Project time…
One of the things Ive been wanting for a while is a dedicated lighting system for when the power goes out. Ideally, it is to be utterly and completely ‘normal’ looking. I’ve got a cabinet-type nightstand that would house a battery, charger and, if necessary, an inverter, quite nicely. What I was thinking of doing was picking up a 12v trouble light and swapping it out with the innards of a normal table lamp. Then I’d simply run the wires to the battery inside the nightstand and , ideally, run it off of the battery. Now, the problem is, I’m very fuzzy on battery/electronics. As I understand it, since I’d be charging this battery indoors I would want a sealed UPS-type battery so that no hazardous fumes/gases would be given off during the charging process? Is this correct? The other question is can I leave the battery hooked up to a charging device constantly so that it charges to the proper voltage and then maintains it? Ive seen several chargers that charge batteries and then ‘float’ them, keeping them topped off as necessary. This seems to be what Id be looking for..something I could plug into the wall and know the battery is always at its peak…and then when the power goes out I can operate the light off of this completely charged battery.
Or would doing such shorten battery life or short the battery itself?
I would suggest racking car batteries outside the house, or at least in an area with a ventilator system. If charged, they can handle cold weather, but discharged, they will freeze and crack the case. Perhaps in your basement, with some sort of automatic exhaust fan? Car batts, hooked up to a distribution/charging station would be the cheapest way to handle this. Deep cycle batts are best, but you pay a premium for this capability.( Think electric forklift batts and chargers.) The new battery chargers/tenders with the logic systems are easiest on batteries. Long, slow charging is normally the best way to charge. Fast chargers tend to damage them to some extent. If you don’t have high power reqs, some solar panels to recharge during the day, while you use the batts at night, might work for you. Reflectors set up to concentrate sunlight on the panels may help, especially in winter.