Based on comments in this thread you should be prepared to run for considerably more than 8 hours. Give yourself at least a day and then you should be prepared to run for a while if you want to make sure you're observing anything interesting, so call it 48 hours.
Again based on comments in the thread, you should be prepared to dissipate 15W. This means having 500 to 750 watt hours of battery capacity available. Obviously, if you only allow yourself 8 hours, you'll only need 1/6 this much battery capacity. I don't *think* there's any problem with disconnecting the power for a few seconds to change batteries, but others with more experience may correct me. If you want to try the AC style experiment you'll need an inverter and you'll need to account for its (in)efficiency. Jeff On Sat, Sep 22, 2012 at 7:59 PM, Alan Fletcher <a...@well.com> wrote: > I've got to set me up a Sites Effect experiment. But it has to be portable > (ie outside). > What's the total power to bring it to "hot" status (8 hrs?) > > I see two options for power : > > 6V "Lantern Battery" > A 12V Car Starter kit Normal mode seems to have a current limiter, "boost" > mode bypasses it. > Gonna look stoopid with a battery clamp clutching a nickel, but what the > heck .... > >
