Ygtjki

There are virtually NO high lumen lamps on the market. Old/closed posts related to this have links to VERY FEW and they are discontinued. Nothing comes up from Amazon or Google searches. Is some manufacturer sitting on a patent for LED headlamps that run on standard batteries? Energizer sells non-bike 500+ lumen strap-on-your head headlamp which runs on AAA batteries, as well as small flashlights that are very bright.

Obviously selling lamps with non replacable or proprietary integrated Lithium/Ion is great for the manufacturer because they get a full replacement purchase or a proprietary battery sale after 500-1000 recharge cycles. For disposable lamps, it's a disservice to the environment because LED lights have a much longer lifespan than pre-LED bulbs. Three standard batteries can provide 4.5V which is similar to some of the proprietary batteries.

Right now, it seems like it would be a product idea to sell an adapter to put a $15 energizer flashlight or head lamp on the handlebars.

Note to moderator: this is not a question about bike product recommendations, it's a question about an incident of patent abuse in the bike technology area. It would not be subject to changing offerings in the market.

Replaceable standard batteries have several disadvantages that make them a poor choice for small portable devices like headlights.

• For disposable batteries, they cost money and present a waste problem after use. Common alkaline cells slightly better energy density than Li-Ion cells, but the difference isn't huge.




• Because standard battery powered devices can't be trusted to have battery protection circuits that are required for Li-Ion and Li-Po, rechargeable batteries are limited to rechargeable Ni-Mh cells that have lower energy density and are slow to recharge.




• Standard AA/AAA batteries are fixed size and shape, and the rest of the device has to be designed around them. Built in batteries have many more sizes and shapes to choose from, and in particular Li-Po can be manufactured in almost any shape.




• To be able to replace the batteries, you need a battery holder and a hatch. These make the case more complex to design, heavier, more expensive to manufacture and more fragile. If the device needs to be waterproof (it's really nice if headlights don't fail when it rains) the design becomes even more complex.

With these problems, it's not a surprise that AA/AAA format replaceable batteries are not very popular.

As mentioned in comments, lights that use replaceable 18650 form factor Li-Ion batteries are more common.

They do exist, but they're not necessarily cheap or common.

Audaxers (randoneurs) are perhaps more keen than typical cyclists on lights that can be recharged in 5 minutes in a 24 hour petrol station (as a fall-back to our dynamos) so this is a regular topic of conversation. Of course these are road lights, with a good beam pattern that makes efficient us of the light. They're not so good for trail riding but not impossible either (paired with a headtorch as they don't really illuminate overhanging branches.

I don't have such a light myself at the moment but one example that's recommended by others: The Busch + Müller Ixon IQ (premium). Hope used to make one but they discontinued it - that's evidence suggesting no patent issues, but not enough of a market.

There are a couple of alternatives:

• There are some lights designed to be run off a 5V battery bank, as you might use to charge your phone. The Knog PWR Trail is a particularly tidy example. I'm sure they'd do very well off 4 standard cells (maybe add a series power diode if using alkalines, just to bring the voltage down a touch, if the lights run a bit warm otherwise).




• Some of the cheap Chinese lights can take a range of batteries (e.g. they come with a holder for 3xAAA and another for 1x18650, so have a look on dealextreme/ali-express. They also sell flashlight clips which are good for putting high-brightness torches on your bars.