battery

[minnowhead]

I am going to be using a 12 volt trouble light for my portable house this year for lighting, i am going to be using a lawn mower battery for the connection. Does anybody know if cold cranking amps on the battery would make any difference if i am just using it for lighting use.

[ryan johnson]

cranking amps won't be a problem..the only thing is that that type of battery isn't meant to be drained aand filled up to many times..it will greatly reduce the lifespan of the battery..if at all possible get a 12 volt deep cycle battery..they are made for this type of use..

i believe i read in one of my electrical books that a regular battery will give you 7-8 drains that will come back to 100% charge ,then every time after that it will start dropping..

[minnowhead]

will a battery used in marcums and vexilars better for this? And will they provide me enough power to light up a 12 light for a evening or two before recharge. Any thought helpful, have not bought the battery yet.I do have a charger that will trickle charge.

[ryan johnson]

lets saw u go with a 60 watt bulb..at 12 volts..

to find the current draw take the wattage divided by the voltage 60/12=5amps...your vex battery is probably got 7 amp hours of life (not to be confused with cold cranking amps)

ok just checked out a site and it says that u get 24 hours out of a led rope light...not to bad...that would put it in around .29 of an amp draw..

or u could use a light compact floresent bulb in the trouble light say 13 watts would give you 6.5 hours of light. only problem is that floresent fixtures won't light up in realy cold weather due to the ballasts they contain..unless there high output..you'd just have to warm them up in the shack before starting them up..

7 divided by 5 gives you about 1.4 hours of light(just an estimate)

now if you went with led light rope you'd get substancially more time with out of the battery..i'll see if a can find out the current draw on one of those ropes for you..

[fishercat]

I use a sealed 12v small electronics type battery from Cabela's( like the ones used for the flshers ) and they work great with my 9" green florouscent fishing light that I got from Bass Pro Shops. I get about 8 hours fishing time out of it and you can buy them w/a charger for around $35.00.

[larryz]

I have a 50 watt 12 volt light wired in my 8 X 8 permanent house and also use one in a trouble light in my portables. With this setup I use a rechargeable battery jump starting pack available for $ 35 - $ 50 most

anywhere. These are sealed units ( no acid problem) and just charge it like your Vex or Marcum battery when you get home. Just wire a cigar lighter plug on the trouble light and your good to go. Works great !!

[Yellow Dog]

This trouble light thing is new to me...I have an Otter Lodge and wonder if a 12V bulb in the trouble light would work???

Could I hook it up to a spare Vexilar battery and away I go??? Sounds too easy and too simple

[minnowhead]

thanks for all your help Ryan, I have thought about the new rope lights, I just don't know if there would be enough lite, I like to change my lures alot at night if not biting, i would need to see the lures, anybody have any advise on the new lighting system. The way the 12 volt light in the trouble light sounds, little over and hour fishing, don't sound like the way to go, i will probley need 2 to 4 hours time.

[gvg_uwec]

I think that if I would be able to do more evening fishing this year i would go with a led rope system for a nice soft lighting in the frabill and then when i need more light to tie on a new jig or something in general I just flip on my LED headlamp that I use to get off the ice with. Personally the really bright lantern type lights give me a headache after a while so i quit using the lantern and use my led headlamp all the time but the rope light looks mighty tempting this year

[Gus]

In my old permanent I had a 50watt 12v light bulb for lighting. I ran some speaker wire from the light recepticle to the outside of the house and installed alligator clips on the ends. I hooked them directly to my car battery and it provided me light all evening. I started my car about every hour or hour and a half just to make sure I wasn't wearing out the battery too much. I never once had to get a jump to get off the lake and it saved me the headache of charging and carrying along another battery. I fished metro lakes so I really wasn't too worried about being stranded if I did happen to kill it. Worked great until a tree took out that fish house one summer.