# Niterider Lumina 650 moisture on lens (inside) vs Minewt 600



## SIM37 (Jan 2, 2008)

I have both the niterider Lumina 650 and the older Minewt 600.

While the 650 does punch out slightly more light and is lighter, it does have one drawback (minor). As the heat sink gets larger, the rubber seal that keeps water out is a bit more "complex" in shape. So if you ride through very severe thunderstorms (which I did a few hours earlier).









A tad bit of moisture and condensation can appear inside the lens.

The light still works perfectly. In any case, I'd prefer to be able to rid the moisture as quickly as possible. So I dismantled the light to use a hairdryer to dry up the internals. And it was actually pretty easy.









1. Locate 3 allen bolts that hold the entire light assembly together









2. Using an allen bolt, carefully unscrew all 3 of them without rounding the bolts.









3. Carefully and slowly remove the rear casing of the light. You pull off the heatsink/bezel/front portion of the light off from the rear.









4.Using a flat head screwdriver, slowly and carefully pry off the front portion (lens,rubber seal, front plastic casing) of the light.









5. You can see from this picture that a small amount of moisture has condensed on the lens.









6. If anyone's interested, this is the battery that the niterider Lumina 650 comes with, its not a 18650 like the Minewt 600










7. Proceed to use a hairdryer and dry up the lense (or any portion of the light that may be wet). Assemble everything back the reverse order.

For the 600, I noticed that no moisture has build up in the lens, and since I've already had the tools to dismantle the 650, I went to take a part the 600 to see how different they were inside.









A similar 3 allen bolt assembly holds the entire light together.









The Minewt 600 uses a more commonly available 18650 cell.

So there you have it, I like it when the user is able to dismantle main portions of any light with relative ease (personal opinion).

The 650 indeed does punch out more light, is lighter, cheaper and easier on lid use, but with one, abeit minor drawback if you ride through very very heavy rain. If that happens, just leave the light on as the moisture build up is at the front portion of the light. The light still works but its annoying to see miniscule water droplets on the lens.

If anyone has torn apart any other lights, please feel free to add on here too.

Just my $0.02.


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## ActivEric (Apr 29, 2010)

Great shots of the tear down. I'm interested in the lumina 700 for bars and helmet, but am concerned about finding a replacement battery for it down the road. Looks like I can't just get a 18650 cell to use. So where would I be able to find the type of battery to replace the lumina 700? Have you tried yet with success? 

I'm also testing out a borrowed cygolite expilion 800 right now that has the easily swappable battery in the back, but the usb charging cover sucks the big one (never stays in and the connecting rubber is like a small rubberband in diameter). Plus, it doesn't lock into the mount as securely as the lumina giving a noticeable jiggle while "locked in" the less sturdy looking cygolite mount.

Very interested to hear your thoughts.

Cheers and happy (night) trails!


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## Lone Rager (Dec 13, 2013)

I can't tell from the pix, but it's often possible to smear a minute amount of silicone grease on the rubber gaskets to help seal out water. You apply very very little, just enough to make the seals, o-rings, gaskets shine. Hardware stores stock it in the plumbing department, Scuba shops have it, etc...


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## pimpbot (Dec 31, 2003)

You sure that isn't a 18650 cell? Looks a lot like it to me. Does it just have leads soldered to it?

That was a big reason why I bought it.


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## LovesDunes (Aug 22, 2008)

pimpbot said:


> You sure that isn't a 18650 cell? Looks a lot like it to me. Does it just have leads soldered to it?
> 
> That was a big reason why I bought it.


Yes it is an 18650.


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