(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.

"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