Basic 12v LED lighting question - battery size needed

[davidrmrhind]

Hi everyone

My camping to date has been powered but this summer I move into the brave (for me and my better half) new world of un-powered camping, with our first camper trailer.

I have a set of LED light bars (5 x 1m) that I have always used in the tent which run off mains power (via a mains / 12v adaptor).

My question is what sort of battery size / capacity would I need to run the lights?

Their spec is:

LED Type: 300 NEW SAMSUNG 5630 SMD LED
LED Quantity: 300 LEDs Per 5 Meter
Working Input Voltage: 12VDC
Working Current: ~6A
Power consuption: 72w
Drive Mode: Constant Voltage

And I guess that they get used in an 'average' way at night - 1-2 bars on for an hour or so when preparing food. 1-2 on for an hour or so when in the tent / reading. 1-2 on for misc activities for an hour or so.

Any advice on either what sort of battery I'd need to support this usage for, say, a 3 night trip - or how to calculate what I'd need. Can I just us an old car battery? Can I buy and 1800mah rechargeable 12v battery pack from ebay (I'd only need to charge up at home, not on the trip)?

The lights are the only thing I need to power. Fridge = esky + frozen ice cream tubs, water via manual pump.

Any and all advice would be welcomed.

Thanks & regards

David

[davidrmrhind]

Update

The bars are 5 x 0.5m ... I'm sure that'll make a difference to the power needs (is it linear?)

David

[davidrmrhind]

Sorry - posted in the wrong forum.

I'll pay more attention next time.

David

[robcaz]

Hi David,

From the LED lighting specs - 5 metres equals 6 amps then 5x half metre LEDs or 2.5 metres = 3 amps.

So if you had the lights on for three hours they would consume 9 amp hours.

A rule of thumb is to only allow your deep cycle battery to discharge to 50% capacity for best battery life. So keeping that in mind & lets say you have a 100 amp hour AGM battery, it gives you six nights of lighting. You can reduce the power consumption of the LEDs by using dimmer switches.

There are plenty of portable battery packs around these days that can be recharged while driving, at home on 240volt or if you expand on the system at a later date, recharging while camping with a solar panel.

Richard's solar spreadsheet is a great way to work out a system to your own needs http://www.campertrailers.org/solar_spreadsheet.htm

[davidrmrhind]

Thanks for the reply Rob & Carol - just what I was looking for.

David

[piston9]

Hi, new from Sydney and also looking for the lighting solution. I am very happy that this summer we are going out and having fun,... Any specific brand for lighting please?

[robcaz]

Hi piston9,

We are very happy with our Korr Lighting kit as the LED's throw a nice clean white light http://www.campertrailers.org/korr_lighting.htm

Keep on eye on Aldi as they have similar kits from time to time.

[JasonBilly]

Hi piston9,

We are very happy with our Korr Lighting kit as the LED's throw a nice clean white light http://www.campertrailers.org/korr_lighting.htm

Keep on eye on Aldi as they have similar kits from time to time.

Nice and unique idea thumbs up...