Yes but leds would be a better choice since they are more efficient.

 

The w

 

Where I shoot the water is very stained and muddy. That is why I'm going with HPS. I need a new genny so I was just brainstorming and wondered if I could buy a bunch of batteries and an inverter instead of a generator. I'm Planning on running 6 150 watt HPS. Any ideas on how many batteries I would need to run 5 hours?

 

The money you would have in batteries couldnt you just buy a genny?

 

I am kinda wondering the same thing..... I am new to bowfishing and right now we are fishing off a bass boat. We currently just have 2 70w HPS' running off an inverter\ battery. Wanting to add about 3 more lights but trying to figure out the best way to go about it.

 

My Honda Eu3000is is a little lighter than multiple marine deep cycle batteries and almost as quiet. It is a little more expensive initially, but I expect it to outlast marine deep cycle batteries while helping me burn down into stained water with my HPS's for years to come.

With that being said, I have two buddies with ten 50watt LED set-ups on their boats that I have fished over for many hours. I like them a lot and like running "stealth" with the radio option. Truth is, we play music when running my Honda too, so I am not sure that I am ready to go the direction that you're heading with this question just yet. I think that LED lights that burn down into stained water as effectively as HPS, yet film out white and can run all night efficiently on batteries will be possible in years to come. Ask me in a couple years as technology increases and I might have a different opinion. Years ago, I resisted change and didn't think CDs would replace audio cassette tapes originally either. Looking back, I attribute that to being tight with my wallet; maybe that factor drives my lighting choices too. I have a working option now, so no need to spend time and money to replace it just yet.

Good Luck!

 

yeah spend the money on a nice generator. honda or yamaha and get the HPS lights. you put that many batteries on a boat and your adding a lot of weight plus batteries don't last that long. you will have to replace them in a couple of years. I run 4 400watt HPS off of a yamaha 2400 inverter and in my opinion its one of the best setups you can ask for. There is no comparison between LED's and HPS when it comes to light output. The HPS lights will dwarf LED's. Your making the right choice on the light but you need to scratch the battery idea and save up and get a nice generator.

 

6 150 HPS would pull close upwards of 90- 100 amps @12v

 

Ohms law says 75 amps. I know HPS aren't 100% efficient, but where did you get 90-100 amps? I'm not sharp shooting you, just wondering what I'm missing.

 

I realize it would take A lot of batteries to power the HPS lights But I power my cabin on a battery and inverter system to use less generator gas. So I already have 6 batteries and wondered how long I coUld run 6 150 watt HPS on those batteries.

 

oh I see. well if you already have the batteries then it makes sense why you are trying to incorporate them into your setup. On the other hand, I have no idea about how much run time you will get. I got a feeling that it's not going to be a very good reliable set up that is going to last. HPS lights are a lot more efficient than halogens but in terms of running that much light off of batteries, I don't know man sounds like a headache waiting to happen

 

You would need to get the specs off each battery to calculate rough run time. Battery condition can vary greatly making it just a wild azz guess also.

 

Allright. I'm probably gonna give it a try and see how it goes. First I gotta get a boat then I'm gonna put everything together. Probably not gonna happen untill this winter though so I'll let you guys know how it does when I get it up and running.

 

Generator would be WAY cheaper than 6 batteries! The one I got on my new boat is 3250 watts an cost like $360 or $380 at lowes. It's a generac

 

:cf:

 

Ohms law says 75 amps. I know HPS aren't 100% efficient, but where did you get 90-100 amps? I'm not sharp shooting you, just wondering what I'm missing.

a 150 will draw 170-180 watts if I remember right, plus likely 10% loss in inverter. Might be 90, 100, might be 80, either way its a lot, and pullin that kinda steady amp draws will cook batteries pretty hard. Plus its gonna be hard on the inverter as voltage drops, and any on offs are gonna blow back a lot of counter electro motive force
really really inefficient setup

 

Are your batteries Deep cycle because that will make a diffrence

 

Yes. They are a mix of standard deep cycle and marine deep cycle. If I works out I will do a little more research and find out which batteries will work better and buy them. If it don't work out im not out anything and I'll go buy a nice quiet Honda. I'm not a fan of the loud generaters humming in your ear all night. I like to be able to hear the radio. the genny I got now is a Honda 2200 thats over 30 years old and its starting to run perty rough. I need something reliable because I'm going to start hitting up some tournaments net spring.

 

Nevermind just seen u already got the batteries

 

I realize that the math says it inefficient but has anyone actually tried to run anything but LEDs and off road lights on a battery system. I can run 2 TVs, an Xbox, and at least 8 75 watt fluorescent lights. I can run these all off and on for over 12 hours before I have to start my generator to charge the batteries. And the batteries are all really bad because I quick charge them all at 30 amp and they are all deep cycles. I can't quite figure out why that same settup with 6 good batteries won't power 900 watts of lights for 4 or 5 hours. If anyone has actually tried it let me know what you found out.

 

I ran 100 watt hps lights off a battery/inverter system before I switched to a quiet genny. It works fine but there are some tricks to being successful. First your 150 watt hps bulb runs on about 150 watts but the ballast that powers/regulates the bulb uses from about 175-450 watts depending on the type of ballast and whether the bulb has warmed up or not. Another issue is relighting a bulb after the batteries have run down some and inverter output voltage has dropped.
That all said six good group 29 batteries should run [6] 150 watt hpf HPS lights for 5 hours without a problem. I would recommend that you don't kill the lights in the last hour or so since they may be hard to relight.

 

Oh it'll do it. I run 575 watts of LED and my troller pulls up to 50 amps, maybe averaging 20A @ 24volts for all night not sure, so pullin maybe 900-1000w of 24v off 2 8D series batteries, I can run 3-4 hours and my batts are at 50%, thats when I connect converter and run my Honda 2000i.
So your 6 batteries might be close, but you will be pulling more than 900 watts, so make sure your inverter is sized accordingly.
Then shoot fish. What size boat do you have?

 

Right now I have a 1448 mod V with 2 500 watt halos and 2 300 watt halos and a old 2200 watt Honda. I'm looking for a 18 footer for next year to rig it up with HPS.

 

Ok thanks. Sounds like it might work if I set everything up right. I will be using the exonolight 150 watters. Using the ones with capacitors should help a lot too right. Will it help to run 24 volt instead of 12?

 

I think your inverter will probably be 12 volt d/c >120 volt a/c.

 

The one I use now is but If everything works out on my cabin battery system I'm going to hook a permanent system up in my boat. Just wondered if 24 volts would be easier on everything with less amps.

 

About the only thing I can think of would be that you could use smaller wire from batteries to inverter-nothing else would change.

 

How many total watts of invertor will be required for each 150 HPS econo with CAPS?

 

They will start at around 2 amps w/cap and run on about 1.5 amps w/cap. As for an inverter I prefer one that is rated for about 2X the load you plan on running.

 

Man that'll be a sweet rig if all goes well! You got me thinkin about it now...