12V Battery Kids Playhouse Light Wiring

tjm73

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I'm working out a low voltage (12VDC) lighting system for the playhouse in my back yard I built for the kids. I am going to occasionally charge a small 12V deep cycle battery and connect it to a simple system in the play house.

The system is basically battery to a mechanical timer switch (so they can't leave it on too long) to a single 7 watt (60 watt equivalent) 12VDC specific light bulb. Nothing else on the circuit. Total length of the circuit from battery connection to bulb is less than 16 feet. Online calculator I found says I can go 21 ft with just a 1% voltage drop with 18AWG wire at 1A or less.

It will look like this. Anyone see any issues with it as designed? Any changes I should consider?Playhouse Light.png
 

Macman45

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Looks good. Should have about 0.13ish Ohms of resistance in that wire, so if the bulb is drawing 0.58Amps in series with the wire, you're looking at a power draw of 44ish milliwatts. In practice that switch and the connections will also draw some power but you've got plenty of juice. Setup looks good, I dont think id change anything except ensure that switch and light housing is really protected from rain..
 

tjm73

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.... I dont think id change anything except ensure that switch and light housing is really protected from rain..

Good point. It's pretty dry in side, but I'll make doubly sure the switch and housing remain dry. Thanks.
 

tjm73

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Had a thought. About a year ago or so I bought a three gauge panel with mechanical oil psi and water temp gauges and I think it has a voltage gauge in it. I'm gonna check tonight. Anyway I figured if I wire it into the system with a momentary switch I can check the voltage level of the battery at any time by just holding the momentary switch closed for a minute and seeing the gauge readout. I think it'd be wired up like this.Playhouse Light.png
 

Juice

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I would do a.small solar panel. Something like a 50w 17v panel, and you wouldnt even need a charge controller.
Deep cycle battery for a little light? Wee bit overkill IMO.

Just some ideas. :)
 

tjm73

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I thought about a small solar panel but it's pretty shaded when the trees are in full leaf mode. Maybe give it a second thought.

The battery is less than $20 bucks. and with such a small draw it'll take maybe a couple charges all year to do the job. I'm ok with that.

EDIT: can get a 7 watt solar panel for $22 bucks and a controller for $15 (i know...you said I don't even need one, but I don't want to over charge the battery) run an even smaller battery. Hmmmmm....... then I almost don't have to do anything.......
 
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tjm73

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Looking to keep it simple and as reasonably inexpensive as possible.
 

kazman59

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You can get a string of under cabinet leds for ~$15, one wire in, one wire out.

just sayin'
 

Juice

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Im running LED lights in my kitchen. 12v MR16 LED bulbs are cheap. Yes, I have 12 v lights in my kitchen.
 

mikeysgt

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I just put together a playhouse for my kids a few weeks ago. Took a lot of hours but worth assembling it myself instead of paying the $700 for someone to assemble it for me. Never thought about putting lighting inside of it but I’m interested now after seeing this. Any update on it?
 

tjm73

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Idea stalled out for winter, but recently became aware of some plug in rechargeable lights that might fit the bill. Still playing ideas hear and there.
 

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