L3800 Electrical Capacity
- Thread starter number9
- Start date
At low idle the head lights is about all it will keep up with. At about 1200 rpm's you can run headlights + 1 set of 55w lights. At rated rpm you can run headlights + 2 sets of 55w lights and it will just barely hold 12 volts at the battery. Even thought the cost is much higher LED lighting is the way to go. Probably run 5 sets of led lights and draw less power than 1 standard set of 55w lights.
Dang, that bad huh? I know LEDs are great but they're higher than a cat's back. Guess I'll try and run with 2 fronts and 1 rear and see how it works out and go from there.
May wire in a socket for heated jacket for winter work as well.
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May wire in a socket for heated jacket for winter work as well.
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Here's one way to figure your available ampacity:
Volts x Amps = Watts
12-v x 40-A = 480-W
No way the battery is going to take more than half (and I think that's high---check the battery 'amps-in' using a digital clamp-type ammeter on the hot battery cable), so you've got about 240-watts available. Approximately 55-watts per "vehicle" headlight means you should be able to run 4 each lamps.
No alternator is going to replenish the battery enough if you make a lot of cold starts, run lights, and have real short run times.
Please post back and advise how you make it work for you.
Be sure and use a lighting relay and fuse both sides of the wiring 'harness' you install (in the case of power lead, fuse at battery takeoff).
Volts x Amps = Watts
12-v x 40-A = 480-W
No way the battery is going to take more than half (and I think that's high---check the battery 'amps-in' using a digital clamp-type ammeter on the hot battery cable), so you've got about 240-watts available. Approximately 55-watts per "vehicle" headlight means you should be able to run 4 each lamps.
No alternator is going to replenish the battery enough if you make a lot of cold starts, run lights, and have real short run times.
Please post back and advise how you make it work for you.
Be sure and use a lighting relay and fuse both sides of the wiring 'harness' you install (in the case of power lead, fuse at battery takeoff).
Yea, looking at it more....I am going to go with LEDs.
Looking at the 27W lights on Ledstores. I can't decide if I'd rather have 2 Flood lights pointing forward or 1 Flood and 1 Spot pointing forward - both on at the same time.
Also looking at doing a smaller LED light of some type that will mount somewhere down around the floorboard shining down at the ground, also known as "rock lights" or "alley lights".
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Looking at the 27W lights on Ledstores. I can't decide if I'd rather have 2 Flood lights pointing forward or 1 Flood and 1 Spot pointing forward - both on at the same time.
Also looking at doing a smaller LED light of some type that will mount somewhere down around the floorboard shining down at the ground, also known as "rock lights" or "alley lights".
...