Smart TL271 Rear Bike Light Battery Replacement

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Perhaps the only disadvantage of riding a Dutch bike like my Batavus is that it uses so many parts that are unknown outside Europe. Simple things like replacing the batteries in the rear light are much harder than they need to be. There are no manuals in English for these parts, and since Batavus’s guidelines start and end at “Take it to your bike shop”, it’s not much help.

The low battery light on my rear LED had just started to glow, so I had to replace the batteries. With no discernible way in, this was tricky. You have to unscrew the two Phillips screws on the reflector, and kind of slide the reflector and batteries straight back and off:

It would be a lot easier to leave the light on the carrier, as it would give you a tonne more leverage. There’s a thumbnail indentation at the bottom of the light to help with this removal, but I had to use a small plastic drift from my electronics toolkit. (Please excuse my manky nails in the picture; I’d been gardening.)

My light says it’s a “Smart Co., Ltd TL271R//RC” on the back, and may be sold under other brands. It’s suspiciously similar to the Move Shaphire 271 rear light. I’m not really complaining â€” this is the first new set of batteries I’ve had to fit since I bought the bike in February 2009.

Update: hey, who knew? Even folks from the Netherlands are searching for this blog entry. That’s if my site stats for “move fietslicht batterij vervangen” are to be believed …

Comments

15 Responses to “Smart TL271 Rear Bike Light Battery Replacement”

02014-11-30

Rob

Thanks. This was helpful in replacing the batteries on my wife’s Batavus’ backlight (Berlin).
02015-04-15

Eddy

Thanks, helped a lot. Replaced the batteries without damaging anything.
02015-10-09

Maria

Thanks a lot! Realy a helpful item.
02016-01-24

Reinier

Thanks for this blog.
And indeed also dutch people find your blog when searching on “change battery move tl271r”
When removing the reflector as you did I’ve pushed the screws on the back inside end used carefully a little flat screwdriver between the tumbnail and the black backside.
(This rear light you also find on dutch Gazelle bikes)
02016-01-24

scruss

Thanks, Reinier. It’s about time I changed the batteries again on my own bike â€¦
02016-04-02

Frans

Lifesaving picture! Thanks from Amsterdam!
02018-10-08

Robin

Another thanks from Holland!
02019-01-03

Martina

Dank je wel!
(jup. Another Dutchie..)
02019-01-05

scruss

You’re welcome, Martina!

Let’s just say I wrote this to help psychically pay off my debt to Fietsersbond. I managed to join them from the UK around 20 years ago, but they could only accept payment from a NL bank, and my UK bank couldn’t provide the right details to make the payment go through.
02021-01-05

Will Bat

I have the TL266R / RC, which is by the same maker and looks very similar. The light came as part of a bike I just bought. My only issue is that it only light up 10% of the entire reflector. I thought there was something wrong with it until I opened it and noticed that the circuitry is there only to light up that little bulb at the very top.
02022-11-14

Mike Doyle

Brilliant! That you took the time and effort to save me a lot of fruitless time an effort is astounding! Many, many thanks, from Amsterdam
02023-10-09

Chris

Many thanks from Weert!! Inagree that manufacturers should not make it so complicated and increase the risk of damage due to bad design
02024-03-21

Josh

This helped me! Thanks 🙂
02024-04-17

Pio

thx a lot – after U opened it once – there will be no problem
02024-08-25

KIA Kings

🙂 yep I am Dutch too googled it how to change it as there was no way to get that off until I read this 🙂 thanks