Remote lighting system and 12VDC power supply

My friend lives in Florida and I wanted to make her a remote lighting system and 12VDC power supply for power outages.
Tractor supply had 14” Flambeau dry boxes on sale for 50% off and I picked up two. I took one of the boxes to Batteries Plus and found that two 20 amp hour deep cycle batteries that fit in the box with room to add outlets and an integral charger.
The build was very simple. I wired the batteries in parallel, drilled for the outlets. I put in two cigarette lighter plugs and a dual USB plug. I found the switched voltmeter on Ebay and it fit perfectly inside the case.
I had an old Black and Decker 2 amp charger that fit perfectly inside the case. Rather than opening the case to plug in the charger I found the NOCO Genius GCP1 Black 13 Amp 125V AC Port Plug on Amazon.
Next up was lighting. I found a tripod for $18.00 and a 50 watt light for $10.00 on Amazon.
The power pack was able to power the LED light for 40 hours. Below is the supply list.IMG_20151219_171006026 IMG_20151219_171043710 IMG_20151220_110204603 IMG_20151220_174952294 IMG_20151221_135250635 IMG_20151221_135256752 IMG_20151228_231342476 IMG_20151230_205856632 IMG_20151230_205930695

https://www.batteriesplus.com/productdetails/wkdc12=20nb

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dual-2USB-Car-Cigarette-Lighter-Socket-Splitter-12V-Charger-Power-Adapter-Outlet-/171968222241?hash=item280a1ad421
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Car-Motorcycle-LED-Digital-Display-Voltmeter-Waterproof-Meter-12V-24V-W-Switch-/131634808802?hash=item1ea60bc7e2

11 Comments

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11 responses to “Remote lighting system and 12VDC power supply

  1. Erik

    Nicely done.

    Here is a link to the a simialr charge unit which wasn’t in your materials list:

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  2. Pingback: Save a Couple Thousand Dollars with a DIY Remote Lighting System | Hackaday

    • A remote would easy to add but just unplugging the cord is easy enough. The problem with using a jump pack is you are not going to get the same amperage. This is a 40 Ah battery pack. Most jump packs are about 17 Ah.

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  3. Pingback: Save a Couple Thousand Dollars with a DIY Remote Lighting System | Ad Pub

  4. Erichb1

    What would you use to charge the batteries of this fine project?

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  5. Look in the comment section for a link to the charger. You can see it in the pictures the orange box.

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  6. Pingback: cigarette adapter - Hackaday - Atomtags

  7. dmitry

    12v * 20 amp = 240 watts

    240 watts / 50 watt light = 4.8 hours

    How did you end up with a 40 hour light?

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