Battery Packs

Portable battery operated lamps allow for long hours spent in the field searching for fluorescent minerals. Most lamp manufacturers sell lead-acid batteries to power their lamp.

In my humble opinion - Lead-Acid batteries suck. They are big and heavy, prone to failure if left sitting on the shelf without charging, and generally offered as an afterthought. One lamp supplier even goes one step further in making it almost impossible for the ordinary Joe to replace this old technology pack with a newer pack by using a custom cable for connecting the battery to the lamp (SuperBright) and refusing to even offer an option to connect up other batteries.

There are several battery pack types listed in this section - including instructions on how to even replace the SuperBright lead-acid clunker with something better. NiMH packs are readily available and simple to use; LiFE are more expensive and require special equipment and charging.

These all require a little understanding of wire, connectors, and battery pack technology. Parts must be purchased from vendors supplying the RC hobby, sometimes custom wired to fit your lamp. But if you persevere it can be done, quite handily.

As of the time of writing, Way Too Cool is threatening to offer an NiMH solution for their lamps - be sure to check them out.