Question about making a battery pack for a cigarette/lighter plug

Hi everyone, i stumbled upon this light which runs on cigarette plugs in cars and am thinking about making a battery pack for it. I was hoping that some of you might have attempted this and be able to provide valuable insight. Thanks in advance!

I guess the easiest way to do it would be to get a 12V motorcycle-battery(best vould be the sealed gel-type) and add a cigarette-adapter. Buy a cheap car batterycharger and your all set

Hmmm.... Sounds simple enough. I am trying to stick to making battery packs to lighten the load a little for now. Tempting idea though... I'll check out the price and availability of such a pack just in case. Thanks a million Thomas!

That motorcycle battery won't give much run time at all. It's also an SLI(Starting, lighting, ignition) battery, and won't handle many deep discharges before dying completely. If you're only running it 5 minutes and then recharging, you'd probably be ok with an SLI battery.

How small do you want this thing? Actually carrying it around? I can't help you there, but for stationary, I'd recommend you get a cheap plastic group 24 or 27 battery box and put a true deep cycle battery in it. Hint: a true deep cycle doesn't have *any* cranking amp, cold cranking amp, or marine cranking amp(same as CA) rating. Get an auxiliary cigarette plug/power port and a fuse connector and wire it all up appropriately. The power port can be screwed to the top of the battery box. A cheap battery maintainer could recharge it(albeit slowly) and keep it tip top so it's ready to go when you are.

Cheers. :buddies:

Edit: Just saw that you want to stick with battery packs to lighten the load. I need more coffee.

Watch out leaving the battery pack plugged in after the ignition is turned off--Some vehicles may try to use your battery pack to run the accessories--or even the engine's ignition--when the key is off.

Try and get one of those Cig. Plugs that has an internal fuse too.

-Bill

Somebody already made it for you. It's the iSun BattPak. Charges 1 - 10 AA batteries at a time. Has built in 12v (or any other voltage you want from 1.2v to 12v) cigarette socket. Has an optional solar charger. Most places sell it for about $29.

As JimH indicated, someone has indeed already made it for you. I don't know how common they might be in Singapore, but those portable 12V power supplies that are sold with the jumper cables to start a car, often have 12V lighter outlets and some sort of light, and some even have a 12V air compressor on board to inflate tires. Those units use a 12V SLA battery as a power source and can be charged either via AC or a car cord.

I agree with Brighteyez. I have one of those I use during power failures and other 12 volt projects. They are already protected from shorts, they have a charging system already made and a nice carrying case.

Mines has a pass through feature. You can plug the cig plug into your car to charge it and keep it topped off and hook your load to the unit and it will run off the battery when you turn off the engine.