LEDs, battery and kayak ?

[2050z]

I think I see the problem.
It looks like your meter can only read a maximum of 200mA current draw.
Using my estimation of your current draw above of 972mA, your meter can't read that much current draw.
My meter has an extra port used for up to 20A of current draw.

Well that sucks. Guess I just turn on the lights and see how long it takes to run down the battery

[2050z]

I started the lights 30 minutes ago.

[2050z]

two hours and still strong lights

[2050z]

3 hours strong

[denowt]

I'm be waiting to see how close my 7.5hr estimation is to actual run time.

One thing to watch for, don't let the lights run the battery down below 10-11volts, as that could ruin your battery.
I hooked mine up to a 9V battery and they were dim, but still worked.
If you run your deer feeder battery down to 9V, it may not take a charge again.

[2050z]

4 hours and I will go test the volts

11.77 on the meter.

[2050z]

pulled the plug on the test after 4.5 hours Battery was still above 11 volts. I think I will stick with this battery. Plenty of run time.

[denowt]

Did some googling for you.
I found that a lead-acid battery will be damaged if discharged below 10.5volts.
But then another website said to not let it go below 6volts.
I've personally had a solar panel go out and a feeder battery was down to 5volts. It charged up fine to 13volts and has worked fine since then(about a year now). So who knows how low you can go before damaging the battery.

Like I said, my LEDs were pretty dim on a 9V battery and wouldn't work at all on a 6V. I would imagine they would start dimming around 10-11volts. You should be fine if you stop when they start to dim. Please keep us updated with your testing and tell us what voltage the LEDs dim.

On edit: nevermind, was typing after you stopped. Thanks for your information.

[denowt]

pulled the plug on the test after 4.5 hours Battery was still above 11 volts. I think I will stick with this battery. Plenty of run time.

Were they still bright or did they start to dim?

[2050z]

Bright

[Bill's Unlimited]

Denowt - I ran an 8' strip for several days straight. At 48 hours it was still like new, at 72 hrs it lost some brightness. Here is the write-up when I was installing and testing them:

http://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=352998

[denowt]

Denowt - I ran an 8' strip for several days straight. At 48 hours it was still like new, at 72 hrs it lost some brightness. Here is the write-up when I was installing and testing them:

http://discussions.texasbowhunter.co...d.php?t=352998

I saw that thread awhile back, but I had forgotten it. Thanks for the reminder.

I plan on having about 4-5' total of LED strips on the kayak(at least to start with, lol).
I don't plan on fishing in the dark for more than about 4 hours at a time. Between your 48+hr test and 2050z's 4.5hr test, I shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Next project for me after the kayak lights, making a green underwater fishing light with the left over LEDs.