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Subject Topic: 12v LED strip lights - tent battery Post Reply Post New Topic
Personscaryfast
08/7/2020 at 9:48pm
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I've got about 10m of domestic 12V LED light strip hanging around and was hoping to use this to light the inside of our tent.

The site we've booked has no EHU. I'm looking at battery units online, but the price quickly gets ridiculous (£130 gets you about 52A/hrs).

A dimmer switch would be good, but I'm not sure whether the ones I'm looking at are resistive (e.g still draw full power when dimmed).

Does anyone here have any tips/advice (particularly on batteries)?

Many thanks


Personmarg6
09/7/2020 at 7:14am
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yeah first of all a 110amp/hr leisure battery is £94 at go outdoors or you could get a 75amp/hr for £60 which if only for running lights will be more than enough, depending on how long your going for, but these will last you more than 2 weeks holidays, the other option would be to buy the same battery as your car takes and then you can swap then around as needed to recharge it


PersonPickled Onion
09/7/2020 at 10:57am
 Location: Near Alton Towers
 Outfit: Bailey Burgundy S7 H View Pickled Onion's Profile View Profile   Reply to Pickled Onion Reply   Quote Pickled Onion Quote  
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Hi and welcome to the forum.

Dimming LEDs isn't quite as simple as dimming filament lamps but there are some fairly cheap gadgets out there that will do the job pretty well.

I've used a few of these under my overhead lockers to dim LED strip lighting very successfully, plus they are cheap and reliable.

Dave

-------------
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day,
Teach a man to fish and you can get rid of him for a whole weekend.


Personbigmac
09/7/2020 at 12:33pm
 Location: North West
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beware that lithium batteries are often quoted as mAh or Ah for 3.7v cells - so running at 12v a 52ah battery would only supply 16Ah.

AFAIK led dimming will be pulse-width-modulated, so dimming should lower the power requirements.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-width_modulation


Personscaryfast
10/7/2020 at 11:15pm
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Great tips, thank you.

I tested the light setup with a mains to 12V transformer today with the cheapy £3 dimmer I bought on Amazon. Works fine (also has a crazy flashy program that I'll set on my wife when I nip to the loo).

I'll buy a 12v lead/acid leisure battery.


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PersonPaul_B
11/7/2020 at 8:05am
 Location: Yorkshire
 Outfit: Car & Caravan View Paul_B's Profile View Profile   Reply to Paul_B Reply   Quote Paul_B Quote  
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You can get good solar lights that hold the charge for quite a while and can be recharged from the car if necessary.


PersonJANEVANS02
15/7/2020 at 10:34pm
 Location: EAST DEVON
 Outfit: tent View JANEVANS02's Profile View Profile   Reply to JANEVANS02 Reply   Quote JANEVANS02 Quote  
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Like the sound of solar lights that can also be charged from car can you please give any info on name and where they might be sold please



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