12 volt things...
Submitted: Thursday, Oct 03, 2002 at 00:00
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Hi all. I have a camper trailer and I'm looking to install a 12 volt light for when we are camping in
places with no power. Does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to do this, or whether there is a better alternative. I am planning to borrow a 12 volt power pack (that recharges from a car) from a friend before I actually buy one...I'm told it's just a matter of light-wire-plug and that's it! Any comments welcome!
Reply By: Mel - Thursday, Oct 03, 2002 at 00:00
Thursday, Oct 03, 2002 at 00:00
Hiya,
We went through this same exercise ourselves recently. Our solution...we bought one of the relatively new type of movable 12V lights now seen in pop-top type campers. Basically, the back of the light has a push on clamp that allows you to clamp it to any round tent poles. It has a stretchable telephone type lead with a male socket that you simply plug in to a fixed wired female socket (looks like a plug seen on headphones and the like). This type of light allows you to move it around within your camper (within range of the length of the cord). When we pack up we simply unclamp it from the poles, and leave it on the bed. Really easy.
Anyway, we purchased it from our local caravan dealer (Jayco, I think). The salesman said the standard set-up was to run the power through the trailer to car connection (on most 7 pin plugs there will be a spare pin you can use). However, to have lights, this means your trailer has to be plugged into the car. This doesn't work for us because we go to the fridge in the back of our car all the time and didn't want to have to be parked so close to the trailer. Instead, on the trailer, we wired the fixed female socket of the light through to an external 2 plug socket the same as we have in the car for the fridge (looks like a household plug). Then, we had a the same type of plug mounted externally on the car and made up a long extention lead to run between car and trailer. Works really
well for us. Hope this wasn't too convoluted. Melissa
AnswerID:
7131
Reply By: Member - Nigel - Thursday, Oct 03, 2002 at 00:00
Thursday, Oct 03, 2002 at 00:00
The amount of time your battery lasts will depend entirely on the style of light you choose. LEDs use bugger all power and are good for small areas where you don't need a lot of light. Fluoro's are nearly as efficient, but they do use more power because they generate more light. Now the major difference in 12v fluoro's is the efficiency. That is a good quality (eg Bushlight, Col-light or Pirahna) will produce more light for the same amount of current than the cheap and nasty fluoro's. Expect to pay around $80-$100 for a decent fluoro. Incandescent lights are highly inefficient and will flatten your battery pack quickly.
I've seen 17 Ah gel batteries in one of those starter packs for only $59 on special at super cheap auto. Something like that with a good fluoro will make a good light setup. You can also buy fluoro's with internal batteries (rechargable) but the downside is you need a more secure place to hang it and the batteries won't last as long.
As we have a camper trailer with on-board 75 Ah battery and 3 sets of LED lights the only thing we added was a Bushlite fluoro which we only use when using the kitchen area.
AnswerID:
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Reply By: paul - Friday, Oct 04, 2002 at 00:00
Friday, Oct 04, 2002 at 00:00
If you want a totally overkill light (and money is not a big issue) that will turn the inside of a camper into day,
check out the Rohrlux Opus 2 at www.portapower.com.au . Run it off a small modified square wave inverter and you can get the equivalent lumens output of a 500 Halogen floodlamp pulling only about .5 of an amp per hour from a 12 volt battery (that is factoring in the current draw of the actual inverter - the small the inverter the smaller the unit's current draw).
I have three now to light up part of a
football field. They are amazing.
AnswerID:
7154