At BBB we use 2 types of battery's, the lithium-ion polymer and the cylindric lithium-ion. What impact do these have on you bicycle light?

The battery's in your bicyle lights got major impact on the strenght, brightness and lifetime of your lamp. We use 2 different types of battery's in our lamps: lithium-ion polymer en cylindric lithium-ion. But what is the difference between them?

This type of battery doesn't have an housing, they are sealed by small aluminium bags. This makes them compact and lightweight, easy to produce in different sizes without a standardsize. The lithium-ion polymer can be specificly for the product so it fits perfectly. They are very vunerable so the need to be protected by the housing of the product. When the battery get damaged or breaks it can cause a short circuit. 

This type of battery does have it's own solid housing. We at BBB use the 18650 cel which is famous for it's use in Tesla cars. The cylindric lithium-ion comes in a standard size and can't be produced in other sizes. The advatage this gives is that this battery is produced in different qualities. We use the ones from the best brands available: Samsung and Panasonic.

When choosing a cycling light with the best battery you will of course look for the lifetime of it. With normal useage these battery's won't grow old fast and can be recharged a lot of times. The lifetime depends of course of the way the light is used. When always asked the maximum amount of power from the battery it will grow old faster and can be recharged less. When used with lower power the battery can grow very old and be recharged many times. Below are 2 extremes.

1. As light as possible makes for a shorter lifetime.

2. Less light means a longer lifetime.

Some brands promise maximum capabilities. An huge amount of light in combination with a long lifetime. In real life it ofter occurs that these promises won't be kept and the amount of light won't keep op with a long lifetime or the other way around.

At BBB we plead for an constant output, this means our starting point is a little lower in lumen. Although we strive to keep this amount of lumen for the entire usage instead of losing power mid ride. An example of this can be found below. By an lower amount of lumen from the starting point you get a more stabel output than when you start with a maximun output in lumen. This will drop fast after the starting point.

> Lights table