Elecrtical wizardry need

[Christopha]

THANK YOU YOUNG MICK!!!!!!!!! I shall have a play.........

[sailingamerican]

Why are you using car batteries? They make marine battteries that last longer.

3 ways to go. One, you can buy the lights that run on small batteries. They sell them on the net. Two, a bank of 2 or 3 batteries will last for several hours depending on how many lights. The lights must be 12 volte, if you are using car or marine batteries, (not 230v they will not work. they must match. You need to figure the watts of every bulb and then figure the amp hours. Match the amp hours to the number of batteries amps. You can find it all on marine web sites or just type in boat electricals and you will find it. If you have the lights and they are are 220 V I would go with a small very light generator. Don't forget to match those amps as well.

I have a 26ft sail boat on a trailer. I put it in the front drive a lit it up for Christmas as well as the house, trees and all the shrubs. Over 15,000 watts of lights, all color. Now for the fun part. The bill when it comes.
Have fun.
I love deadlines. I love the sound of them going by.

[Kev Y.]

Christopha, why not use a long extension cord?? that way you could light up ALL of the boats in the display


Sorry all my left over electrons have been spoken for otherwise I could have sent you a bucket or two

[RETIRED]

Why are you using car batteries?

Because he has them.

I wasn't going to bother about going into Amp Hours as it is just a one off fun thing, not setting up for self sufficiency.

[Christopha]

Spot on young Ian........ thank you for that...... I thought I had managed to get my message across and I am thankful for the help..... except for Kev, silly buggear should know I don't share!

[simon c]

Hi Christopher,

I did a bit of research on the ability of a basic car battery to provide the power you need.

A "typical" car battery can deliver (very roughly):
300A for 30secs (cold cranking amps)
25A for 1 hour
3A for 20hrs (fairly optimistic, maybe 1A is more reliable)

If you have a 24v fairy light system with 80 globes it will probably need about 8A (typical globe needs 0.1A). So you should be able to run the lights for a few hours.

You will need to have two batteries in series to get the 24v - just join the +ve of one battery to the -ve of another which leaves you with a +ve and a -ve to connect to your lights.

Heed 's warning well about running the battery down to flat. It will completely stuff the battery.

Another option you have is to borrow a marine battery - they have a much flatter profile, lower cranking amps but higher long term amps.

If you only want to use one car battery, then consider using garden fairy lights. They come as 12V and are much more robust but probably more expensive. They are normally bought by the metre and rated for power by the meter too. From memory, they run at about 3W per metre or 0.25A per meter. So 30 meters of garden lights will need 7.5A.

Hope this helps.

Simon

[Wood Borer]

Christopha,

Try this diagram for your wiring.

[ozwinner]

Christopha,

Try this diagram for your wiring.

Are you saying Stoppers a fairy!!

lmao

Al

[Wood Borer]

Are you saying Stoppers a fairy!!

lmao

Al

What a queer thing to say Al!!!! Nah, he is straight as far as I know.

I thought someone might have suggested using C cells for the boat by now.

[Daddles]

What a queer thing to say Al!!!! Nah, he is straight as far as I know.

I thought someone might have suggested using C cells for the boat by now.

Straight? That's hysterical. He may not be queer but he's definitely twisted

Richard

it's sad how seriously people are taking this thread, perhaps because it's about an exercise in frivolity

[Kev Y.]

I thought someone might have suggested using C cells for the boat by now.

DOH!! silly me, what about DOLPHIN batteries?

[Wood Borer]

What a bright idea, makes the rest of us look dimwitted.

[Christopha]

Thank you all ( I think??????)..... twisted??? yeah, probababaly.
Kev, you aren't twisted mate, you are totally buckled beyond repair!
Simon, thanks for the tip on the garden lights and Woodborer, thank you for the nod of straightness and the diagram. How do I join up two car batteries to get 12v if I go for the garden lights?

[RETIRED]

+(POS) to +(POS), -(NEG) to -(NEG) and take a wire from + to one side of the lights, positive if there is one.

The other wire connects to the Negative.

[Wood Borer]

Another diagram for you Christopha. Just a word of warning though, I find using hair pins to keep my foil hat in place stops it falling off onto the batteries. The foil will conduct and could start a fire.