Camp strip lights and battery power

[XTV]

I have a strip of E bay LED lights powered from a 12 volt socket - about 2 metres long and very bright. Spec claimed 1 amp consumption, however I measured it at more like 2.5 amps, so could easily flatten a car/caravan battery in a few hours.

quote - I reckon there is a market for a range of camping gear that you can run off drill batteries. If I could have an exchangeable battery for my airbed inflator, a lamp, a strip light, maybe even a tent fan and tyre inflator (which I appreciate is already available) - I reckon it'd be a winner".

This would be very easy to do and a great idea - 12 volt batteries for power tools are easy to come by on Ebay https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/12%20vol...ery?rmvSB=true, and the electrical connection would be very straight forward.

[Sam Pato]

I have a strip of E bay LED lights powered from a 12 volt socket - about 2 metres long and very bright. Spec claimed 1 amp consumption, however I measured it at more like 2.5 amps, so could easily flatten a car/caravan battery in a few hours.

quote - I reckon there is a market for a range of camping gear that you can run off drill batteries. If I could have an exchangeable battery for my airbed inflator, a lamp, a strip light, maybe even a tent fan and tyre inflator (which I appreciate is already available) - I reckon it'd be a winner".

This would be very easy to do and a great idea - 12 volt batteries for power tools are easy to come by on Ebay https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/12%20vol...ery?rmvSB=true, and the electrical connection would be very straight forward.

Undeterred I had a bit more of a look into this and it quickly dawned on me that I have two such convertors already in my car that knock down 12v DC to 5v DC USB sockets. I found a couple of bits of useful information online and ordered a step down convertor with USB output from China for about $2-. We measured up my Aldi battery and my eldest daughter printed me off an adapter on the 3D printer at school. Its a rough prototype at the moment but it should work OK.


I'm guessing that your estimate of current draw is about right as the battery is lasting about 25% of the predicted time (note - I'd posted the wrong mAH in my post above - now corrected). Its still do-able but not quite as low maintenance as I'd first hoped. Still good though!


Cheers



Sam