I went out for my first night ride of the winter last night and it looks like my 7 year old Moon X1000 lights have given up the ghost. I bought these with the aim of them standing up to 24 hour races, especially the Strathpuffer.

These were £100, lasted 14 hours at around 250 lumens so could last through the night when racing as a pair even when boosting them to full power for the descents even when the batter was cold and were good enough quality to deal with the wet, the cold, the grit and so on.

Has anyone got any recommendations for a suitable replacement? I’ve found that the cheap Chinese lights just don’t cut it (the last set I used would only go for about an hour, and the first set lasted 20 minutes of a Puffer lap before cutting out), and long, trustworthy battery life is very important to me.

It might be worth contacting someone like MTB Batteries to see if they have any suggestions. They do their own lights and maybe able to come up with a customised large capacity battery for you.

One of the big exposure lights on low power….

I’ve found a secondhand Exposure Toro Mk5 for £90, anyone got any experience of them? I’d use it in combination with a helmet light.

As mentioned, Smudge @ MTB batts will be able to build you a new battery (maybe larger capacity too to give longer run-times).
I’ve used him loads and he used to build the batteries for the lights I used to sell. Top quality stuff..

im going to bang my Exposure drum.

mine are now 10 years old. They are the first thing i bought when i joined my current company …. and its my 10 year aniversary here.

They still hold their own at the puffer etc.

So while they were a fair investment – they have certainly proved good value and have done more puffers than you can shake a stick at.

Forum convention dictates that I recommend what I have.. Lumicycle Explorer. It’s great – and faultless for 5 ‘Puffers and many hours on the local trails. I quite like the separate battery – can have a spare charged up for the race and less weight on the mount on the handlebar.

Having said that, I covet my riding mates’ Exposure lights, don’t have a spare battery to swap out and would probably go for a Six Pack if I was buying just now.

It’s probably just the battery….

Duncan Callum – the problem then is how do I test the battery is the problem? It’s a sealed, waterproof unit with a cable fitting like this:

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Moon-Battery-Pack-for-XP-Lights_68932.htm?awc=6821_1555498062_3ef3ffb31541956c6e421172dfc4d58a&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=CjwKCAjwldHsBRAoEiwAd0JybTb-0_1C6-fBh9yYFZag4pTSWA9bWSPwEK_z0Y1AYMUUH2SG8bEEyBoClIYQAvD_BwE&gclid=CjwKCAjwldHsBRAoEiwAd0JybTb-0_1C6-fBh9yYFZag4pTSWA9bWSPwEK_z0Y1AYMUUH2SG8bEEyBoClIYQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&source=aw&awc=6821_1570024071_5e7ce857ee753662efbfb2c748f14230&utm_source=aw&utm_medium=422173

Bookmarked, I’ll also be needing a new light for the Puffer, don’t want to trash my dynamo hub 😉

All-in-one is what I prefer, ideally Exposure, as the bar mount is solid. Rubber bands are just useless IME at holding a light with any mass to it, and separate battery packs tend to move about especially if it’s cold/wet/icy.

As for testing lights / batteries I used to clip mine to a big fan and run them with the fan blowing and time how long each battery lasted on each setting etc and then mark that on each battery pack so I knew how many laps I’d get etc….

@munrobiker if you’d like to explore the repair rather than fix option then here’s a suggestion that may help …

I’m guessing when you say your current lights have given up, you mean they don’t work at all? ie don’t light up at all.

And presumably you have some sort of charger for the lights that tells you when the battery is charged ie red LED for charging and green for fully charged? If this works fine then I’d suggest its not your battery as the charger is detecting a battery that can hold good charge.

You can double check and measure the voltage of the battery with a voltmeter or multimeter. When fully charged it should be sightly above what is written on the battery. ie if the battery says 7.2v, when fully charged you may see closer to 8v if the battery is in good shape, ~7.2v if ok shape and ~6.4v if in bad shape.

On the other hand if the lights are working but the run time is very low then it could well be the battery is old and knackered. Talk to Smudge or someone similar, they may be able to get the same connector as your current light uses or they may be able to take the connector off your old battery and solder it onto a new battery or put you in touch with someone who can do this for you.

jairaj – I’ve got a voltmeter. Where exactly should I be attaching it to that battery?

I can’t find a great photo of the fitting, but it’s quite small – would you put it in series with the light itself?

The charger does have a light and showed it as green/charged. The light unit has a light up button and that wasn’t lit, and didn’t do anything when I pressed it. If it’s the head unit I may get another Moon rather than the Exposure, then I’ve got a spare battery. I’d rather save the world from a redundant battery.

Sorry for the late reply. Still not got used to this “new” forum and how to see when you have replies for threads etc ..

Yep just put the voltmeter across the battery terminals or most accurately the terminals on the connector. Hopefully you can get both probes from the voltmeter into the connector.

Also from the pic you posted earlier looks like there are screws in the base of the battery unit. Can you unscrew these and get access to the cells in the battery?

If the battery is showing good charge then it could well be the head unit that is faulty.

Cool, thanks. I’ve determined that the battery is fine so I’ve bought another moon light. Then I’ll have two batteries and can run them at higher brightness during the race.

I’m doing my first puffer in January. What power output of lights do the experienced racers recon is required? Thanks.

I’m doing my first puffer in January. What power output of lights do the experienced racers recon is required? Thanks.

About 100 Lumen more than the guy who us up your chuff coming down that steep icy descent! HTH ;->

pedlad

About 100 Lumen more than the guy who us up your chuff coming down that steep icy descent! HTH

That’s about it.

I’m quite happy riding around with my AyUps on my own, but in the ‘Puffer they seem like glow-worms because my night vision gets adapted to the big lumen lights around me.

Thanks guys,
So are we saying 2-3000 lumens is reasonable, or are so many people using hope r8+ or equivalent that you need mega-bright lights?

ATM I have a 1600 lumen torchy bar light & thinking of getting an mtbbatteries luman 800 for my helmet.

I’ve been using 1000 lumen lights for the last few years, and at lower power settings for most of it, for the last 7 years of Puffers. That works nicely for me (but, without wanting to sound like a massive wanger and yet achieving it, I tend to be in the top ten and it’s rare that people are behind me with bigger lights).

Munrobiker are you a…

…big deal round here?

I have a couple of mtb batteries and a revo attached to a 26inch qr hub if anyone in the edinburgh peebles area requires spare lights.

Can be borrowed for a small donation to Mountain Rescue.