# 100 watts lights all night with a junk car battery



## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

I took a security light and switched it over to a 12 volt LED light bulb. For power I used an old car battery
and to charge the battery I used a 100 watt panel. I used a 12 volt photocell switch to turn it on and off.
The battery is the same one I have been using for experments for years It sat out all winter and showed about 10 volts
it charged and seems to keep up. The bulb pulls less than 1 amp
so it doesn't take a lot of power to operate.

So the same bulb could be in your house for light when the electric is out

I put aluminum foil on the back side so it doesn't blind you at night if you are on the back porch.
Also you can see the photocell (little white box) 


I can't believe this battery still will hold any kind of charge it's been completely drained many times in the last
three years doing experiments. That voltage was with the panel charging it drops quick when the sun goes down


I unhook this 100 watt panel from my system and use it for experiments when I need solar power.
If you look close you can see the controller I use it's one of those $14 ones 


So for less than $150 and a junk battery you could have what you need for emergency lights
It will run all night and recharge during the day no problem. 
this battery drops to about 12.3 over night but I'm sure a good battery would do much better

I'm going to let this run for a few weeks and if no problem arise I'll wire it into my battery bank


----------



## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

Keep experimenting. We all learn from your projects.


----------



## ffparamedic (Dec 14, 2015)

Yes, very nice thank you.


----------



## baldman (Apr 5, 2016)

Very nice budget prepp-n


----------



## stevekozak (Oct 4, 2015)

Very intetesting.


----------



## rstanek (Nov 9, 2012)

Thank you for the info, I do have a solar panel for my camper, I puts out 15 volts and one amp in full sun, I have been thinking of updating because with LED it would become much more practical to go that direction, with a bank of 3 or 4 deep cycle, with the proper solar panel setup, lighting would no longer be an issue. Except an EMP, LEDs may not function without proper protection.


----------



## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

rstanek said:


> Thank you for the info, I do have a solar panel for my camper, I puts out 15 volts and one amp in full sun, I have been thinking of updating because with LED it would become much more practical to go that direction, with a bank of 3 or 4 deep cycle, with the proper solar panel setup, lighting would no longer be an issue. Except an EMP, LEDs may not function without proper protection.


I'm willing to bet that if all you wanted were lights and charging a cell phone or something like that one 100 watt panel
and one good battery would be all you need. LEDs are really efficient. And a 100 watt panel will charge up a battery fairly
quickly even on a cloudy day. A fully charged battery will run some LED lights for a long time. And the lights they have 
now are not like those little spark fart ones from the past. They are bright.


----------



## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

A deep cycle and car battery both use the same chemistry utilizing lead and acid to make electricity. The difference is that the car bat wants to give a big surge, then when started, the alternator gives the power to the car and it is usually never discharged more than 20 percent. It does this by using thin lead cells creating more surface area of lead.The deep cycle can provide a big surge when needed, but uses thicker cells. By using thicker cells, it can be recharged fully over and over again, and it can provide a steady current over a long period of time.


----------

