From: dahls@fhydra.dnet.unit.no (Joern Yngve Dahl-Stamnes)
Subject: Re: Nightsun
Reply-To: dahls@fhydra.dnet.unit.no (Joern Yngve Dahl-Stamnes)
Organization: University of Trondheim, NORWAY
Date: Thu, 03 Sep 92 09:18:33 EDT

Thus spoke the keyboard of piltch@ariel.lerc.nasa.gov (Nancy Piltch):
>I've been using a Nightsun light for a while (maybe 2 years; don't
>really remember). The light is going strong but the wiring has
>deteriorated pretty badly. A lot of the connections - wire to connector,
>wire to switch, wire to wire, connector to bulb  - have broken. I've 
>repaired the trouble spots but expect to re-wire it completely.
>
>This may be of some interest to others who use these lights frequently
>and in bad weather - you can expect some problems unless they've
>improved the quality of the connections and made them more weather
>resistant in the time since I bought mine.

I've been using my NightSun Team Issue for 1 1/2 year. Well, I only use
it 1/2 of the year, since there is plenty of light at night the rest of
the year.

The first winter I was out riding with it, I rode over some ice on the
trail (a creak has frosen and water/ice have flood over the trail). I
lost control over my bike and didn't make the turn. My bike and I
crashed in some small trees. Everything went OK, but 200 meter later the
light went out. Connection failure in on of the connectors. I fixed it
and used electric tape to make them more waterproof and to support the
wire so it could not be bendt too much.

I also discovered that the Krypton bulb got a very short lifetime. The
first one had to be changed after 20 hours of use because it was so dark
that the light from it was reduced. The second Krypton bulb is a bit
dark too, but have been in use for more than 20 hours now. I will
replace this with a 10W halogen bulb.

The big weak point is the battery. As long as you keep an eye to your
light there is no problem. Just make shure that you turn the light off
before the battery is completly drained. On a ride in January this year
I did not noticed that the light has dimmed out before it was too late.
I could hardly see the light in the 10W bulb at the time I discovered
what was happening. When NiCa batteries are drained so much as mine was,
then the chance of dammaging one or more cells in the battery pack is
very high. Today the capasity of my battery pack is reduced to about 40
to 50%.

I have now ordered a new sealed gel lead-acid battery to replace the
NightSun battery pack. The new battery is a 12V 6Ah battery. This should
make it able for me to ride a 2 hours long ride with 30W power and much
longer with only 10W. I will build a aluminum case/box for the battery
which will be mounted to the frame where the water bottle cage goes. It
will contain a battery monitor wich tell me the status of the battery
(expected lifetime before it recharging needed) and a protection circuit
that will disconnect any load to prevent deep discharge.

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* I went back to my mother,           * Joern Yngve Dahl-Stamnes           *
* I said, "I'm crazy ma, help me!"    * University of Trondheim            *
* She said, "I know how it feels son, * The Norwegian Institute of Tech.   *
* 'cause it runs in the family."      * Division of Physical Electronics   *
*       - The Who, Quadrophenia       * e-mail: dahls@fhydra.dnet.unit.no  *
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Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech