(The current ratio of off-topic to boating threads is running about
4:1. The current ratio of OT to boating posts is running almost 13:1).

I'm going to be rigging for a couple of lighted boat parades and I'm
trying to figure whether to run my Honda 1100 watt genset or run off of
the inverter. Anybody know, offhand, how many amps a string of the itsy
bitsy holiday lights might draw? If I can get a couple of hours of
light off the inverter bank
I won't screw around with the gasoline powered genset.

Chuck, are you talking about the 1000 bulb strings that peole wrap
their Christmas trees 20 times with ? The ones with the box that makes
them doo all kinds of tricks?

or standard 120v. small bulbs.

the tinly little lights don't pull much at all individually, but still,
amps x volts = watts

you sould see on the string what the wattage is that will be needed to
carry them. and how many lights are you trying to pull with your
inverter?

It's really not difficult.


Chuck Gould wrote:
(The current ratio of off-topic to boating threads is running about
4:1. The current ratio of OT to boating posts is running almost 13:1).

I'm going to be rigging for a couple of lighted boat parades and I'm
trying to figure whether to run my Honda 1100 watt genset or run off of
the inverter. Anybody know, offhand, how many amps a string of the itsy
bitsy holiday lights might draw? If I can get a couple of hours of
light off the inverter bank
I won't screw around with the gasoline powered genset.

good call, Tom. I wasn't sure how many lights Chuck was going to pull,
but I did think that the genset would be a bit of overkill.



Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On 18 Nov 2006 16:58:43 -0800, "Chuck Gould"
wrote:

I'm going to be rigging for a couple of lighted boat parades and I'm
trying to figure whether to run my Honda 1100 watt genset or run off of
the inverter. Anybody know, offhand, how many amps a string of the itsy
bitsy holiday lights might draw? If I can get a couple of hours of
light off the inverter bank
I won't screw around with the gasoline powered genset.

Inverters are rated in watts.

Less than two watts for 100 mini lights.

I ran two six foot Christmas trees, about 5 100 light mini string and
four light strings off a 350 watt inverter at last years Festival of
Lights in Putnam and it didn't even breathe hard.

Have a freakin' ball with the lights. :)

Inverters are rated in watts.

Less than two watts for 100 mini lights.

I ran two six foot Christmas trees, about 5 100 light mini string and
four light strings off a 350 watt inverter at last years Festival of
Lights in Putnam and it didn't even breathe hard.

Have a freakin' ball with the lights. :)



Try closer to 50W for a string of 100 mini lights, unless they're the
LED type. I was a little surprised honestly, but last year I acquired a
power analyzer and ran around plugging in everything I could find in the
house. The Christmas tree with miniature lights on it was pulling around
350W, at which point I started checking individual strings. Incandescent
loads have a unity power factor, so you can measure the amp draw with
any cheap multimeter and use ohms law to calculate the watts.

The bulbs themselves use a lot less power than the larger old fashioned
C7 lights, but people tend to use so many more of them that they end up
not saving much power.

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
oups.com...


I'm going to be rigging for a couple of lighted boat parades and I'm
trying to figure whether to run my Honda 1100 watt genset or run off of
the inverter. Anybody know, offhand, how many amps a string of the itsy
bitsy holiday lights might draw? If I can get a couple of hours of
light off the inverter bank
I won't screw around with the gasoline powered genset.


The problem is that those boxes of lights usually don't indicate wattage or
amp draw.
They just say "120 vac". But ....

I strung several strings of lights on a car trailer one year for a Halloween
hay ride. Since I didn't know what the draw was, I did not want to risk
powering the inverter from the tractor battery, so I charged up a deep cell
and installed it on the trailer A frame. Ran the lights using a Radio Shack
700 watt inverter and the lights were run for several hours continuously
without killing the battery.

Eisboch

On 18 Nov 2006 16:58:43 -0800, "Chuck Gould"
wrote:

(The current ratio of off-topic to boating threads is running about
4:1. The current ratio of OT to boating posts is running almost 13:1).

I'm going to be rigging for a couple of lighted boat parades and I'm
trying to figure whether to run my Honda 1100 watt genset or run off of
the inverter. Anybody know, offhand, how many amps a string of the itsy
bitsy holiday lights might draw? If I can get a couple of hours of
light off the inverter bank
I won't screw around with the gasoline powered genset.

Here's some commercial LED types that are supposedly 'energy efficient'.
You might just give them a call about specifics.

http://tinyurl.com/y35peo

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 08:25:01 GMT, James Sweet
wrote:



Inverters are rated in watts.

Less than two watts for 100 mini lights.

I ran two six foot Christmas trees, about 5 100 light mini string and
four light strings off a 350 watt inverter at last years Festival of
Lights in Putnam and it didn't even breathe hard.

Have a freakin' ball with the lights. :)

Try closer to 50W for a string of 100 mini lights, unless they're the
LED type.

No way. And just to prove a point, I went out to the garage and
looked on a box of colored mini lights - 150 string.

2.4 watts.

I was a little surprised honestly, but last year I acquired a
power analyzer and ran around plugging in everything I could find in the
house. The Christmas tree with miniature lights on it was pulling around
350W, at which point I started checking individual strings. Incandescent
loads have a unity power factor, so you can measure the amp draw with
any cheap multimeter and use ohms law to calculate the watts.

