Help ID'ing NiteRider light

greenLED

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I did my seasonal pilgrimage to the local REI's "scratch and dent sale" today. A NiteRider headlight grabbed my attention and I couldn't really resist. It looks and was labeled as "new" and it came with a Nite Rider 7.5V AC/DC adaptor. The only things missing from the package are a battery and the mount.

The light came with a NiteRider TrailRat 2.0 manual, BUT I'm doubting that's the case. There are a few things that I'm confused about:

1. The pics of the Trail Rat I've seen online show it with a black switch button. The headlight I have has a transparent button.

2. In addition to being transparent, the button has a little LED indicator under it, right next to the actual switch button. I plugged the light directly to the AC/DC adaptor, and the LED changes color (red, orange, green) as I press the switch .

3. AFAIK, the Trail Rat is a "regular" incan light. The lamp in the light I got looks like an HID lamp (has the long glass post thingy in the middle of the LA, with an external metal filament going from top to bottom of the glass). BTW, I *hope* I didn't mess up the HID lamp by plugging it directly to the 7.5V adapter (I can't think of a reason why it would, but... I'm not an incan guy...).



So, I need you incan bike light experts to help me sort this out. After browsing around, I'm almost certain I do not have a TrailRat 2.0 light. I *think* the following are some viable alternatives:

1. Evolution Smart: By the looks of the transparent button. Since this is an REI return, *maybe* the owner tried to put an HID lamp to make it brighter and when it didn't work, they returned it...? :shrug:

2. An Enduro HID: Again, by the looks of the transparent button and the HID LA currently in there. If that's the case, then the REI Staff (or the previous owner) mixed up an HID headlamp with the TrailRat's adaptor. :shrug:

3. Your ideas?? Pics??

Any fail-safe ways of ID'ing which NiteRider headlight I got?

:thanks:
 
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greenLED

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Mar 26, 2004
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I took the light to the local NR specialist... I got good news and bad news.

Good news: It's definitely not a TrailRat!
Bad news: (well, sort of) I need a new battery and charger for it, and the guy wasn't sure which one of the HID models it really was.


Sooooo... depending on which model it might be, I either got a really good deal (even after buying the parts I need), or I'm stuck with an unusable HID head...


I also called NR, and the guy I spoke to couldn't help me sort out which model it could be either. :shrug:
 
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ktronik

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Oct 12, 2003
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Australia
Most HID light on the market of that vintage use a WA 10w HID globe driven from a 13.2v (input) going to the ballast...

same as the trailtec, from batteryspace...

only two wires go to the ballast...so in theory, you should be able to rip it apart make your own plug, & get it going...


OT:

for you rear light, have you tried these??

633275268209843750_med.jpg


cree RED... 3 could make a kick *** rear blinder!!!


K
 

greenLED

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Thanks, greenlight, but there're several models with transparent button, and all the HID's have the same 3-prong female plug. I just heard they renamed some of their old models too. Short of plugging it into a battery there doesn't seem to be a way to figure out which model it may be (1 mode, 3 modes, etc.).

I'll take some pics later. I know you guys can figure this out.
 
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Metroid

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Dec 2, 2004
Messages
11
You only need two prongs. The third wire on the ShitLok connectors is for the thermister option on some of the NR batteries. This allows for using temperature as the termination criteria on NiMH packs using the BQ2000 based NiteRider charger. Despite the fact that I have a couple extra NR connectors, I would cut them off and replace with TrailTech connectors (2.1 x 5.5).

Just curious, how good of a deal was it?
 
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