I realise this is not an easy question to answer, however, what are people's experiences using 12v lights powered straight off the car? I'm not planning to do a lot of driving and, to the best of my knowledge, the car battery is in good shape. Therefore... should I be concerned about running the car battery flat over a few days without driving?
A few hours use of a tent light can be enough to cause starting difficulties.
What I do is to carry a small spare battery for lighting, phone charging etc. when I am not on EHU. The battery I use is one for a Fiesta, about the smallest car battery available, and it cost me less than £20. This battery also has flat bolt-on terminals instead of the usual posts, making it easier to connect to, and I can charge it from the car if necessary.
We used to do it with the frame tent. We usually tried to park at the top of the hill to help jump start it in the morning. ! Get an old car battery and run the lights off that.
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I use a 12 amp hour mobility scooter battery for lighting ...its only 6 inches by 4 inches and will run an 8 watt strip light for well over 24 hours on a full charge...thats 6 days at 4 hours per evening ...i used the car battery once a long time ago but never again as i had to be pushed to get the car started...along with all the women driver jokes from the men...
kim
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Quote: Originally posted by kimola on 05/7/2008
I use a 12 amp hour mobility scooter battery for lighting ...its only 6 inches by 4 inches and will run an 8 watt strip light for well over 24 hours on a full charge...
That cannot be correct, 8 watts for 24 hours is 16 amp hours, more than the capacity of your battery.
I am told that mobility scooter batterys produce 12 amp hours at 80% of the charge but i cook mine to 100% so it must store more than it says on the battery ....not sure how it works but it does..
kim
------------- Be nice to each other ..and make the world a better place.
i bought a new car battery then found out it wasnt the battery, so i use it for camping, i bought from the pound shop ( cigarette lighter attachment, two car torches that plug into lighter,) i plug them up to the spare car battery run the two lights all night for my son ( his scared of the dark ) ran these for three nights no problem.
ive now bought dvd player that plugs in, second hand portable tv, adapter for my laptop, we love our camping and havent needed electric hook up yet.( but we only camp long weekends) i always carry masking tape too.
I bought a gadget for £9.99 from maplins that stops any power unit you use from taking all juice out of your battery, it leaves you enough to start your car.. Don't know what they call it but it works.
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Quote: Originally posted by kimola on 05/7/2008I use a 12 amp hour mobility scooter battery for lighting ...its only 6 inches by 4 inches and will run an 8 watt strip light for well over 24 hours on a full charge...
That cannot be correct, 8 watts for 24 hours is 16 amp hours, more than the capacity of your battery.
I've found when experimenting with battery-powered fluorescent lighting, that they're generally under-run - by as much as 50 percent - perhaps to compensate for the strain on the tubes from the lack of soft-start provided by the very crude electronic ballasts, (lamps usually being soldered-in - but it seems excessive.
So 8 watt singles usually 4 watt, 16 watt doubles, 8 watt.
Unlike 'leisure' batteries used on caravans etc. car batteries do not like being discharged. They are designed to be a buffer to provide power to start the car (starter motor, electric fuel pump, spark/glow plugs etc.) and once the car is started the alternator does all the work.
Leisure batteries are designed to be used like you would any other rechargeable battery, including being almost flattened and then charged up again, but they aren't so good at the heavy starting currents required to get a car going.
Using your car battery to power stuff WILL shorten its life or kill it if you flatten it completely.
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A cheaper & safer option is to buy a rechargeable lamp. You can charge them up from your lighter socket during the day, or from the mains. Much safer than flattening your car battery. Don't rely on parking up a hill. Bump starting can cause the timing belt to "jump" a tooth & wreck your engine.
One of these would do the job. Think I'll get one myself at that price!
Hmmmm, Pay less heed to the scare mongers! I use a single LED array light in my tent, I used to have a 12v fluorescent one but one of the tubes went, this one is brighter and uses less power. I got it on Ebay and separately bought a remote control switch unit for it. The whole lot was about £15. that was in 2016 though. The remote control is really handy. I also use a few USB ports, the whole lot is all hooked up my VW Caddy Life car battery. I've been doing that for years now, sometimes staying for 3 weeks but usually two. The main array light is bright enough on half power for general use in our large dark Zempire tent. Sometimes I might go as long as three days without running the car, but I do keep my eye on it, I've never had a problem. Never yet have I driven off while still connected!!! I replaced the car battery this year but subsequently found there's nothing wrong with the old one, so I'm taking the old battery as a power source, I'll see how long it lasts. Its a hefty battery and I wouldn't be surprised if it lasts right through. When or if it goes dead I'll revert to hooking up to the car. On my old car, a VW Golf estate 2.0 diesel, we went at least ten years, usually twice a year for either 2 or 3 weeks at a time using the car as a battery hook up. My wife charged her iPad mini over night and we both charged our mobiles and used a 12v fluorescent in the tent. The battery was still good when I sold the car. I'm 66 and I've camped in pretty much every year of my life. I got the hookup idea from my dad, he used a tent light hooked up to the car battery (1966 Humber Super Snipe) in the old 8 birth frame tent, it had a 12v incandescent bulb in it, it was about as good as a candle in an aircraft hanger! How we've progressed! My leads are home made, they're about 10m long, have a 16 amp in line fuse and croc clips on them and a cig socket at the tent end where I plug in an adapter which gives two or three more cig sockets and two usb ports, one of which has a spitter in it to give me three usb ports. Its worked like that for a good 15 years.
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Topic: 12v Lighting from Car Battery
via mobile 28/6/2023 at 2:18pm
