# NiteRider lithium pack rebuild



## Whazzat (Jul 17, 2015)

I got a NiteRider Pro-1400-race from REI about a year ago and had one of my two battery packs die.
I have tear down pictures if anyone is interested .
The 4400mAhr lithium battery pack has a BMS inside the pack.
There is a YouTube tear down for a similar style but it can safely be opened with a razor knife and spudgers, just don't go too deep.
It is a 2S2P lithium pack with 18650's that I will have made up, if I cannot find a pre-made replacement
BatteriesPlus has a welder that can do this for me inexpensively.
The BMS has a data wire and NiteRider is known for having a proprietary board outside of the head unit and the board that is inside the battery pack is a NiteRider proprietary board and plugs.
I have had some experience with RC lithium's and may try to see if I can find a way to keep the small BMS outside of the proprietary pack that they made.
If anyone else has any experience in rebuilding these packs, please let me know. 
The BMS is usually a pretty robust item, so I think that just replacing the cells should get me back to where I started.


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

Whazzat said:


> .......The BMS has a data wire and NiteRider is known for having a proprietary board outside of the head unit and the board that is inside the battery pack is a NiteRider proprietary board and plugs......


Yeah, NR does do some interesting things to try to force users into buying replacements directly from them. I got an old dead Minewt to use as a model to design a GoPro adapter for. I tore it down to see how it was built and was surprised to find the CC driver circuit was part of the battery pack and not the light head.


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## Whazzat (Jul 17, 2015)

Hope it's not too windy up there. 
The board on top I thought was the BMS appears to be the LED controller board with the small BMS in the wrapped cell pack.
Board has Silkscreened 080-223171M, Copper etched 080-22372M labels
The board has an inductor and some IC's I am sorting out
CKO T1 46K AP4T microchip ?

PKG 5pin 23 SOT R94cC
https://www.analog.com/en/products/lt1716.html
 44V, Over-The-Top, Micropower, Precision Rail-to-Rail Comparator 

https://forums.mtbr.com/lights-diy-do-yourself/battery-wiring-niterider-pro-600-a-754619.html thread has some guides to possible wiring for that model.


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

Sure sounds like an LED driver circuit in the battery then. Seems like the Pro series lights are the same as the Minewt in that respect. I've long since tossed the Minewt so can't compare any of your details to the driver it had. 

Still, it should not be too difficult to swap in new cells for the bad ones.


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## pmonestie (Oct 30, 2020)

*did it work*



Whazzat said:


> Hope it's not too windy up there.
> The board on top I thought was the BMS appears to be the LED controller board with the small BMS in the wrapped cell pack.
> Board has Silkscreened 080-223171M, Copper etched 080-22372M labels
> The board has an inductor and some IC's I am sorting out
> ...


Hi there,
I'm wondering if you succeeded in rebuilding that pack and reused all the electronics in the original NR pack.
Thanks in advance!!


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## Whazzat (Jul 17, 2015)

Got some used NR packs that I was able to bring back to life and have been using that until I can get some 18650's soldered in


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## pmonestie (Oct 30, 2020)

Whazzat said:


> Got some used NR packs that I was able to bring back to life and have been using that until I can get some 18650's soldered in


Oh ok - nice!! Note that I asked NR and if you send the old pack in it's 100$ to rebuild...


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## arc (Sep 9, 2004)

Twenty bucks gets you a cheap battery spot welder that runs off a car battery or lipo pack with a short strip of battery strapping. You can practice on an old cell till you get it working right. Soldering to the nickle plated strapping is easy with little risk of damaging the batteries. Then you can buy good cells from a reputable supplier, which are so much more durable now that the pack will probably outlast the rest of the light.


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## pmonestie (Oct 30, 2020)

arc said:


> Twenty bucks gets you a cheap battery spot welder that runs off a car battery or lipo pack with a short strip of battery strapping. You can practice on an old cell till you get it working right. Soldering to the nickle plated strapping is easy with little risk of damaging the batteries. Then you can buy good cells from a reputable supplier, which are so much more durable now that the pack will probably outlast the rest of the light.


It is what I was planning to do actually...


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