Off road light help

[ishmael]

I have a nightsun XC http://www.night-sun.com/htmldocs/xc.html and lost the charger for the water bottle battery years ago. In calling the company I get the same shite customer service I have read about and ridiculous prices for replacing the charger and or battery. The light has been used very little as I screwed up some vertebrae shortly after buying it so the battery has been sitting for about 10 years and since I have no charger I don't know if it would still work. I am a flashaholic but know NOTHING about the electronics or building or modding lights. Would I be better off trying to rig something for a power source and charger, using some flashlights mounted on the bars or buying something cheaper meant for bikes. Also, how does this light stack up against Surefire e2e, e2d both incan, lx2, quark aa? I can't check as I have no power for the night sun. Whatever light would be for off road use only except for about ,75 miles to the dirt and back. Surface is packed to loose sand and some gravel on fire trails. Since I got only a few miles on easier terrain with the XC I don't even know if it is adequate for what I ride now in the daylght. Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Edit to add: I also have 2 old 2xd mags if these could be EASILY modded with minimal knowledge. I am reading up on all the informative posts here but it will definitely take a while to learn.

 

[MtLuke]

I would guess that after sitting around for almost 10 years the battery would likely not hold a charge. Replacement batteries are relatively cheap compared to what the OEM would be.
Check out Batteryspace or All-Battery for a replacement and charger, they do have bottle mount kits.
The Nightsun's are a great light but rather dated by now compared to the new generation of lights. I built my own system last year and it blows away my old Jett dual system(32w).
You'll still need to get batteries and a charger so maybe do that for now and plan your next move, you may be able to use the old housings if they are metal and use a Dual MCE setup wired 2s2p. This would give you waaay more light than the old Nightsun's with much longer runtimes.
If you do decide to build make sure you check out your voltages.

 

[yellow]

just as a guess: the battery pack is done
You could try to get charger and/or new pack, but I would skip that.
The light itself might be about the same power, as the old version (20 W main beam) of the Sigma Mirage - and this one can easily be displaced with an actual single-die led light.

If You are also a backpacker/hiker and like small portable lights, get some actual 1*18650 flashlight (like Jetbeam Jet III Pro Ultra, Shiningbeam L-mini II, ...) and clip it to Your bars - thats what I do and it works great.
If You have a good charger for Ni-Mh and cells, than some good 2*AA light, but imho the 1*18650 is way better.

If You want considerably more light and more runtime (= a "real" bike light), there are two Kill-lights atm:
Lupine Tesla and their cheap-budget-reduced-quality counterpart: Dealextreme P7 bike light (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.25149)