I bought a C8 to go on a push bike. The battery life isn’t good,
I think it cycles through modes and it’s killing the battery, I
find a fully charged battery last maybe an hour.
I could do with one mode and see where I go from there, is it possible to
alter it to make it one mode?
The springs and contacts all look good. I was expecting something to be loose, to
explain why it cycles through the modes when I am out on my bike.
Or if someone can recommend a good cheap light to start with, either very suitable
or a good base to modify.
The most likely cause of it to be cycling through the modes when it’s on your bike is that the battery is bouncing between the springs and momentarily breaking contact with one or the other. for it to happen with a double-sprung, single-cell light would need some serious shock. Are you mountain biking? Also, cycling through the modes won’t do anything to the battery. Depending on the battery and how much amperage the light’s high mode draws, an hour sounds about right.
thats more or less what I though. I thought cycling though the modes is bad, I would settle for dim mode or strobe depending on battery life, but as it cycles though the modes I obviously get time spent in high and sods laws states: you will spend more time in high mode if you want long battery life.
Yes I am mountain biking, I wouldn’t be surprised if the torch didn’t like the combination of rooty rocky trails and a fully rigid bike, but surrey roads are pretty potholed.
Yeah, that would do it. Dedicated bike lights use a remote battery pack that usually mounts the batteries transverse to the line of the bike to avoid just what you describe, but those aren’t inexpensive. You can buy single-mode lights, but I’ve only ever seen them in the P60 format.
If you’re decent with a soldering iron you could replace the driver yourself. The C8 uses a 17mm driver, finding one that uses maybe an amp and only has 1 mode shouldn’t be too hard.