'bump = switches itself off ' type rear lights

[Brucey]

which exact models? Did you try the battery disconnection test?

cheers

[squeaker]

Both my Smart 0.5W Superflash return to what they were doing after a brief battery disconnect.

Doesn't stop them jumping off their brackets if subject to big shock loads though.

[Brucey]

which presumably means that, as someone else mentioned above, they are not the same as the Oxford light after all.

However my failing grey cells do recall this thread;

http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=80787&sid=6bd28d5d150ccc2227ef0b6162210a33

where a Smart Lunar R2 turned itself off repeatedly over bumps, and fails the 'bump off' disconnection test. Another poster mentions that water ingress appears to turn this model of light off, too.

cheers

[djoptix]

I have one of the Smart ones (0.5W model from memory). I haven't experienced problems with switching off over bumps but if you ride without mudguards in the wet, water does get in at the bottom, which is where the switch is. When the water gets in the microswitch it will cycle modes at random and become unresponsive to button presses.

Still, riding in winter with no mudguards is such a miserable experience that if you haven't got any mudguards, you really should get some.

Just checked it with the battery test. It seems happy to keep doing what it's doing if you disconnect and reconnect, so I don't think this particular model suffers that way.

[graymee]

I have a no name rear light that switched itself off a couple of times whilst cycling. I believe the problem was loose contacts allowing a bump to cause the light to switch off. I bent the contacts inward to make a better contact with the batteries and it hasn't happened since.

[karlt]

I had a Trelock rechargeable until yesterday. Constantly bending the contacts in the battery compartment to ensure a constant connection had caused one of them to break off.

[beardy]

Double sided tape or something else alongside the batteries to stop them moving sideways is probably better than bending springs.
Apologies for mentioning this after the event. I have a few lights and a previous GPS that only worked because of their bits of padding.

[Tigerbiten]

My Cateye TL-LD1000 revert to whatever mode they where in after you put the batteries back in.

But the switch is not very waterproof.
They are ok if you sit the light horizontally with the switch on the side, but they soon fail if you sit the light vertically with switch on the bottom.

As I don't use them that often, I've dynamo main lights, I'm tempted to switch the light to flashing mode, remove the rubber switch cover and fill the holes with a silicon sealer, then switch the lights on and of by inserting/removing the batteries.

Ps. My Garmin Etrex will switch itself off if I hit a big/hard enough bump.

[willem jongman]

This and similar issues have turned me off from battery lights. The only reliable one I have found thus far was the Philips Saferide Lumiring, and it also had superb lighting charateristics. It just showed what happens if a large company with the best light engineeers in the world have a shot at bike lights. The only disadvanatge of this light was that it used AAA batteries rather than AA. Sadly Philips gave up on bicyle lights, after its spectacular entry into that market.

[Vetus Ossa]

That's the first time I've been blinded by a PICTURE of a rear light

[mnichols]

I have something of a rear light museum in my garage, so I would be more interested in which ones don't switch on/off on their own, fall off or suffer from water/dirt ingress and are still available to buy

[mjr]

I have something of a rear light museum in my garage, so I would be more interested in which ones don't switch on/off on their own, fall off or suffer from water/dirt ingress and are still available to buy

I think the only battery rear light in my collection that meets all of the above is the Topeak RedLite II - but the drawback of that is it uses CR2032 button cells and not anything easily rechargeable. I prefer to use some discontinued Knightlite (AAA) and Basta (AA) lights for that reason.

I've not checked but I doubt any of those are legal, because the discontinued ones predate most LED-friendly rule changes and I don't think Topeak care yet (it was a panic buy when I found myself in a faraway town with a broken rear light). So at night now, I usually use my Streetfinder which has a StVZO Axa Riff Steady dynamo light.

[JohnW]

Oh - I've been through all this - I've experienced the problem, and it is really disconcerting to have no confidence in your rear light.

I've been through the gamut of cheaper rear lights, which give a very, very good light when they're working, but I've returned to the more expensive Cat-Eyes. It's not worth saving the money. I have three rear lights on my bikes, on the basis that I need two, and one may go on the blink without prior warning. I've found the Smart lights et al to be very good indeed whilst they're lit, but I've found the switches to be very unreliable indeed and lights do turn themselves off at will. You can't keep an eye on the rear lights like you can on the front. I must have thrown half a dozen away in as many years.

The problems that I've had with Cat-Eyes are :
The switches are very liable to switching on when in the saddlebag - it's very annoying.
As someone has said above, there are some lights that you have to scroll through all the functions before you turn the light off - on one I have two switches, each of which have to scroll through four functions.
The brackets and the mouldings on the back of the lights - which slot and supposedly clip into the brackets - eventually wear out. Initially they rattle like a train going over the points and eventually the light jumps out of the bracket to be run over by a following vehicle. In fact, on two bikes, I've permanently bolted the bracket to the carrier and super-glued the light into the bracket. No problems for three or four years, which is about the life of the switches on four or five Smart lights (although that will also depend on how much you use them).

Nevertheless, I've still found the Cat-Eyes to be the most serviceable and reliable. I've not had a problem with water ingress.

The thing is that the cheapo lights were cheap - they're a lot less cheap now but are they any better?

So far, I have Cat-Eyes which have lasted six or seven years, but I was throwing cheapos away before the end of their first winter.

[MikeF]

I have one of the Smart ones (0.5W model from memory). I haven't experienced problems with switching off over bumps but if you ride without mudguards in the wet, water does get in at the bottom, which is where the switch is. When the water gets in the microswitch it will cycle modes at random and become unresponsive to button presses.

Still, riding in winter with no mudguards is such a miserable experience that if you haven't got any mudguards, you really should get some.

Just checked it with the battery test. It seems happy to keep doing what it's doing if you disconnect and reconnect, so I don't think this particular model suffers that way.

If it's this sort,

smart-1-2-watt-rear-bicycle-light.jpg (25.41 KiB) Viewed 944 times

then they do pass "the test". I have them as backup with Eneloop AAA. Although if on continuous light they do seem to revert to flashing sometimes with the cell removal. Cells are horizontal.
I don't know how good they are as far as waterproofing.

Edit Just done further test. For a short loss of power of about 1 sec light will continue to light continuously. Longer than that whenever cells are inserted they start in flashing mode. Deliberately tapping the light seems to indicate it's fairly immune from shock. AAA cells are also light in weight, so less prone to movement.

[honesty]

I got a usb rechargeable rear light (Moon Lights Shield) and have never had this problem since.