Lumintop B01 + KeepPower 21700 battery technical review

[aidan.f]

I brought two Lumintop B01 lamps after following "Ebike light powered by 18650 pack" https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=122911.msg2719606#msg2719606

Seemed that two lamps and four batteries could be a good PBP battery option.

I was concerned that the quoted run-time maybe 'optimistic' so here is my light tester



I'm really only interested in the medium 260 Lumen setting. Datasheet quotes 11h15min with a 21700 cell

Test runtimes : light 'A' 9h50m 'B' 10h21m.  At this point the light switches to low power (15 Lumens) After 12 hours it was still running when I gave up.

Testing the B01 with a bench PSU : Medium power draw is 1.65 Watts (0.44A@3.74V), the lamp switches to low power (15 lumens) at 3.0 volts*.

I meausured battery 'A' using an active 1.6 watt constant power load, 9h24m to 3.0 volts (15 w/h).

Capacity to 2.5v was 16 w/h.

The 21700 is nominally 18.5 w/h to 2.5 volts, cell A is 86% of nominal capacity. CBA to test B using the active load.

My Schmidt is away for repair so this will be my PBP lighting setup I expect a lot of night riding Northern France late August worst case is 5x9 hours, 21:00-06:00

Weight; 70g per 21700 cell  - lamps are 82g each.
 
Quote below from original Ebike topic

Picked up a Lumintop B01 flashlight on aliexpress which takes a 21700 cell and has a "designed according to STVZO" beam. Yet to try it on the road but it has a 11 hour medium 260 lumen mode which could work well.

That looks like a neat little thing. I'd rather have an all in one light, instead of wires to a separate battery pack. And USB-C charging built in is handy.
Wondering if it is any good. The mount looks a bit flimsy, does it hold it in place securely?
It is a bit cheaper than the equivalent Fenix bike lights anyway.

Haven't been for a ride with it yet but hoping it is good as it seems the easiest option (with x number of spare 21700 cells). Hoping to try it out tonight.

It's got a downward pointing emitter and a reflector so hopefully the beam pattern is good.

[tomj]

Aidan, what battery are you using with your Lumintop B01 are you using a flat or button top battery?

I have an issue which I think is related to battery length and resulting ‘end-cap’ connection. The ‘Button-Top’ Fenix 21700 5000mAh battery originally bought based on the data sheet illustration appears too long, the connection is intermittent when refitting the end-cap. A (much cheaper) Frogstar ‘flat-top’ battery works perfectly, fit battery, screw in end cap and turn on. Simple.

Using this with Project 76 ‘GoPro’ style mount, medium setting more than sufficient with ‘yellowish’ light.

[Frank9755]

I'm not Aidan, but you need a non-button battery.

I agree, medium setting is a good light.

[aidan.f]

nuBattery  - KeepPower - 21700 Battery (Protected Button Top) - 5000mAh - 15A £13.99 currently no stock.

https://www.nubattery.co.uk/2070021700-batteries?page=1&filters%5B%5D=1-5000mAh&filters%5B%5D=4-Protected+Button+Top&count=30

Quite tight length-wise still rattled very slightly  - some tape dealt with that.

Certiainly different makes differ, I have a alpkit camping lantern, thought I could borrow the cell . But its too thick

nuBattery were very helpful - when I explained what they were for I got sent some heavy duty single cell storage sleeves. FOC

Spotted the Fogstar ones today - cheaper but not protected..I'm happy to pay the extra £5...

[tomj]

Thanks for the info, size does in this case appear to make a difference 

Note to self, RTFM first.

The Frogstar Molicel P42A 21700 (flat top non-protected) battery is 70mm long whereas the Fenix (button top protected) battery is about 75mm plus another mm or so for the button top.

Exactly as detailed in the battery specification.

Based on your ‘quite tight’ comment now thinking I just need to be a little more careful when tightening the end cap. By the way, also used some tape on the Frogstar to stop rattling.

Will keep an eye on the nuBattery availability.

Supplementary Question; can you charge your Garmin from the B01 USB-C charge port?

Tom

[howdee]

I found the green bunny standby light to be a bit annoying whilst the main lamp was switched off. But discovered today by chance that pressing the power button 7 times in quick succession toggles the bunny light on and off! On my B01 anyway,

[GavinC]

If anyone is looking for additional brackets so they can use the light on different bikes, I’ve found this one from Amazon does the job - for road riding at least.

[tdk27]

I also found this Amazon listing, which looks to be pretty much exactly the original bracket. I haven't bought one to try out though.

I wanted to mount mine at the fork crown. So I pulled out a dremel and a spare Cateye fork crown mount, disassembled the original mount, and reassembled this with a short evening's work. The process was fairly simple: cut away a bunch of plastic on both the Cateye mount and the Lumintop bracket until the two parts fit snugly, glue them together, and then pin through the joints with standard sewing pins heated red hot with a lighter.



Long term durability is still in question, but it's done about 50k now and hasn't immediately exploded, so I think the approach has some decent promise.

[Frank9755]

If anyone is looking for additional brackets so they can use the light on different bikes, I’ve found this one from Amazon does the job - for road riding at least.

I got half a dozen identical to the original from AliExpress a while ago.
I paid £2 each for them but I see the price has come down!
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32735169560.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.10.180c18026lpxLA

[Frank9755]

I found the green bunny standby light to be a bit annoying whilst the main lamp was switched off. But discovered today by chance that pressing the power button 7 times in quick succession toggles the bunny light on and off! On my B01 anyway,

Thanks, I shall be trying that!

[Frank9755]

I wanted to mount mine at the fork crown...

I've got one mounted on the fork crown using a B+M universal mount which has a plastic round section instead of the Cateye mount. Has worked fine so far.