What's the BEST way to power the lights on a mutant vehicle?

[DiggerRabbit]

We are making a Jack-in-the-Box mutant vehicle, gas powered golf cart with a least four long black lights, a good amount of rope light, and a small cotton candy machine. It won't run off the vehicle battery because it keeps tripping the inverter.
Do I need a generator, or a 2nd car battery hooked up to the vehicle in a way similiar to the first regular battery that powers the vehicle? Or will a second car battery not hooked up to the vehicle be able to power this stuff all night long, and then I would charge it during the day at our camp off the camp generator? :?:
Thanks, Digger Rabbit

[casualchris]

er, why not mount the generator straight onto the vehicle??

cc

[DiggerRabbit]

Hey CC,
Thanks for replying. No room to mount a generator on the vehicle. I'm just wondering what is the most efficient way to power the decorative lights. A generator will need a small decorated trailer, both of which we have to buy or build. Thanks so much, Digger Rabbit

[Tiahaar]

... it keeps tripping the inverter.

Hiya DiggerRabbit, I'm thinking the gas golf cart must have an alternator to recharge the starting battery similar to a car, yes? You may get the power you need by replacing this with a larger amperage unit and then running an inverter big enough to cover your wattage requirements. Replacing the battery with a higher capacity starting/deep cycle one will help too. Flurescent black lights and rope lights and a cotton candy machine oh my!!! Sounds Fun!!! (and like 1000watts worth about?)

I'm going the deep cycle battery/inverter route running some ElWire and an occasional burst of a 75 watt multi-color light wheel and charging the battery up in the daytimes off a solar array but my lights will be only in the 20-100 watts total range. The battery should run them easily for 8 hours at a stretch.

[dragonfly Jafe]

There are numerous past articles you can search for here, and you certainly want to know what you are doing (vehicles burning on the Playa may look cool at night, but they are a bitch to clean up). Here is a quick summary of your options as I see them;

1) Install a generator. there are some pretty small ones, a ledge front or back welded to the vehicle frame or in a hitch could support it. If you can, get one of the ultra-quiet honda ones (they are more expensive though) - everyone will appreciate you for it. This is really your best option, as the others will basically require access to a generator daily for several hours at the least.

2) Install extra 12v deep cycle batteries. The extra batteries will provide extra time, but will then need to be recharged. this will require a generator (or a very large solar cell array or windmill, which is far more expensive than the generator will be). The extra batteries will quickly exceed the weight/space of a generator, and still may not run all night long. If you know someone with a generator, you may be able to "borrow" it for the several hours daily required to recharge your batteries, but I would not count on it (stuff happens, plans change).

Whichever way you go, count on it raining and/or blowing dust storms, so use quality wiring, grounded, waterproofed, etc, etc. And make sure no passenger can accidentally grab it or pull it free.

You mention the invertor tripping - this is probably because you are trying to power too much stuff with your invertor. What is it's rating in watts? What are you trying to power, in watts? (amps x volts = watts, so a 1 amp appliance using 120 volts is a 120 watt load). You should size your invertor so it is at last 20% bigger than your load (or more if you are powering a motor or a heater). Rope light is usually around 90 watts per 18' length, and most "invertors" are less than 200watts unless you have a big one, so 2 lengths of rope lights would max out your typical small invertor.

There are 12v lights that are more efficient, you can also use ELwire which you can easily power all night long on a single 12v battery (but it is not cheap, $1-2 per foot, and requires special transformers to light up).

Your best strategy is to minimize your power load (while still being "radically illuminated"), then if needed use a generator (the quietest you can afford).

Good luck!

[unjonharley]

Some of my lighting will be flashing off a reflectie surface. Using a 12v turn signal switch w/LED bulbs. Last year I used two inverters w/an extra storage battery. I know inverters are`nt cheap, But they can be set up like a fuse panel.

[unjonharley]

Some of my lighting will be flashing off a reflectie surface. Using a 12v turn signal switch w/LED bulbs. Last year I used two inverters w/an extra storage battery. I know inverters are`nt cheap, But they can be set up like a fuse panel.

[phil]

What does your cotton candy machine draw? I'd suspect that as the culprit on your inverter tripping.

Brad Templeton has a great page on power and batteries and generators; unfortunately, it's unreachable at this instant, but drop by
http://www.templetons.com/brad/burn/burn-power.html
occasionally and see when it's back up. I highly recommend it. I bought a costco marine deep cycle battery (115Ah) for 60 dollars and 400W inverter for 25 bucks. Depending on the draw on your candy machine, you may need a heavier duty inverter. I'd suggest a different power system for the candy machine, assuming that's the problem.

As others have said, you need a deep cycle battery, not a car battery, and it's hard to beat the costco price.

[HughMungus]

Brad Templeton has a great page on power and batteries and generators; unfortunately, it's unreachable at this instant

Cached text-only version:

http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:k5 ... r=&strip=1

[AntiM]

We run rope and vehicle lights on our 4wheelbike for a week on a deep cell with an inverter. So far the charge has lasted all week, but the batteries do crap out after three or so years. We'll be lighting the camp art project the same way, although I think larry has some 12v rope lights which may be more useful as we can skip the second inverter. We do have a small solar panel to beef up the batteries, but it is far from sufficient to recharge two deep cells daily. I may strike a deal with friends who have gennies to ensure the main deep cell can be recharged if needed, i.e. we'll bring a gallon or two of fuel in exchange for a charging up our deep cells a couple times.

We use blacklights too, but they run off AA rechargable batteries, the cheap solar kind.

The cotton candy machine likely pulls many more amps than our simple lighting plan. Sounds like sticky gooey fun!