[goldenghost]

Posted this in the Seelite forum but thought I'd try here also.


I'm thinking of adding two 80's to the front of my boat. How long will they last on one dedicated 12 volt or two 12 volt for a 24 volt set up. I don't have the batteries yet so I will buy one or two middle of the road deep cycle for this.
My current set up: I was running four 120 halo work lights off a small generator and it worked ok. Started fishing a small private lake and did not want to piss off the homeowners so bought a spotlight. Tried that last night and its not what I wanted, plus you have to take turns. Due to cash flow I can only purchase two right now so that's the reason for my question. I only fish for 2-3 hours at the most.
And a few other questions. Will these lights run off of 12 or 24 volt with no modifications? Seems odd to me as most lights are one or the other. Also, I had a 120 cord at the rear that I would plug into my generator and it ran under the floor to two 120 outlets like you have in a house. Then I would just plug in the work lights and was good to go. Could I cut off the generator plug and wire that to the battery, add 120 plugs to the wires on the lights and plug them into the outlets? I will be removing the lights for other types of fishing so that would make it easier when the time came. And are my 120 volt wires large enough to run the current from the battery to my outlets? thanks.

 

[garpwacker]

I ran (8) 50 watts 120v off a battery and power inverter 12v to 120v and ran for about 2hrs and 15 minutes, so you should be ok with just (2) 80 watt with a single battery on 12v for 3 hrs + or so with no problems. And most likely yes on using the extension cord for your 12v lights as long as it is a heavy duty #12 wire cord and not a cheap 16 or 14 gauge wire in the cord. Your 80 watt lights at 12 volts will draw about 6.5 amps each or 13amps total, or if run at 24v will drop that amp draw in 1/2 and increase run time on battery as well

 

[whiteriverrambo]

2 80s are 160w so 160w divided by 24v is 6.7amps per hour. a decent set of batteries should give you 120amp hours. it its recommended to only draw your batteries down to 60% for good battery life. draw them down much lower and it greatly reduces the life of the battery. 60% of 120 is 72 divided by the 6.7amp/hr for the 2-80s and you can safely run them for 10.7hours. if you buy 4 then your still at 5 hours of run time. make sure you have a good digital charger to quickly recover your batteries and it should last a long time.

 

[goldenghost]

2 80s are 160w so 160w divided by 24v is 6.7amps per hour. a decent set of batteries should give you 120amp hours. it its recommended to only draw your batteries down to 60% for good battery life. draw them down much lower and it greatly reduces the life of the battery. 60% of 120 is 72 divided by the 6.7amp/hr for the 2-80s and you can safely run them for 10.7hours. if you buy 4 then your still at 5 hours of run time. make sure you have a good digital charger to quickly recover your batteries and it should last a long time.

So I assume at 60% I can run 5 hours with one good battery? And at 13 amps what size wire would I need to run 17' from the rear battery to the front lights?

 

[whiteriverrambo]

So I assume at 60% I can run 5 hours with one good battery? And at 13 amps what size wire would I need to run 17' from the rear battery to the front lights?

yes if 12v for 2 lights then 13 amps.I would run 4ga to the front and you can do 12awg drops from the switches. or if you want just connect some drops off the main line directly to each light. I would fuse each light and put a 20-25amp main fuse or breaker at the battery. best way to get 4ga wire is buy a 20' set of jumper cables or get some welding lead wires.

 

[whiteriverrambo]

you can go less if you don't want to add later 6awg is probably fine. just keep in mind you can not oversize wire. just don't under size it.

 

[goldenghost]

Thanks, just a few more questions.
Where do you guys order the lights from?. It looks like I can't order direct from Seelite.
And how do I get this site discount?
What size fuse would you run to each lite?
If I run 4 gage wire can I add two more 80 watt lights to my 12 volt set up?

 

[whiteriverrambo]

yea you can add more later. im not a electrical pro but the way I figure fuse cpacity is 80/12 is 6.5 so either a 7.5 or a 10 amp fuse on each light would be perfect. there isn't much start up spike on LEDs but the 7.5 may or may not be enough. 10 amp would be my choice. not sure why you caint buy from their site. should be able to.