Inverter light setup

Lil' Blue Rude · Post by **Lil' Blue Rude** » 19 Oct 2013, 17:15

Has anyone used a couple batteries and a inverter to run a set of lights. I've always used batteries and enjoy how quite they are but some brighter lights would be nice and I figured with a inverter you'd be able to run a different light setup.

DanMC · Post by **DanMC** » 19 Oct 2013, 23:17

No need ! ,today the LED technology it's so advanced you need a good LED from Vision X or Rigid Industries that will more than do the trick (I'm not affiliated with the mentioned companies!). On our Lund WC14 we have a 60° flood from Vision X that draws only 1.5A !....beat that halogen or HID !....and if long range you're after you can opt for a light cannon (Vision X) .We have a set on our Honda Pilot and the cannon's shoot a beam nearly 700' and now they have some that can do 1000' beam !...from LED !.....just a suggestion.

nbaffaro · Post by **nbaffaro** » 20 Oct 2013, 08:29

I use an inverter to power my crappie lights. It works fine. Just wish I had a gfci outlet on it. Don't even know if they make them or not.

PSG-1 · Post by **PSG-1** » 25 Oct 2013, 08:58

If you're going to use 110V power around water, just make sure it's got a GFI circuit. Ungrounded AC power has the potential to be lethal.

Lil' Blue Rude · Post by **Lil' Blue Rude** » 26 Oct 2013, 16:55

PSG-1 give yourself a big pat on the back why don't you. Do you really need to keep bragging about getting the flounder thing banned? I asked about inverter light setup not you banning this or that. [-X I didn't ask for personal opinion on 110v either I asked if anyone had any experience with a battery inverter setup. You could have just told me your experience with LEDs.
To the other two poster thanks for your comments.

Captain Ahab · Post by **Captain Ahab** » 26 Oct 2013, 18:45

No need to rip the guys head off for too much info

He should be proud of helping save a species - and you got useful info

Your plan is to hook up a 110 inverter to try and get brighter (110v) lights from a 12 V battery? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...................

Some law of physics tells me it will not work

PSG-1 · Post by **PSG-1** » 26 Oct 2013, 19:32

Captain Ahab » 43 minutes ago wrote:No need to rip the guys head off for too much info

It's all good Captain Ahab, I went back and edited the post so it doesn't offend anyone. Next time I'll know to just STFU and not put in my .02

That said, here's an idea for some lights:

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A toboggan equipped with an LED headlamp.

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12 dollars at Wally World.

Lil' Blue Rude · Post by **Lil' Blue Rude** » 26 Oct 2013, 19:52

Psg-1 STAY OFF MY POST!!!!!!! We've never seen eye to eye on anything on this site so don't go throwing your 2 cents where it's not want I for dang sure don't want it on my thread. there was no need for you to put your smart @$$ comment after ahabs post either.

redbug · Post by **redbug** » 26 Oct 2013, 20:00

Lil' Blue Rude · Post by **Lil' Blue Rude** » 26 Oct 2013, 20:11

Ahab please tell me were I said anything about 110 lights..... I didn't I currently run a setup with 4 12v lights off of 1 12v deep cycle battery. Last around an hour or two. I had just been talking to a electrician about my setup and he talked about using an inverter. Yeah your not going to run 110 lights from 12v but when you run 12v DC through an inverter that turns that 12v DC into 110+AC then your getting somewhere. Sorry if I don't want some guy going off topic about laws he's helped place in his state. If he wants to talk about that he can start a thread "PSG-1 Saves the flounder"

PSG-1 · Post by **PSG-1** » 26 Oct 2013, 20:38

To answer your question....an inverter hooked to your 12V system will work to power 110V lights. But you'll need to match the wattage output of the inverter to the wattage requirement for your lights, i.e., if you have 3 lights at 100 watts, your inverter needs to be at least 300 watts.

redbug · Post by **redbug** » 26 Oct 2013, 21:57

the only way I can see it lasting longer that the 12 volt light would be to go with the 120 volt led lights they draw less wattage that any other light the problem is the cost of these light bulbs I have flood lights outside that only draw 25 watts but equal the output of a 150 watt bulb they will last for 20 plus years so they will pay and save me money but the cost per bulb was $45 each.

nbaffaro · Post by **nbaffaro** » 26 Oct 2013, 22:54

What types of lights are you trying to run?
I run a 24" fluorescent green light and two regular fluorescent blubs seems to work decent. I had the 24" blub on a 12v ballast, but it died and it was cheaper to just get a120v ballast to replace it with. I would love to go all 12v led.

PSG-1 · Post by **PSG-1** » 26 Oct 2013, 23:34

redbug » Today, 21:57 wrote:the only way I can see it lasting longer that the 12 volt light would be to go with the 120 volt led lights they draw less wattage that any other light the problem is the cost of these light bulbs I have flood lights outside that only draw 25 watts but equal the output of a 150 watt bulb they will last for 20 plus years so they will pay and save me money but the cost per bulb was $45 each.

Indeed. LED's are expensive, but last forever. Some of the high intensity LED's put out as much light as halogens. Superbrightleds.com is a great website to check out.

One other thing about inverters, you may not get as much run time as you're hoping for, because once your battery voltage gets to about 10V, the inverter will kick into fault mode and shut down. Where with the 12V system, it will keep going, but your lights will just get more and more dim.