Battery for 5050 RGB LED strip on bike

[mudpuppy000]

I was browsing on amazon and found a 12V 6000mAh battery for about $30. Should be able to run a LED strip for a few hours or maybe a whole evening. It appears to have the right sized connectors for the LED strip power also.

[FlyingMonkey]

I was browsing on amazon and found a 12V 6000mAh battery for about $30. Should be able to run a LED strip for a few hours or maybe a whole evening. It appears to have the right sized connectors for the LED strip power also.

I have a 6000 mAh battery pack (probably the same) that I bought online. I have tested it with a controller & 4 X 5M RGB LED strips & they lasted over 2 hours. I got bored & stopped watching after that. They're rechargeable so I got 2 & figure that's more than enough for my needs. I think this is a nice & neat solution as long as you are able to recharge the packs. For my needs I needed something light & wearable so this was perfect. (Is that a battery pack in your pocket or are you just glad to be here? BOTH!) I also noticed that a certain online retailer who's name rhymes with Bamazon sells their own no name generic batteries. Has anyone tried these yet? They seem inexpensive.

[mudpuppy000]

Wow, sounds like it should last quite a while if you're only running one strip then.

I'm going to try it out with one of those addressable strips. Seems like they would draw even less current than the "all on" 5050's but will have to test it out.

[Eddaytona]

Hey, coincidentally I was just playing around with this over the last few days.

I'm tired of futzing with EL wire on my bike so I bought this LED ribbon with controller pack on A-zon (SUPERNIGHT (TM) 16.4FT SMD 5050 Waterproof 300LEDs RGB Flexible LED Strip Light Lamp + 44Key IR Remote Controller). I also bought a couple of on/off switchable 8xAA battery packs with male plug there too (2.1x5.5mm Plug Batteries Case Box w Cover for 8 x 1.5V AA Battery). Costmo alkalines. Hooked it up and it worked great. Got full brightness for at least 4 hours and it was still acceptable for 4 hours after that. Super bright and colorful. All for about 20 smackers.

I'm buying a few more battery cases. You can take two along each night and swap out as needed. Change the batteries during the day so no hassling with generators to charge up a rechargeable battery.As a note: the waterproof LEDs have a smooth plastic cover and the non-waterproof doesn't so if you're worried about snagging on the LEDs get the waterproof.

Shine on!

[ghbales]

I'm trying to find out something similar for my bike. I got one 50pcs 12v LED strand and Li-ion battery with a 12v 11000mAh capacity. The strand takes 30 watts of power. How do I know how many hours it will last on a full charge?

[Token]

I'm trying to find out something similar for my bike. I got one 50pcs 12v LED strand and Li-ion battery with a 12v 11000mAh capacity. The strand takes 30 watts of power. How do I know how many hours it will last on a full charge?

~ 4 hours.

12V x 11Ah = 132Wh

132Wh / 30W = 4.4h

Although I’d be thrilled to get 3 hours because the cheap Chinese Li batteries are quite optimistic on their stated capacity.

Bring more battery or cut your strand in half.

[BBadger]

That 30W is probably based on the near-maximum output of 0.06A per RGB LED (all white). So 50x0.06A * 12V = ~36W. You'll probably use way less than that if you're using other colors, patterns, or reduce the brightness. Maybe look into animating the patterns on your bike or switching to some other colors.

Last year, I powered an animated LED pole on my bike consisting of around 100-150 LEDs with a 12000mAh @ 5V (~6000mAh @12V) LiPo battery pack I got for $35 on Amazon. Though I reduced the brightness, it looked great and was still quite bright.

The pack lasted for the entire week without recharging once (I forgot the cable to do it anyway). I was also out at night a lot because it was so hot. By the end, the battery still had charge too (2/5 on the indicator). Your mileage may vary, but see if you can reduce the drain on the battery and it can last pretty long.

Oh yeah, and keep the battery out of the sun/heat so that it doesn't get damaged.

[Captain Goddammit]

I'm trying to find out something similar for my bike. I got one 50pcs 12v LED strand and Li-ion battery with a 12v 11000mAh capacity. The strand takes 30 watts of power. How do I know how many hours it will last on a full charge?

There’s only one good way to actually know. Try it first!
It’s good to show up on the playa with as few un-tested things as possible.