Lots of Miniature Lamps in Parallel to a Battery

[icecapsule]

Hi, I want to wire quite a lot of lamps in parallel to a battery and I was wondering how many could I have in one set? And what battery would I use?

So, I want to wire as many of these as possible;
Panel Lamps 15x29mm E10
15mm x 29mm 2.4V 625MA 1.5W E10

There are lots of other ones in this range that would also be suitable that go from 2.4V (this ones the lowest) to 60V, with the MA and W changing accordingly- so if it's easier to use an alternative bulb let me know, I got the bulb spec from https://www.lampspecs.co.uk under Miniature Lamps.

Much like fairy lights I suppose, but they have to be these bulb types

I've done light projects before but usually under the direction of someone else, so physically I sort of know what I'm doing, but starting a project off from scratch and working out the bulb to battery ratio I'm not so goof at!

Thanks!

Claire

 

[JimB]

A lot depends on:

How bright the lamps have to be?

How big is the battery?


Let us assume that you have a car battery, nominal 12 volts.
If that is so, then don't use 2.4volt lamps, use 12 volt lamps.
Looking at the website you gave, they have 12v lamps of the type you want in 1.2W, 2W, 2.2W, 3W, 5W and 6Watt rating.
If you want maximum battery life then use the 1.2W lamps.
If you want maximum brightness then use the 6Watt lamps.

So, what size battery have you got, how many lamps do you want and how bright do you want the lamps?

JimB

 

[icecapsule]

Hi Jim,

I want maximum brightness and the maximum amount of bulbs per battery, as overall ill be looking at 50 or so bulbs.

A car battery? I've never used one of those before! Is that much like your regular batteries but a bit larger? My only problem with the car battery is its quite large. I was thinking something a bit smaller? Or is this not possible?

Thanks

Claire

 

[JimB]

What is a "regular battery"?
Is it like a car battery but smaller?

Give me a few clues here, what do you consider to be a regular battery, batteries come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

JimB

 

[icecapsule]

Sorry, i was thinking a 9v battery like this maybe? **broken link removed**

I haven't actually bought any of the components yet, so I can buy whatever's best for the desired outcome i.e. as many as possible minature lamps on maximum brightness wired in a 'string' to the largest battery needed for my spec, so if the 9v battery listed above would give me at least 20 of these bulbs then that'd be fine, I'd probably then make two seperate sets to get a total of 40- if that makes sense?!

Claire

 

[JimB]

Just one of those lamps would give you about 15 minutes life from that battery.

JimB

 

[MikeMl]

A practical current drain from the battery you linked is about 50mA. Your lamps draw more than ten times that each....

 

[RODALCO]

12V 7Ah SLA

If you want it reasonably portable, get a 12V 7Ah SLA alarm battery.

And use a fuse ( 1 or 2 Amp ) in series with one of the battery terminals, shorting it out by accident will yield 70 Amps which will melt your wires.

Bear in mind with all these parrallel lamps the total current drawn.

If your total current is 1 Amp, then a fully charged battery should last 7 hours in theory, more likely after 5 hours a noticeable dimming of light is visible.

You could look at LED lights as alternative, less current and more coloour options.