Running camp lights off a battery...

JUSTIN37HUNT

Senior Member
I was wondering how practical (how long) running a couple of standard (60-100 watt) light bulbs off a standard vehicle or deep cycle marine battery would be.

We don't have electricity at camp but would like to have a good light source at the cleaning shed instead of headlights from atvs/trucks.

How many hours of use off a charged battery do you think we could get before recharging? Thanks for the help.
 

rjcruiser

Senior Member
I'd run the compact flourescent. They use much less electricity and would probably allow you to run the bulbs for more than just a couple of hours.
 

hwy22

Senior Member
We use to use the battery in our trucks to run the lights for the evening. We switched vehicles every day to insure that we did not run the battery dead. Think we used lowest wattage bulbs and did not leave them on for long periods of time.
 

bat

Senior Member
You can run quite a bit on them if only using say two bulbs. I have a camper set up to use either 12v or 110v and use the 12v system when off at a management area. I actually was thinking about buying a couple of bulb holders and using them at camp like you are doing cleaning the deer. If the battery get low just hook up your truck with jumper cables the next day to recharge it. Will cost you a little gas but it should work.
 

saltysenior

Senior Member
go to a r.v. store and get a couple of those new spiral shaped bulbs in 12v.--60watts....i use one for 4 nites w/ and old reg.size car batt. .... never had to re-charge till getting home.....
 

Jim Baker

Moderator
Staff member
go to a r.v. store and get a couple of those new spiral shaped bulbs in 12v.--60watts....i use one for 4 nites w/ and old reg.size car batt. .... never had to re-charge till getting home.....

Walmart did carry them, put them in a drop light fixture. We run them when fishing at night off the boat battery. You can run them for 3 or 4 hours with no effect on a good 12v battery. And they are relatively cheap.
 

Milkman

Deer Farmer Moderator
Staff member
you may also want to consider using jumper cables to charge your camp battery with your vehicle as needed
 

the r.o.c.

Senior Member
go to an rv store, you can buy a small solar panel that will charge a car battery during the day. then you can use it at night. there under 50 $ and work great. i dont know if bass pro has them, but most camping places do.
 

hawgrider1200

Senior Member
Give the man with the plan a star for a good idea. If u run two marine batts in parrallel you can probably run them all nihgt and charge the batt when the sun comes up.
 

elfiii

Admin
Staff member
You can also buy a power invertor at Lowe's, HD, or the local hardware store. It is basically a "step up" transformer that hooks up straight to your car battery and converts 12v to 110v.

Most of them have a sensor that detects low battery amperage and shuts the invertor down automatically to save the vehicle battery.

Depending on the wattage output and where you buy them, they cost between $50-$100. A marine battery will run similar in price.
 

Workin2Hunt

Gone but not forgotten
You can buy the solar battery chargers at northern tool.

That's what I did on my camper, get a battery box at wal mart put a deep cycle in and hook up the solar charger. Solar charger is mounted on one of the 4x4 posts on the shed over the camper.
 

Jasper

Senior Member
Some great ideas on this thread for deer camp or primitive camping. Thanks!
 

Milkman

Deer Farmer Moderator
Staff member
For a quick easy light you can get 12 volt work lights that have alligator clips for quick connection to your battery. Some automotive supply houses have them.
 

ChiefOsceola

Senior Member
I'd run the compact flourescent. They use much less electricity and would probably allow you to run the bulbs for more than just a couple of hours.

x2

You can even buy the night night fishing flourescent kit that clips on the boat (16" bulb I think). If it comes with a blacklight flourescent, just replace it with a standard. They usually have 10-15' of cable already ready to clamp to the battery. Will provide hours of light without killing the battery.
 

Eddy M.

GONetwork Member
go to an rv store, you can buy a small solar panel that will charge a car battery during the day. then you can use it at night. there under 50 $ and work great. i dont know if bass pro has them, but most camping places do.

Buy them on line- or the sportsman guide has them
 

miles58

Banned yankee
At my camp we use both AC and 12 VDC. We built it before we could get power in and set it up with solar and a couple of deep cycle batteries. If we use a lot of lights now and there is very little or no sun after a couple of days on battery we need to use the AC to charge the batteries. There are LED lights that will put out a lot of light for very little drain, but we mostly use fluorescent lights.

Harbor Freight is on the net and is a good place to look for solar panels. I bought one there for <$50 and it's all I use to charge the deep cycle I use to run my trolling motor in the boat.
 
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