Are all bike light battery packs equal?

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Proto

Legendary Member
I have an oldish Glowworm X2 bike light. Works well. Battery pack has two Panasonic cells, total output 7.4v 2900mAh and some electronics to protect from over charge/discharge etc.

Daughter wants to use it for the GBDuro and I’m concerned that battery is tired and will not last the distance. It looks like nobody in the UK has Glowworm battery packs (I’ll check with Ison Distribution but looks like not), so looking at alternatives.

7.4v seems to be a standard 2 cell configuration. Can I use a 7.4v battery pack from a different manufacturer with confidence? e.g. Gemini sell both two and four cell 7.4v battery packs. Actually finding something in stock might be more of an issue, though. 🤔

Thanks in advance.
 
Location
London
I have an oldish Glowworm X2 bike light. Works well. Battery pack has two Panasonic cells, total output 7.4v 2900mAh and some electronics to protect from over charge/discharge etc.

Daughter wants to use it for the GBDuro and I’m concerned that battery is tired and will not last the distance. It looks like nobody in the UK has Glowworm battery packs (I’ll check with Ison Distribution but looks like not), so looking at alternatives.

7.4v seems to be a standard 2 cell configuration. Can I use a 7.4v battery pack from a different manufacturer with confidence? e.g. Gemini sell both two and four cell 7.4v battery packs. Actually finding something in stock might be more of an issue, though. 🤔

Thanks in advance.
what's the distance of this event?
all in the dark/at night?

also, what is the Lux (not lumens) rating of the existing light?
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
Proto

Proto

Legendary Member
Land’s End to John o’Groats, self support, non-stop, 50:50 on/off road, bikepacking. It’s a race, substitute for TransCon. She’s intending to not ride too much at night, maybe use the light 2 or3 hours a night.

GBDURO

Light has max output of 1500 lumens, newer version reviewed here:

Glowworm X2 Review
 
Location
London
Land’s End to John o’Groats, self support, non-stop, 50:50 on/off road, bikepacking. It’s a race, substitute for TransCon. She’s intending to not ride too much at night, maybe use the light 2 or3 hours a night.

GBDURO

Light has max output of 1500 lumens, newer version reviewed here:

Glowworm X2 Review
I'd get a Lidl crivit light off the bay.
There's a USB one that has a high setting of 50 lux.
And a 4 AA one that will do the same.
I've done the Dunwich Dynamo all nighter on them.

You have of course come up against the basic problem with USB lights, no matter how pricey.
 
It's a question of logistics.
Reading the blurb on the event, it sounds like it's around 500 km/300 miles per stage over all types of roads/tracks and there's 4 stages in the event.
So probably multi-day per stage.
How easy will it be to recharge everything needed (battery pack? satnav? phone?) while stopped ??
If easy then a new battery pack will work.
If iffy, then you may be better getting a dynamo hub->voltage regulator->cache battery setup.

Luck ......... ^_^
 
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