Running from car battery

[johnm_10]

I'm a minimalist and don't want to buy more then I need.

I'm wondering if I can run a couple of led lights for 20 mins at night and a 12 volt fan all night off my truck battery? The fan doesn't say how much power it draws but it has an 800ma fuse so I guess it's around .5 amps.

My tv is a '07 tacoma with tow package which says it has a heavy duty battery, but I'm not sure what that means as far as amp hours or whatever.

I also don't plan to camp more then one night in a row without running the truck to recharge the battery every day.

Think that little fan will be bad for my starting battery?

Thanks

[Miriam C.]

Why take the chance If you just want a cheap battery try the salvage yard or go to a Battery outlet and get a "blem" deep cycle marine. Now that is a battery that sat on the shelf and didn't sell soon enough. Still new!

The advantage of an extra battery is you can start your truck if needed.

[Dale M.]

I just got a used group 26 (540 cca) for $30 and it has 1 year guarantee.

If you run down truck battery and are out in boonies some where you may have to wait till somebody happens along to jump start you....

Dale

[madjack]

John, you could PROBABLY do what you want...BUT, what about when Murphy rears his ugly head and the truck won't start in the morning...I would at least get one of those emergency jump start battery packs...in fact, you could use it, instead of the truck battery for powering what you have mentioned using...other than that, a deep cycle battery can be had from WallyWorld(or similar) for around 50 bucks.......
madjack

[Steve_Cox]

John,

You might want to rethink the teardrop plan, if you are going to use it in South Florida. Being inside the TD with only a small fan just isn't going to keep you cool enough to sleep at night, or make it bearable in the daytime. In Florida if your not going to air condition you need some kind of exhaust vent fan. If you add a small battery to the TD you can charge it from the truck as you drive, that would save the expense of a charger or inverter.

[eamarquardt]

Mad Jack wrote: John, you could PROBABLY do what you want...BUT


That's the beauty of the forum. You can gather all sorts of valuable input and then do exactly as you please. But, you'll have no one to blame but yourself for the outcome (we have to blame someone when things go wrong, ha)

Cheers,

Gus

[raprap]

I guess it really depends on the transmission on your truck. If it's an automatic I wouldn't recommend running lights and a fan off of the truck battery. If it's a manual--then go for it, but I'd recommend making sure the truck is facing down slope.

Rap

[SteveH]

If you do the math on what you are proposing, running a fan for 8 hours at .5 amps.... .5 X 8= 4 amp hours, and the LED lights are such a small load they're really not even a consideration, and the fact that most all vehicle batterys are at least 50 amp/hour batterys, the math says it will work just fine. However, this assumes the vehicle battery is fully charged and in like new condition. The problem with all of this is, if it doesn't work, you will need help to start the truck in the morning. I would at a minimum, carry one of the emergency starting batterys.

[bobhenry]

John, you could PROBABLY do what you want...BUT, what about when Murphy rears his ugly head and the truck won't start in the morning...I would at least get one of those emergency jump start battery packs...in fact, you could use it, instead of the truck battery for powering what you have mentioned using.......
madjack

I picked up a Black and Decker jump start unit It has an LED worklight an onboard compressor and dc to ac and ac to dc conversion capabilities as well as jump start feature. ( For a few bucks more one has an AM FM radio)

We had a tire go down last week on Chubby heading back from the shivaree campout and at 15 below wind chill I was glad I could air it up and limp on home. It's a lot in one unit about the size of a womans large purse. It's a fixture in the family car when not needed in the tear.

[johnm_10]

Thanks all.. I have an a/c unit for summer and I can hook up to shore power, but I think I can get by with a fan in the winter when boondocking, etc..

I'm sure the battery can hold the fan overnight just fine and still start the truck, I'm just not sure if it's bad for the battery or not. I don't see any published specs that say "it's ok to use this many amp hours without hurting the battery". I also know with car batteries that if you get them down around 90% charge or so it begins to permanently damage the battery. I would rather buy a cheep deep cycle then have to replace the starting battery... I'm guessing the upgraded "heavy duty" battery also means it's $$$ so I don't want to damage it.

I too want to be on the side of caution... I was just hoping someone here knew more then I did about car batteries and would pop their head in and say that they did this all the time and their battery still lasts for years...

Ahh well, worth a shot.. thanks again!

[Gerdo]

I'm sure the battery can hold the fan overnight just fine and still start the truck, I'm just not sure if it's bad for the battery or not. I don't see any published specs that say "it's ok to use this many amp hours without hurting the battery". I also know with car batteries that if you get them down around 90% charge or so it begins to permanently damage the battery.

I would think so also. IF I was going to use the TV battery for power I would replace the TV battery with a Deep Cycle/Starting Battery.

You are right "car" batteries are designed to start a car not be drained. Draining a car battery will kill it fast.

[Dale M.]

.........I'm sure the battery can hold the fan overnight just fine and still start the truck, I'm just not sure if it's bad for the battery or not. I don't see any published specs that say "it's ok to use this many amp hours without hurting the battery". I also know with car batteries that if you get them down around 90% charge or so it begins to permanently damage the battery.......

Everything you wanted to know.....

http://www.batteryfaq.org/

Dale

[jmtk]

I'm a minimalist and don't want to buy more then I need. I'm wondering if I can run a couple of led lights for 20 mins at night and a 12 volt fan all night off my truck battery?

John,

This was my thinking, too, and for the first seven months of using our teardrop, we ran our in-cabin LED lights off the car battery without a problem. However I was always too paranoid to run the fan overnight for fear of having a dead car battery in the morning. We would only run it for maybe a half hour max and then shut it off. I remember thinking that it was silly to have installed this great fan and be afraid to use it. However I still didn't want to get a big deep-cycle battery (weight was a big concern for me) when our power needs were so minimal. This is what I got:
http://www.cabelas.com/prod-1/0014280521103a.shtml


It's worked out great for our needs. We've been on trips as long as 5 days without having to recharge it, running our LED lights and fan as needed. It has multiple charging options (plug in with shore power or 12V outlet on the car), and have used both on longer trips. We've even used it to jump start the car once (not on a trip, thankfully).

I wired a 12V socket to feed the trailer, then take the 12V charge cable that came with the Sport Pac, plugging one end into the Pac's 12V socket and the other end into the trailer's socket (fused, of course), and I'm good to go!

Jeanette