[JohnEZ]

Bought a new Niterider Storm HID yesterday. Charged the NiMH battery till the light turned green on the charger (less than 3 hrs - manual says 5 hrs). Rode with it last night. Wow! Awesome. It only burned for 1 hour (as I had been told to expect on the first burn). When the HID went out, on went my halogen Niterider mounted on the bar. It SUCKS compared to the head-mounted HID.

Giving the new NiMH battery its second charge this a.m. I have been sternly warned to "prime" (to fully charge/discharge) 8-10 times. The manual merely suggests that the battery won't reach full capacity till 5 - 10 full charges/discharges.

Any advice from those who have been there? I may have ruined a NiMH battery that came with my Headtrip (non-digital) by charging it once, riding, then just topping off after each ride. It only burns an hour or so, and Niterider spec'd 2 hours.

Also, I understand that it's OK, if I have properly "primed" the NiMH for the HID, to top off after each lap in the 24 hour race. Comments?

 

[Ranger]

Servus!

You are correct in your assumptions, sir! Priming your NiMH batteries according to the instructions is ESSENTIAL to having good battery life. I have ruined my cell phone battery ($$$$$) by not priming it first. Once you have primed it, topping it off is OK, so long as you don't make it a regular habit. Best to de-charge/re-charge between rides.

A good thing for 24 hour enduro is having more than one battery so you can have one charging at all times. Expensive, sure. But a good idea nonetheless.

 

[oldfart]

I just bought one last week. Awesome ain't it. The instructions said when green its ready. The battery is warm then too also indicating full up. They claim no memory issues. They also claim as you say up to 10 charges before full time is achieved. I do not recall the instructions saying you should fully discharge and recharge nor did I read anything about priming in the Nite rider literature.

I also ruined a couple NiMH batteries by leaving them on the charger all the time as Nite Rider used to suggest. Over time that degraded the capacity. They now say its OK to partially dischrge and recharge until warm. They say its as full as it gets once warm but it does take a number of cycles until full capacity is reached. I only go by what the manufacturer says as I'm electronically challenged.

 

[chrisJohn]

I've got TurboCats set up with lead acid batteries. Plug in and forget, even leave plugged in for up to a month. 2.6 hours of run time with 10 watt bulbs. Still as bright has they were 400 hours ago.

Sorry, had to add that.

Seriously though, pay close attention to the battery run-in procedure. I've got buddies who have damaged batteries.

 

[ssaddict]

When you run them down you just want to run them till they dim, not until the light goes out. I guess this ruins the memory too.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

NiMH don't like trickle charging. They overheat and piss alkaline uglies. The only light manufacturer I have tripped across with a charging system up to the task is NiteRider. If you charge and discharge just to "prime," you lose battery life. Follow the manual, ignore folk lore.

If you want all the gory details, go to Panasonic's web site, and download the PDFs which discuss charging, life, memory, and the exact date of the second coming of Christ.

J