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Thread: Power Consumtion of projectors

  1. #11
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    If you do decide to go down the generator or inverter route be sure to get a pure sinewave one.

    I've just bought one of these...

    http://ww1.honda.co.uk/power/generat...tml?code=EU20i

    It runs three laser projectors, a 1.5watt RGB, 2 x Green 1 watters, all the computer gear and touch screens etc. It has intelligent throttle and doesn't even break a sweat when running the above.

    If you decide to go down the inverter route and are thinking of running it from your car battery be aware that you'll need to run the engine otherwise you could soon end up with a flat battery and be unable to start the car at the end of your gig. This is one of the reasons I decided on the generator.

    Cheers

    Jem
    Quote: "There is a theory which states that if ever, for any reason, anyone discovers what exactly the Universe is for and why it is here it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another that states that this has already happened.”... Douglas Adams 1952 - 2001

  2. #12
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    well if i were to run it off the 2-3 car batteries i would have them on a cart and only run it for a few hours a night and then put it on a trickle charger at the end of the night.

    but yes i would always start up the car or park it on a hill if i were to run it from my car
    -Josh

  3. #13
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    Batteries is one thing I know a lot about... You probably have a SMPS power supply in your Laser. A cheap mains inverter is also just that, a switch mode 'modified sine' output SMPS (actually a square wave with the same RMS voltage as a pure sine wave.) This would work fine. SMPS in the laswer will rectify what comes in anyway. Infact SMPS powersupplies can quite often run of DC if you wanted.

    As for power, Fan/Galvo 20w Max and 0.5w DPSS green laser (which I understand are usually around 20% efficient would be around say 2.5w + control elextronics (lets multiply that by 8 for fun) so around 20watts...

    Total = 40w. What have I missed?

    Through a mains inverter which are usually around 90% efficient you will be still drawing less than 50w. 45/12= approx 3.75 amps @ 12v. Here a typical car battery when new is between 45-65 amps/hrs (20hr rate)

    If you were to find a typical 110ah liesure battery you could run to a very safe 50% state of charge (SOC) which would give you 55ah or 14/15 hours run time...

    I just built a 'mobile power supply' for AECOM to do some surveys. It has 4x110ah batteris and has been running (with charges CCTV+precision mesureing equipment for 2 weeks

    As for charging = trickle charge is pointless and will take ages.

    Find the capacity of the batteries in question, divide that by 5 and that is your safe constant charge current. Its VERY important that you voltage limit the battery to 14.4 volts.

    So for example, 110ah 'leisure' battery safe constant charge current is 22amps which will taper off to around 0.2A once the battery is fully charged and floating at around 14.3-14.4 volts.

    Also to mesure the capacity remaning of a lead acid battery once its sat idle and has no load, and further has no float charge still left on it you will find around 12.6v is fully charged and 12.2 volt is 50% charged. Definately never ever go below 12v or you will dratically shorten the life of the battery.

  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by thesk8nmidget View Post
    well if i were to run it off the 2-3 car batteries i would have them on a cart and only run it for a few hours a night and then put it on a trickle charger at the end of the night.

    but yes i would always start up the car or park it on a hill if i were to run it from my car
    Don't use car batteries for deep cycle applications, they won't last long. Get some sealed lead-acid gel batteries, or "leisure batteries" designed for caravan/RV use.

    I run my lasers from a pure sinewave inverter all the time; an 860 watt inverter runs the projector and laptop without breaking a sweat.

  5. #15
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    That's true to an extent but, even a car battery if kept above 50% soc will last a long time...

    Avoid sealed lead acid unless spillage is a problem. They have to be charged much more gently, and are a great deal more expensive

  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by madgadget View Post
    That's true to an extent but, even a car battery if kept above 50% soc will last a long time...

    Avoid sealed lead acid unless spillage is a problem. They have to be charged much more gently, and are a great deal more expensive
    They used to be, but since UPSes went mainstream (where outgassing is a problem) and motorcycles switched to gel batteries, they're not that bad. You can get a 4 Ah 12v SLA for under $10 if you are buying in quantity.

  7. #17
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    you guys rock! i have a optima battery that is brand new and i have no use for since its to big for my car. and i play on using that, and you have to trickle charge that (thats why i said that lol)

    but i will be looking for a leisure battery for later on.

    all i need is a couple hours of use so i will try it out later tonight and see how it works.

    thanks again for all the help and gaget that was to much good info would you like a cookie?
    -Josh

  8. #18
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    Hey Josh...

    One thing to consider: The projector may not draw very much power, and the same goes for your laptop, but what about a fog machine? Even the small ones usually have a 700 watt heater in them, and my large Antari fogger has a 1200 watt heater. That's going to draw down your batteries a lot faster than your projector will. (Unless you're planning on only running graphics and don't need the fog...)

    Adam

  9. #19
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    Good point Adam, forgot to mention that

    My Unique 2 is 1500w, hence the 2Kw generator. Although I have to say it would be rare for me to run the hazer outside.

    Cheers

    Jem
    Quote: "There is a theory which states that if ever, for any reason, anyone discovers what exactly the Universe is for and why it is here it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another that states that this has already happened.”... Douglas Adams 1952 - 2001

  10. #20
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    thanks for that reminder. luckily i will not need any foggers.

    dusty areas are a beams best friend/optics worst enemy. good thing i have good filters and fans
    -Josh

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