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A week off the Grid; Lessons learned.

I have a 12 volt portable battery pack.

What kind of 12v battery pack is this?

brand name and model? Where did u buy it?

thanks in advance!
 
R

Rob

Jan 1, 1970
0
Good to hear of a plan that worked.
Any fool can be uncomfortable, and there's no substitute for
experience.
Thanks for the tips, (hope me & mine never need em).

Rob
 
My Jumpstarter is different due to having two lighter sockets and a connection
fro a solar charger plug in. The ones they have now have only the AC charger
built in.

Does anyone still make one like yours above that has
two lighter sockets and connection for solar charger?
 
W

William P.N. Smith

Jan 1, 1970
0
Does anyone still make one like yours above that has
two lighter sockets and connection for solar charger?

Why not plug the solar charger into one of the lighter sockets?
 
Several of my friends who camp bought the various Jumpstarters when they were
on sale locally. The only one that is NOT useful for camping is the one with a
tire inflation compressor built in. These little compressors are handy, but
are no help in a power outage. They just take up space which should be used for
battery.

OK

So you are "sold" on this method of providing portable
lighting by using a booster battery pack and 12v
florescent trouble lights?

Works out very well correct?
 
S

Steve Spence

Jan 1, 1970
0
Since we have been off grid for 3 months now, I could give you ton's of
ideas. here are a few:

1. Propane appliances
2. Severe conservation. It's cheaper to conserve than to generate. cf's
everywhere, and rechargeable flashlights, preferably LED.
3. diesel generator. no points, no electrical system to speak of.
 
I got it for camping, and it does work well for that. I would assume it would
provide light for other uses as well. (Never used more than two lamps.
Since I can Charge the Pack from my car, or with a Solar cell (I have 4 110VA
cells.) It works for me.

Do those 12v car trouble lights put out a fair amount of light?

Enough to really navigate around with in a cabin or room?
 
A

Anthony Matonak

Jan 1, 1970
0
Do those 12v car trouble lights put out a fair amount of light?
Enough to really navigate around with in a cabin or room?

Yes. Many of these fluorescent trouble lights are 8 watts and up.
This would be roughly equivalent to the light output of a 32 watt
incandescent bulb. Plenty for task lighting and more than bright
enough to keep you from bumping into furniture.

Anthony
 
J

john

Jan 1, 1970
0
you can buy inverters for your normal tube lights they just replace the
balast in them not very expensive to buy but then they only work on 12
volts but are brighter and flicker free
 
Yes. Many of these fluorescent trouble lights are 8 watts and up.
This would be roughly equivalent to the light output of a 32 watt
incandescent bulb. Plenty for task lighting and more than bright
enough to keep you from bumping into furniture.

OK Anthony thanks

you've been a big help

Im off to buy a booster battery unit and some 12vdc
trouble lights

Any advice on what brand/model booster battery unit to
buy? Or are they al abt the same?
 
S

Steve Spence

Jan 1, 1970
0
Very much so. LED's aren't much more efficient than incandescent, but since
they draw so little (and output so little) there are applications for them
in spot lighting and instrumentation where you don't need the omni
directional light of an incan.
 
E

Ecnerwal

Jan 1, 1970
0
Are CFs still more efficient than say LED lights?
Very much so. LED's aren't much more efficient than incandescent, but since
they draw so little (and output so little) there are applications for them
in spot lighting and instrumentation where you don't need the omni
directional light of an incan.

As far as I know, the relatively low effiency only applies to the
"white" LEDs (which are sort of blue LED with a phosphor - like a
florescent light). The monochromatic LEDs are quite efficient,
especially if you hook them up intelligently (ie, use a current
regulator to drive a string of them, rather than wasting most of your
power in a current-limiting resistor, driving a single ~2V LED from a
12V source). Just hooking up 6 in series generally won't work, but 4-5
and a current regulator will work (or more for 24 or 48VDC). You can
also sneak about with driving them with pulses (from a 555) - there's
little noticable difference between a 30-40% on time and 100% on time
when the driving frequency is too fast for eyes to notice.

They may not be what you want to read by, but the super-bright red ones
make one heck of a nightlight, and adding some green or yellow makes
things quite workable for less-demading tasks.

They never (for all practical purposes) burn out, which is also an
advantage for some uses.
 
S

Steve Spence

Jan 1, 1970
0
Try looking at the lumens / watt. you'll find my statement still holds true,
for all LED's. Some suck less than others, but they all suck like a
incandescent. I've posted it here before.

The advantage that LED's have is that they are directional, so for task
lighting you don't need many lumens, where area lights like cf's and
incandescent are omnidirectional, and using them for task lighting wastes
90% of the light.
 
Try looking at the lumens / watt. you'll find my statement still holds true,
for all LED's. Some suck less than others, but they all suck like a
incandescent. I've posted it here before.

The advantage that LED's have is that they are directional, so for task
lighting you don't need many lumens, where area lights like cf's and
incandescent are omnidirectional, and using them for task lighting wastes
90% of the light.

Good info. Thanks Steve!

I want to buy one of those battery boosters and then some 12 vdc car
trouble lights for emer use. Hence the question of fluorescent is
still the best for such use
 
S

Steve Spence

Jan 1, 1970
0
yes, fluorescent is the best for area lighting. I bought a battery
booster/compressor from BJ's that had an integral (and removable)
fluorescent.
 
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