Interesting - that string I ran on my truck drew less than 200 watts
total.

NO WAY
2.4W.............................................. .................................................. ...
.................................................. .................................................. ..........................
.................................................. .................................................. ..........................

I just checked a set of icicle lights.
Individual lights =2.5V
Total of 100 lights
Fuse = 3A
No where on the package could I find watts or amps rating.
Measured draw = 300MA or 36 W

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
. ..
On 11/19/2006 8:09 AM, Jim wrote:
"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 08:25:01 GMT, James Sweet
wrote:

Inverters are rated in watts.

Less than two watts for 100 mini lights.

I ran two six foot Christmas trees, about 5 100 light mini string and
four light strings off a 350 watt inverter at last years Festival of
Lights in Putnam and it didn't even breathe hard.

Have a freakin' ball with the lights. :)
Try closer to 50W for a string of 100 mini lights, unless they're the
LED type.
No way. And just to prove a point, I went out to the garage and
looked on a box of colored mini lights - 150 string.

2.4 watts.

I was a little surprised honestly, but last year I acquired a
power analyzer and ran around plugging in everything I could find in
the
house. The Christmas tree with miniature lights on it was pulling
around
350W, at which point I started checking individual strings.
Incandescent
loads have a unity power factor, so you can measure the amp draw with
any cheap multimeter and use ohms law to calculate the watts.
Interesting - that string I ran on my truck drew less than 200 watts
total.

NO WAY
2.4W.............................................. .................................................. ...
.................................................. .................................................. .........................
.................................................. .................................................. .........................

I just checked a set of icicle lights.
Individual lights =2.5V
Total of 100 lights
Fuse = 3A
No where on the package could I find watts or amps rating.
Measured draw = 300MA or 36 W




You guys need something useful to do. Come on down here. Now that most of
the leaves have fallen off the trees in my woods, and the visibility is
good, I need some fallen timber cut up and hauled. I got 24" and 28" chain
saws, axes, carts, whatever you need.

How can anyone refuse an offer like that?

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
. ..
On 11/19/2006 8:28 AM, Jim wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
. ..
On 11/19/2006 8:09 AM, Jim wrote:
"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 08:25:01 GMT, James Sweet
wrote:

Inverters are rated in watts.

Less than two watts for 100 mini lights.

I ran two six foot Christmas trees, about 5 100 light mini string
and
four light strings off a 350 watt inverter at last years Festival of
Lights in Putnam and it didn't even breathe hard.

Have a freakin' ball with the lights. :)
Try closer to 50W for a string of 100 mini lights, unless they're the
LED type.
No way. And just to prove a point, I went out to the garage and
looked on a box of colored mini lights - 150 string.

2.4 watts.

I was a little surprised honestly, but last year I acquired a
power analyzer and ran around plugging in everything I could find in
the
house. The Christmas tree with miniature lights on it was pulling
around
350W, at which point I started checking individual strings.
Incandescent
loads have a unity power factor, so you can measure the amp draw with
any cheap multimeter and use ohms law to calculate the watts.
Interesting - that string I ran on my truck drew less than 200 watts
total.
NO WAY
2.4W.............................................. .................................................. ...
.................................................. .................................................. .........................
.................................................. .................................................. .........................

I just checked a set of icicle lights.
Individual lights =2.5V
Total of 100 lights
Fuse = 3A
No where on the package could I find watts or amps rating.
Measured draw = 300MA or 36 W



You guys need something useful to do. Come on down here. Now that most
of the leaves have fallen off the trees in my woods, and the visibility
is good, I need some fallen timber cut up and hauled. I got 24" and 28"
chain saws, axes, carts, whatever you need.

How can anyone refuse an offer like that?


So, what time will you be here?
Noon

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 13:09:48 GMT, "Jim" wrote:


"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
. ..
On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 08:25:01 GMT, James Sweet
wrote:



Inverters are rated in watts.

Less than two watts for 100 mini lights.

I ran two six foot Christmas trees, about 5 100 light mini string and
four light strings off a 350 watt inverter at last years Festival of
Lights in Putnam and it didn't even breathe hard.

Have a freakin' ball with the lights. :)

Try closer to 50W for a string of 100 mini lights, unless they're the
LED type.

No way. And just to prove a point, I went out to the garage and
looked on a box of colored mini lights - 150 string.

2.4 watts.

I was a little surprised honestly, but last year I acquired a
power analyzer and ran around plugging in everything I could find in the
house. The Christmas tree with miniature lights on it was pulling around
350W, at which point I started checking individual strings. Incandescent
loads have a unity power factor, so you can measure the amp draw with
any cheap multimeter and use ohms law to calculate the watts.

Interesting - that string I ran on my truck drew less than 200 watts
total.

NO WAY
2.4W............................................ .................................................. .....
................................................ .................................................. ...........................
................................................ .................................................. ...........................

I just checked a set of icicle lights.
Individual lights =2.5V
Total of 100 lights
Fuse = 3A
No where on the package could I find watts or amps rating.
Measured draw = 300MA or 36 W

These are GE lights that I've had for at least ten years and the boxes
have the wattage rating right on them at the back.

Tell you what - I'll go down to the barn, pull out the power analyzer
and check them.

If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I'm more than willing to admit it.

No problems. :)

Me too. :^{ )