# Old NiteRider Classic upgrade



## troutvoodoo (May 3, 2015)

Few question

I have an OLD classic with the water bottle battery and wanted to replace the batteries and lights if possible. 

Has anyone tried to change the batteries to Li-ion? I know I will probably need a new charger. Is it possible and will the lights be ok if I use Li-ion? Does anyone know if I can change the bulbs to LED's or HID? 

I also have an older NiMH HID torch and need batteries for these. I know I can get replacement packs for these and I'm thinking I can replace these with Li-ion as well. Will changing the batteries to Li-ion affect the light? I know it has to do with the output of voltage of the battery to the bulb. 

It might be cheaper just to go with a new Chinese light set than have to worry about rebuilding the entire system. 

My thoughts were if I already have the light why not try to use them.


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

Some NR halogen lights use 6V and others use 12V. You can get Li-ion packs at 7.4V nominal 8.4V max. and 11.1 nominal 12.6 max. Max is fresh off the charger and will drop to near the nominal after a few minutes of running. So if you have a 6V system it will be overdriven a fair bit and if yours is a 12V system it will be underdriven a bit. Overdriven will shorten the bulb life but give you more light. That was a popular mod in the day. Underdriven will increase bulb life with less light. Not a good trade IMO. 

You will absolutely need a new charger. Using a charger for Nicad or Nimh batteries on Li-ion will at best kill them, at worst burn them up.

The NR housing does not have the heatsinking required to convert to LED use.


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## bigflamingtaco (Oct 26, 2013)

Get an 8.4V Li-ion pack if you have a 6V system or a 16.8V pack if you have a 12V and use a few high power diodes to burn off extra voltage (depending upon how much you want to overdrive the bulbs, or not). Each diode will drop 0.6-0.7V, so, for example, a 16.8V pack drops to 14.8V, so two diodes in line between the battery pack and lamp will drop voltate to 13.6V, which is a very reasonable voltage for a 12V lamp.

Alternatively, skip the diodes and pick up some 14V MR11's. That'll run you about $30, and the MR11's you find in the store do not have a ring Niterider added, so you'll need to rig something to keep them in there tight.

There are also 12V LED MR11 bulbs. High power ones that have passive aluminum cooling shells won't work in a closed environment, they need air, maybe you can mod the Niterider housing to permit this. The ones that have a bunch of miniature through-hole LED's don't need cooling, but don't have much output.


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## -Archie- (Aug 25, 2013)

IMHO, resurrecting of old halogen light by changing the battery, charger and bulb is absolutely pointless nowadays...


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

troutvoodoo said:


> Few question
> 
> I have an OLD classic with the water bottle battery and wanted to replace the batteries and lights if possible.....
> 
> ....It *might* be cheaper just to go with a new Chinese light set than have to worry about rebuilding the entire system.


There is no "it *might* be cheaper". It* will* be cheaper...add to that, It will be brighter, lighter-weight, more controllable, more efficient and lastly easier and cheaper to replace if something goes wrong.



troutvoodoo said:


> ...My thoughts were if I already have the light why not try to use them.


Because it simply doesn't make sense to waste money revamping an outdated lamp system sold in the 1990's when there are now better / more modern / more reliable systems for less money.

( *Example one; I have a small single cell ( 18650 Li-ion cell ) LED torch that I mount on my bars for back-up purpose. It is 12cm long by 2 cm in diameter. I can run this on mid-mode ( ~ 500 lumen ) for about 2.5 hours. Compared to my old halogens lamps this torch is almost twice as bright ( on mid-mode ) and can last longer than the old halogens using just one good Li-ion cell. Not to mention, I can always carry more cells if needed )

For the record; If I were given the choice to use either an old Halogen set-up or a simple XM-L LED torch I'm taking the LED torch every time.


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## EBrider (Aug 3, 2004)

Agreed. The price for led has come down to the point it makes no sense to extend the life of older technology. 

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk


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## troutvoodoo (May 3, 2015)

Thanks. I ended up buying two 1200lumen lights. Just looking at the prices on Amazon I couldn't go wrong with them. I can't wait to try them out next week.


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