking…

just debating if its worth bringing in a spare charger to work thats all. Seems not.

in respnce to the heating question. id have the heating on 24hours a day at 20degC if I had my way. Unfortunately the missus only lets me have it on between the 1st December and 20th feb. We live in a damp house 🙁

Never mind the charging what about when you need lights to start night rides and your hart say exposure and you pocket say cheep eBay stuff

Reminds me of this

Given that most night riding is done in the autumn/winter/spring, chances are you’ll come home looking like you’ve spent the night down’t pit. Therefore factor in the cost for cleaning extra muddy clothes (usually washed by themselves) and the cost of an extra long hot shower.

Or go to bed muddy and have a shower when you get to work in the morning!

If you’re interested in cost per mile rather than cost per smile, you might be doing it all wrong.

I put my cheap Chinese lights inside my whirlpool tumble dryer to charge them, well you can never be too careful

2 pints and a packet of savoury snacks 8 quid! I charge my lights at work!

jamiep – Member
0p. I do it at work

+1 more, unfortunately I work from home.

All those charging lights at work are tax dodgers committing tax evasion

It costs less than £1 to charge a real proper car every night so a set of lights is not worth bothering about.

It costs less than £1 to charge a real proper car every night

£2:10 is the official figure for a leaf 🙂

I don’t charge my lights at work to save money, just to make sure they’re fully charged for the ride home.

It probably costs more in electric and internet to ask about the cost of charging a light on a web forum, than just charging the light.* 🙂

If I ever figure out the cost per mile of riding, I would realise that the cost of figuring out the cost was about 10 miles of decent riding.

*probably not true