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Bike lights
(slrpnk.net)
A place to share practical, durable and quality made products that are made to last, with an emphasis on upcycled and sustainable products!
Guidelines:
Things that are well-made and durable (even if they won't last a lifetime) are A-Okay!
Unlike that other BIFL place, Home-made and DIY items are encouraged here, as long as some form of instruction is included in the body of the post.
Videos links are not allowed as post titles, but you may use them in a text post.
A limited amount of self-promotion is accepted, IF the item you are selling aligns with this criteria:
Honestly my experience has been that bike lights are way better with rechargeable Li-ion batteries, and not replaceable AA/AAA batteries. Every time I bought one that took replaceable batteries, they ended up, within a year at most, being incredibly faded and not working well, even with a fresh set of batteries. They get to a point where a brand new battery will work well, but for some reason where the first battery lasted months, the new ones all only last days.
I have no idea the chemistry/physics involved in this. It doesn't really make sense to me. Maybe rust on the contacts? All I know is that I've had this happen numerous times. Whereas my expensive combined light/camera unit with a built in battery has lasted years.
Might just be because that’s more of a feature on the budget side of the market, so they’re also made of shoddy materials in most cases.
Cooling is very important for LEDs. I've seen some cheaper brands skimp on the cooling methods, presumably because it means the product costs less to make, and may force a repeat sale later.