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I'm going shopping tomorrow what do I need to run 2 fluorescent strips and a radio?
Shall need a charger as well,what shall I go for?
Will be visiting halfords and maplins.
Small car battery, charger and an inverter (eg http://www.maplin.co.uk/600w-12v-inverter-48724 ).
Spot on.Thanks.
Interesting. How long would a small battery charged by said inverter run a strip light for? ( not bothered about a radio)
Depends on the wattage of the strip lamp. 30Ah car battery at 12v is 360 Watt Hours, so if the lamp is 100 Watts, then you'd get 3.6 hours.
Personally I'd go for 12v LED lighting as it will be more efficient and not need the inverter.
Any idea of good source of led lighting and how much needed to light a shed enough to do some exercise in it?
Can do battery and other bits but can't seem to find a good clue as to how much light the strips of LEDs put out
Depends on the wattage of the strip lamp. 30Ah car battery at 12v is 360 Watt Hours, so if the lamp is 100 Watts, then you'd get 3.6 hours.
Half that number. Car batteries aren't designed to be fully discharged and if you do you will shorten their life very quickly. There are batteries designed to be deep discharged but it's usually easier just to get a ich bigger regular battery
Don't get an inverter, get 12v strip lights like you would have in a caravan. I run at full size florescent strip off a 150w (small) metal cased inverter when working at night in my van, it needs the engine running for working any length of time and inverter will cut out every 20 minutes as it overheats.
I've got LED strip lights running off a 12V battery in my shed, last for ages and ages compared to running anything else.
About 6W per metre so even about 5 metres of lighting will give you about 30 hours of lighting off a small car battery.
Pepper ,if you dropped a bolt on the floor would it be light enough to find it?
Yup, I use them here and I replaced all the traditional bulbs in my camper van with them too.
But with the low wattage you could run about 10 metres around a shed and have plenty of light just where you need it!
You can buy it in long lengths and cut it where you need to 😉
Dont you want a caravan leisure battery rather than a car battery ?
Dont you want a caravan leisure battery rather than a car battery ?
No difference between cheap leisure batteries and normal car batteries apart from the labelling and cost!
A normal car battery will do the job fine.
I've got a "proper" leisure battery it weighs twice the equivalent sized car battery and doesn't have normal battery terminals, its a beast, but cost about £400!!!
Pepper seconded. It's marketing rubbish unless the leisure is significantly more expensive.