Suggestions on how to power a couple of CCFL tubes with batts?

Robban

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I know this isn't strictly a flashlight but I figured this was the best place to ask.

Today I received a few CCFL tubes that I got on sale. I was thinking of putting them to use as movable work lights. The tubes in question are these:
http://www.sunbeamtech.com/PRODUCTS/CCFL.HTML

Says on the page they run on 12V (the inverter that is), 5mA. So I was wondering what type of battery setup you would recommend for this? I only need them to run for roughly an hour at a time. Would just wiring a bunch of AA NiMH's in series accomplish what I want? I have no idea how long these would run from a pack like that since I'm pretty clueless when it comes to electronics.

I'd also like to keep this as cheap as posible (now there's something new ;) ).
 

HEY HEY ITS HENDO

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Hey Robban, these seem to be all the rage round here, people stick em all over the place, their cars, motorcycles and even in computer tower cases, i bought one to play about with, so i took it to work, wired it up to a tiny 12v sealed lead acid (SLA) battery, WHOOOO i was impressed with the bright neon pink glow !! as i reached to switch off the room light, it fell from the shelf it was sitting on and snapped in two :mecry: ..... watch it they`re fragile :)
 

dcarch8

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Robban said:
Sorry, I might've been unclear. When I said movable I meant wireless so to speak :)

No, you don't mean that:rant: !

You meant cordless :scowl:

dcarch:nana:
 

Robban

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dcarch8 said:
No, you don't mean that:rant: !

You meant cordless :scowl:

dcarch:nana:
Haha, ok fine, CORDLESS! :D

Anyways, I've gotten some feedback from elsewhere that seem to indicate that running them on a pack of AA's should keep them going for a few hours, at least. So for my application it would work just fine :)
 

dcarch8

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There is a way you can make it go on wireless actually.

http://www.t0.or.at/tesla/teslcoil.htm

A tesla coil will power it wirelessly.

You can try this: Get something that can make a lot of static charge, like wool and plastic, go to a very dark place, the static charge will make the tube glow.

dcarch8
 
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dcarch8 said:
There is a way you can make it go on wireless actually.

http://www.t0.or.at/tesla/teslcoil.htm

A tesla coil will power it wirelessly.

You can try this: Get something that can make a lot of static charge, like wool and plastic, go to a very dark place, the static charge will make the tube glow.

dcarch8

If it's only 5mA draw, you can use a garage door opener 12v battery.
 

billw

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Robban said:
Today I received a few CCFL tubes that I got on sale. I was thinking of putting them to use as movable work lights. The tubes in question are these:
http://www.sunbeamtech.com/PRODUCTS/CCFL.HTML
Says on the page they run on 12V (the inverter that is), 5mA

Actually, it says the tubes run at 5mA (which is typical), and the inverters have
in input voltage of 12V. Since the inverter output/lamp voltage is also quoted,
as 620V (making it a 3W tube, also typical), you're probably looking at about
300mA into the input of the inverter. 12V worth of 2500mAH AA cells will last
about 8 hours, in theory... You can try fewer cells; some of the inverters are
pretty insensitive about input voltage.

Alternately, you can get a different inverter, like these: http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/item/INV-7/290/INVERTER,_5_VDC_INPUT_.html
Which run nicely off off a single (4V) Li-ion cell.
 

Robban

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billw said:
Actually, it says the tubes run at 5mA (which is typical), and the inverters have
in input voltage of 12V. Since the inverter output/lamp voltage is also quoted,
as 620V (making it a 3W tube, also typical), you're probably looking at about
300mA into the input of the inverter. 12V worth of 2500mAH AA cells will last
about 8 hours, in theory... You can try fewer cells; some of the inverters are
pretty insensitive about input voltage.

Alternately, you can get a different inverter, like these: http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/item/INV-7/290/INVERTER,_5_VDC_INPUT_.html
Which run nicely off off a single (4V) Li-ion cell.
You're quite right. I just measured it now when I ran it on 8 AA's (alkalines) and it turned out to pull 400mA with one tube and 700mA on two. But even with that draw I should be good for a couple of hours if I'm understanding things correctly and that's really all I need. I'll go ahead and see if I can find the rest of my rechargables and run it on them instead for economy.

Thanks for the help guys.
 

dcarch8

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billw said:
Actually, it says the tubes run at 5mA (which is typical), and the inverters have
in input voltage of 12V. Since the inverter output/lamp voltage is also quoted,
as 620V (making it a 3W tube, also typical), you're probably looking at about
300mA into the input of the inverter. 12V worth of 2500mAH AA cells will last
about 8 hours, in theory... You can try fewer cells; some of the inverters are
pretty insensitive about input voltage.

Alternately, you can get a different inverter, like these: http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/item/INV-7/290/INVERTER,_5_VDC_INPUT_.html
Which run nicely off off a single (4V) Li-ion cell.

They have inverters (5V) which will drive two 10" tubes. You may need to have two tubes going if you are using it as a work light. 12V is a pain for batteries. Unless you have spare laptop batteries, which are 10v to 14v and over 2500 mah.

dcarch8
 

Robban

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Just thought I'd let you guys know that I tried running the tubes today to check on runtime. I got a few minutes over two hours before one tube starting showing signs of dimming. This was on 8 1800mAh NiMh's. This will work nicely for my needs :)
 

hank

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Anyone know if there are problems running these things off automobile 12-volts? I know the plain battery would be fine, but what about damage from the electrical system when the engine is running? (voltage spikes, noise, etc.)? Is there an appropriate filter or limiter or something?
 

jsasper

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Anyone know if there are problems running these things off automobile 12-volts? I know the plain battery would be fine, but what about damage from the electrical system when the engine is running? (voltage spikes, noise, etc.)? Is there an appropriate filter or limiter or something?
I really wish this wasn't 10 years old..... Need help with this very question 😂
 
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