Suggestion: When using a powersupply for car shows...

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04-09-2011, 04:47 AM

camarosource

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Car: Custom 1992 Camaro Z28 25th Anniver

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Suggestion: When using a powersupply for car shows...

As part of my Indoor car shows, I showcase the Sequential LED rear taillights that are on the car.

I use a hobby shop portable power supply which powers 18AMPs. Basically I unhook the car battery (Yellow Top), and plug in the + and - of the power supply to the cables to the car so the brake lights, and hazard lights are run entirely from the power supply. For the brake lights I use a weight to keep the brake pedal down and leave the hazard lights flashing for the length of the car show (3 days approx 6 hours each day)

I have recently been told that I do NOT have to disconnect the battery from the car and in fact I could just hook the power supply (18amps) directly to the battery (not having to disconnect anything).

I am just wondering if this would work? Would the power supply be powerful enough to keep the car battery charged during the duration of it being drained by the LED's (400+) and the signal/hazard lights on for 6+ hours a day X 2 - 3 days?

FYI: The power supply has a small fan inside the unit. I noticed that if you connect the cables to the car battery that the fan on the device will run. Basically the battery is running the power supply. I would think that if the power supply was hooked to the battery that the battery would power the device (draining the battery) yet if the device is plugged into the 120V that it would mean power coming from the device at the same time so not which WHAT would happen..

These people who have incar stereo systems, and Xbox's int he car running.. how are they doing it without draining the car battery with hours of running? After all a headlight can drain the battery is like 30 mins or so..

Last edited by camarosource; 04-09-2011 at 04:54 AM.