...before the battery dies? Is there a simple formula to determine how long my battery will last at full charge with a spotlight pulling, lets say 10amps? I'd like to wire a spotlight to my bed so that I can use that while camping. I have a typical yellow top optima. I know there's a genius on this forum somewhere, I was researching and seemed to take quite a bit of calculation!

 

All you need to is what the reserve capacity in amp-hours of the battery is and how many amps the spotlight pulls.

divide the reserve capacity by the amps and your result is hours.

Of course, this doesn't take into account how much reserve capacity you need to save in order to start the engine.

Steve

 

lets say a 100 watt spotlight, 100w/12v = 8.5amp draw? I believe the yellow top has a 52 a/h rating, so about 4 hours I can leave it on and still be able to start the truck (guestimate). That's a lot better than I thought, check my calculations!

 

Put a fully charged jump box in the truck and run a test on it...

Steve

 

Buy some LED floodlights.

 

Doesn't sound right...

I doubt you can run 100watters for 4hrs and then [still] crank it over.

 

It's right, and so are you. The battery would be close to dead since the light would have pulled ~34Ah out of it. It probably wouldn't have enough power left to spin the engine up.

This is $20 @ Sam's Club, and the Black & Decker version is $30 @ Wal-Mart.



It has a built-in 12V rechargeable battery, so you could direct-wire it to the truck.

 

But if he uses something else, he won't have everyone talking about how cool his "Wanna be a Cop light" is...

Don't you get it? Anybody can go buy a flashlight, only cool guys can have spotlights...because everybody knows, an ounce of image is worth a pound of performance!!!

 

lookin cool there buddy :rollseyes:

I dont think it sounds right either, hence the needed help. I'm thinking of buying 35w utility lights they use on the sides of toy haulers, attaching them to my ski trailer, converting the 4 pin into a 7pin harness, using the accessory contact to power them. If I do all that I will definitely use it.

 

The flashlight or propane lantern has worked for me for the last 20 years of camping... simple. No worries about electricity to start the truck when I need to leave. Just my advice.

 

Yep - every time I go somewhere, everyone says "Man, I thought you were a cop!"

What about his "Wanna be a Cop" tires? Cops have black rubber tires, too. And his "Wanna be a Cop" pants? Cops wear pants. Or his "Wanna be a Cop" 4.6L engine? Cops have 4.6L engines. And I guess every meemaw out there driving a Crown Vic wants to be a cop, too, right? Oooops! That's me, too!

 

Josiah,

If you are looking for lots of work area light ( around the truck / trailer not distance ) go with the Truck Lite back LED lights, P/N :44040

http://www.ryderfleetproducts.com/cg...uct_detail.jsp

Bit costly, but they work great. I have 2 on the back of my '06, my '01 I also had 2.

Don't use the Maxxima M42450, they are marketed as Truck Lite 44040C replacements, but they are actually LED dome Light replacements. Not the same light output.

These only draw 1 A each, so you could go crazy putting them around the trailer, and on the back of the truck, at a Ah rate of 3 LED for every 1 35 W work light.

Just a thought.

The LED work light that Steve posted works great also. Mom & Dad gave me one for xmas, and I use it all the time in the garage working on the bikes and truck. No more cord to mess with.

Example of 2 of the single lamp installed on each side :


The single lamp kit means DOT rules, only 1 is needed for the lumen output of reverse lamps ( like when semi tractors have 1 in the rear of the cab ).
This is 2x DOT specifications, or double the output of the factory backup lamps on the truck.