I am thinking of putting a 12 volt lighting system in our kitchen tent when we go away for 2 weeks in the summer.
I am thinking of having 2 12v 8w flourescent fitting connected to a 12 volt leisure battery and then keeping the battery topped up by having a solar trickle charger connected to it.
Does this sound ok or are there any other suggestions.
with a 85 amp battery you would not need to charge it , it would give you 5 hours of light per day for 10 days , if you just use it for lighting, given in the summer it only get dark at 8pm to 9pm then you would only use 2 hours of lighting then you would get 20 days use ! save your money and just get a battery and don't bother with a solar panel
Quote: Originally posted by Dandyman Bob on 27/3/2008
Hi, Why not run alead from the cigaret lighter in your car? Save the cost and hastle of charging a battery.
Regards Bob
Not a good idea Bob; car batteries are shallow cycle, unlike the deep cycle leisure batteries and will flatten after a couple of days of this sort of use.
When we were camping in our tent we would run 2 strip lights, a 5" b+w tv, and charge our mobile phones whilst in bed every night and never once flattened our car battery, all this ran from a 12v lighter socket.
In ten years that was on 3 different cars
Quote: Originally posted by Paul + Wendy on 28/3/2008
When we were camping in our tent we would run 2 strip lights, a 5" b+w tv, and charge our mobile phones whilst in bed every night and never once flattened our car battery, all this ran from a 12v lighter socket. In ten years that was on 3 different cars
You wouldn't if you used the car frequently the real problems start if you sit on the campsite without using the car.
I still use the s socket to conect my van up to give the solar charger a chance to catch up on the leisure batt use but try and time it with a long trip out day before
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Topic: 12 volt lighting in tents
