Christmas Boat Parade - need power

[badmoonrising]

Is it a bad idea to hook up an inverter to a starting battery?

Yes if you want to get home, lol. I concur on the Honda. We have an EU 2000i, they have an eco throttle setting and when it's used it's as quiet as a refrigerator.

[STEVEBRENDA]

How long are you going to have these lights on? You may be able to just get by with several borrowed batteries if they will not be on long. Of course, you would need all 12v light.

[Ron Burgundy]

I'm thinking an about an hour.

[STEVEBRENDA]

I would think 3-4 batteries could light a toon up pretty good for an hour.

[blackberg]

100 mini string lights take about 50watts
led lights take about 75-90% less

so (amp hours of battery)x12v=watts

so if your fully charged battery has 80amps in it times 12volts = 960 watts

960w/50w= 19 strings of 100 mini lights each (assuming 100% efficiency which is not correct)


I would play it safe and stay under 1000 mini lights and i should last an hour with the inverter. (500 for 2 hours, etc....)


-bb

[Ron Burgundy]

Thanks for all the tips guys. -bb, you must have done this before.

I'm still undecided if I am going to enter the parade or not. It's fun just relaxing on the dock and watching the boats go by too. Plus, my wish list is growing by the minute. Either way I'll take some photos to share with you guys. Thanks again!

[Drago]

Whatever you decide, don't underestimate how quickly a big inverter will pull down batteries. There's a lot of loss in the translation.

[slingshot]

You can buy a 1000 watt generator for around $100. Its a little 2 strtoke job.

[Ron Burgundy]

Yea, there are some good sales going on too. Gonna have to check the christmas fund again...

[Bamby]

It would be foolish to purchase something like a generator or a convertor unless you feel you really have a need or application for it. Surely you've got to know someone in your circle you could borrow one from, heck if you lived closer I'd lend you mine heck it could actually use the exercise I hardly ever run it. But I'll admit it darn handy to have when I'm actually needing it which is generally on the boat which is also unfortunately parked in the yard for the "winter".

[Ron Burgundy]

I'm going to ask around to see if I can borrow one, but I have kinda been wanting to buy a generaor anyway. I still haven't been through a Florida hurricane, but I know the power can go out for a long time.

I'm just not sure what a 1000-1500 watt generator is good for besides small stuff. Can I even run a refrigerator off it?

[Bamby]

I'm going to ask around to see if I can borrow one, but I have kinda been wanting to buy a generaor anyway. I still haven't been through a Florida hurricane, but I know the power can go out for a long time.

I'm just not sure what a 1000-1500 watt generator is good for besides small stuff. Can I even run a refrigerator off it?

In a word "nope" a 1000-1500 watt Genny won't run much more than a half in drill or a saws-all. I happen to always carry a 1000w Yamaha on the boat but it's not really for running anything. We also like wilderness camping along with boating and we utilize the generator just for recharging the batteries. It runs almost silent in the background and only utilized when the batteries become depleted to bring them back up to speed.

[badmoonrising]

I'm just not sure what a 1000-1500 watt generator is good for besides small stuff. Can I even run a refrigerator off it?

No. My EU2000i will run my side by side fridge, 42 inch LCD TV, my computer and a few lights. On the boat, it will power the A/C unit, microwave, coffee maker, etc.

You want 2000 minimum...

[slingshot]

Yup, I've got the honda 2000 and like BMR said. it'll do all that and do it very, very quietly.

[badmoonrising]

And very efficiently, these things are frugal on gas.