Off Grid - 6v DC adapter wired to 6v led light

[drewola]

I live off grid with a one panel (30.1 v 235w) four 12v battery bank (wired for 24v), 12/24v charge controller and a 24 volt/900w inverter.

I bought some 6v led push lights from Walmart so I wouldn't have to use my standard 110 lights to save power. It didn't take long for me to realize the cost if batteries would be outrageous, so I cut the end off of some 6v DC adapters and wired them directly to the positive and negative terminals in the light. I plug them in and they work great!

I'm thinking, well heck, I can set up a few of these around the cabin and still not draw near half of what one 110v 40w bulb would.

I just want to verify what I am thinking regarding the volts/watts. This is my first off grid experience so I'm only guessing out of common sense.

My question is, how much power is consumed by three 6v 500mA adapters that are used for the lights in comparison to using one 120v 40w bulb and, did I waste my time, or are they using less energy than a standard house light as I hoped?

Thanks!

[AzRoute66]

I assume the lights are wired in parallel. 3 x 6V x .5A = 9W. 9W << 40 W. If I understand you with the 9V DC adaptors, then it would be 3 x 9V x .5A = 13.5W which is also good. That might not be as accurate as the lights might be taking a bit more than the 500 mA at 9V.

I suspect your inverter is using as much or more current just in overhead.

An even better solution would be a 6VDC voltage regulator if the inverter is not required for other loads.
Another better solution would be to wire four of the 6 V LEDs in series, then put them on a fuse directly to the battery. Note that if you turn one light off, they would all go off in this case.

[drewola]

Az, no it's three individual push lights with three individual 6v DC adapters hooked to them and each of them are plugged into the wall in different plugs.

[drewola]

Here is link to the type of light. I have 6v DC adapters wired to them rather than using four 1.5 volt batteries. http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pro...ebb62_1000.jpg

[AzRoute66]

Yes, then they are all in parallel as I assumed.

[drewola]

I probably didn't phrase the situation correctly. To put it simply, is having three 6v 500nA DC adapters plugged in better than having a 110v 40w bulb turned on?

[Logan5]

so you have 24 volts and you use a 900 watt inverter to get 110 volts only to again convert down to 6 volt? what else are you running on this inverter?

[drewola]

It has a Freezer (on for two hour intervals), TV, DirecTV DVR, DirecTV satellite, laptop and phone hooked up, but I only turn TV on sunny days, so normally it's only a laptop, phone and freezer. I want lighting at night but didn't want to use 110 40w bulb every night so I bought the battery operated push lights. Well I wired 6v DC adapters to the push lights so I don't have to buy batteries. I could run them off of phone charger's the same wsy. So it's basically like having three phones charging four hours a night rather than running a 110v 40w bulb for four hours a night

[AzRoute66]

I probably didn't phrase the situation correctly. To put it simply, is having three 6v 500nA DC adapters plugged in better than having a 110v 40w bulb turned on?

No, you phrased it fine, with the exception that your 9V adaptors somehow became 6V adaptors.

Perhaps I didn't phrase it well. 9W << 40W, so yes it is much better to run three LEDs than running a 40W light. Also, the three LEDs are taking quite a bit less than three phones for the same amount of charging time.

[AzRoute66]

And it is none of my business, but even without knowing what your charge controller and batteries are, I think you are in the 'keep your eyes open for another panel or two' zone.

[drewola]

Yes they are 6v not 9. And I'm working on new panel now.

[NEOH]

drewola ,

Actually, we do not know how much power a 6V 500ma Power Supply uses until you tell us the LOAD.
At Full Load, which I doubt, each Power Supply consumes 3 1/3 Watts each = ( 6V * 0.500 Amps ) / 90%
Therefore, three power supplies would consume 10 Watts total = ( 3 1/3 x 3 ), and maybe less, maybe a lot less.

When you say "standard bulb", do you mean incandescent bulb or Curly CFL bulb?

Have you considered ...
Removing the "standard" 110 Volt 40 Watt bulbs and replacing with 110 Volt 6 Watt ( 40 Watt equiv ) LED Bulbs?
My Walmart sells them for only $1.65 each.
That would allow you to use your normal light fixtures and save Watts, at a low cost

[drewola]

NEOH so being a 110v AC bulb makes no difference in power consumption comparison to a 6v DC? It's only the Watts that matter?

[NEOH]

drewola ,
A 40 Watt 110 Volt Incandescent Bulb uses 40 Watts
A 6 Watt 110 Volt LED Bulb uses 6 Watts
The 110 Volt LED Bulb uses 1/6 the Watts of a 40 Watt Incandescent - same equiv light


A 6 Watt 110 Volt AC Led Bulb uses 6 Watts
A 6 Watt 6 Volt DC Led Panel uses 6 Watts
Yes, both will consume the same energy, over the same time frame.

[drewola]

NEOH thanks, that solves alot of issues for me. I assumed 110 would use more energy than 6. If the voltage has no bearing in power consumption, then I'm wasting my time, and will go with the lower wattage bulbs as you suggested.