Lumicycle Nimh battery dying – old or cold?

Charged up the old Lumi Nimh battery at the weekend expecting to need it for commuting on the MTB in the snow at some point this week.

As it was snowing and settling on the way in this morning I thought I’d bring the MTB which had the Lumis on, but after 20 mins the lights died. This happened a month or so ago on a frosty night ride – the lights died after about half an hour, but on other rides they have lasted fine.

Is this sudden loss of bettery life due to them being old (4 years or so) or is it due to the cold weather affecting the battery?

could be a bit of both, but also throw in holding charge from the w/e, which nimhs aren’t so good at.
lumi will take a look at it for you – you may just have one cell going off.

I had the same problem just before Christmas. Phoned John at Lumi, he got me to send it in, serviced it, £11 for service and post, good as new again!

Mines about 4 years old too, he said it would probably last another season yet.

I was wondering whether to go down the service route, rather than a new battery…or a new set of lights*

*remembers 40th birthday coming up….

Batteries work via a chemical reaction, which will always slow down in cold weather. May be worth running them down and recharging them a few times, I know they aren’t supposed to suffer with “memory” like ni-cd’s, but worth a go.

I had a lumi battery that was starting not to last long. I looked into the price of a new one and decided to replace the cells myself. I spent about £65 on the batteries and a whole evening taking the old one apart, looking at wierd bits and saying WTF’s that and where does it go? and soldering it back together.

The new one works fine, but I would have been better off buying a new one (or putting the money towards a Lupine Wilma)

or putting the money towards a Lupine Wilma

If you already have a Lumi battery i wouldn’t bother with the wilma and get yourself one of the new Lumi LED3 lamps which are simply amazing, the run times are something else as well compared with the wilma. I looked into the wilma but was put off by a few friends telling me they were anything but great for the money and so plumped to keep my existing Lumi battery with a LED3 unit. It might seem a lot for a light unit but you wouldn’t be disappointed.

Yes, and as I bust the Rush Hid bulb last night (trying to be clever and clear out all the white stuff) I might just get a Lumi Led.