13.2v 5Ah bottle battery + smart charger

This is my review for the 13.2v 5000mAh water bottle battery and charger from BatterySpace First, a little about my set-up. I use the battery to power 2 12v MR16 style bulbs. The first is a 10w narrow flood and the other is a Philips energy saver 37w (55w lumen output equivalent) narrow flood. The battery is connected to an on-off-on style switch attached to my stem. I previously used a 12v 5Ah SLA that sat on my bike’s rear rack…and I hated it. The reliability, cost, and size were great, but the weight was awful. The new bottle battery, sitting in the downtube cage rather than rear rack feels almost non-existent by weight comparison. The gradually dimming light with the SLA was annoying too. The flatter discharge of the NIMH means great light until the battery is dead, then I have to switch it off to protect it. Using primarily my 37w light, I have not been able to run it dead on 2-hour rides. It lasts much longer than my previous SLA. They claim 4.5 hours for a 10w, but I don’t have the patience to sit and watch a light for that long. Previously I only used Anderson PowerPoles with my DIY electronics, but the battery came with a lockable, watertight connection with 4 feet of coiled cord. I wasn’t using the connector properly at first because I wasn’t pushing hard enough; so the connectors kept separating. Now that I have it figured out, it is really a quality connector. The cord itself is actually too long. However, the pos and neg wires are inside a housing (for protection, I know) and it was rather difficult to effectively cut the wire down without risking damage to the cord when stripping back the housing. But, if you wanted to put the battery in a cage on the seat tube, there is plenty of cord for that too. The included charger has a temp monitor with a separate connector on the bottle battery. I like the idea, but the second (22ga wire) cord is a pain to keep out of the way. I had to wrap it up so that it didn’t fall into my wheels or drag. I wish there were a connector molded into the battery that the lead from the charger could connect too. Just have it plug into the bottom or top and put a gasket seal around it. Much cleaner and less wires to tear off. The connector for the temp monitor is kind of fragile too. I think I might replace it with one of the APP’s for simplicity. I like the multi-voltage charger. I don’t have any other large NIMH cells that I can use it with, but I’m thinking about another small AA pack to stuff into the jersey on light rides. The charger gets very warm, so I set it in a pyrex bowl while it is plugged in and make sure I try to keep it as cool as possible. All in all, I am a very satisfied customer.

http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2838