ok..... so i was puttin christmas lights on my truck (make fun of me if you want to, but the girls love it), and i had two strands of lights (i think 15-20 foot strands), and i plugged it into a DC to AC power convertor, turned on the truck, it looked pretty. well i guess it was on for a minute, maybe two, and then i noticed the convertor was smoking. i unplugged it and everything seemed fine.

the convertor is a 75 watt convertor, i assumed it'd be enough for some christmas lights. (the lights i used were a couple years old, so i dont have a box to know their exact wattage)


does anyone know how much i overpowerd it by?? how many watts should i need to support christmas lights? and also is it possible i damged my cigarette lighter by sucking that much power through it? thanx guys.





o yea and i couldnt decide if this was 'off topic' or not........ if so, i apologize mods.....

 

75 watt converter?? thats kinda tiny.. i had a 1000 watt converter and ran a tv and playstation off it on a 3 hour drive.. but no you didnt fry anything with the cigarette lighter.. just get a bigger converter and you can run 50 light strands if you wanted

 

hahaha. yea i got the cheapest one i could find at walmart. i guess that had its consequences. how much did a 1000 watt cost?? i dont think ill go that big, but im tryin to get a reference of price.

 

http://walmart.scosche-cars.com/prod...ductID=4965459

from the walmart website..

800 watt power inverter for 60 bucks.. also have 200 and 400

 

ok this probably IS off topic, but o well.......


being christmas time, does anyone have any christmas light boxes layin around that they could glance at and tell me how many watts these lights are?? as i mentioned before, we dont have the boxes for these anymore. id appreciate it.

 

Wattage of Christmas lights varies a whole lot depending on the kind of light. Typical outdoor bulbs (2" long glass plus screw base) draw about 7 watts each. The old fashioned indoor bulbs draw about 5 watts each. Icecicle lights - dunno. Ditto rope lights and net lights. LED strings are pretty cheap now and draw very little.

Allen

 

This link might help you out. I would go with no less than 400W.

I have my sights on this one

Ideal for running virtually any electrical item found in a home - including washers or dryers [8D]

 

you should be worrying less on the wattage then the amperage.. what you really need to find out is what the amp draw of those lights are .. i can run a 5000 watt generator to power my miller welder.. but if i dont have 50 amps off the 230 volt plug then itll start buzzin honking hollering and get pissed off at me...

if you or if you know anyone that has one-- get an AC amp clamp meter and meter the draw when plugged into the wall.. then you want to shop for an invertor that the output is more then the draw of the lights.... iirc voltage/watts gives you amperage for residential single phase AC ... so 110 divided by 75W is like 1.6 amps.. so your inverter is only producing 1.6 amps of 110VAC.. and your are trying to power two 20 foot outdoor xmass lights.. ill tell ya right now...the inline fuzes for those lights are prolly around 5amps apeice... so they are prolly drawing 2 to 3 amps a peice... just a guess tho.... id check to see if there are inline fuzes for those strings.. theyd be in a little slide over in the one end of the plug for the lights... typicallly the male end.. generally if they are the large style bulbs they will be drawing 2-3 amps of power...

the 75watter you have now is only good to charge a cell phone.. or make sparks to start a good camp fire.. lol

basically.. a 500W inverter at 110V will generally give you about 5.5 amps


For single phase divide your watts by the voltage to get amps

hope this helps

 

Soo how are you decorating your truck with the lights? lol I was just wondering where your putting all these lights. Post up some pics![sm=Flahssssss.gif]

 

ill post up pics when i can get them lit. i still havent made the trip to walmart/radioshack



if you look at my avatar you can see the visor over my windshield..... i wrapped them around there, and wrapped it around the bed a few times. if i get a convertor that can handle it, ill put a few more on..... maybe up and down the antenna? i dk yet



thanx for the help guys its all for fun!!