power drain from running lights?

[rhill]

I am considering installing a light bar and headlights on my H10 Optic. I know there are a lot of variables such as motor, tires, vehicle weight, and terrain being driven, but how much shorter could I expect my runtime to be, roughly. I will be running 1800mah batteries, with Holmes crawlmaster 2300kv motor, right now in all stock configuration. Just trying to figure out if I want to go with the lights or not. Night driving sounds like a good time. I guess if runtime is shortened too much that just means carrying xtra batteries. Thanks for any help!

 

[dustyroller]

I run 3s 2200mah batteries and don’t notice any difference in running times. Same trail same time etc… maybe a loss of a minute or two out of 45-60 min trail run in any of my crawlers. I can turn them on and off at will but also run a bec powering everything so even more of a loss in capacity. Finding a mini LEP would be cool and kill a battery, regular LEDs shouldn’t be a concern.

 

[majin]

my sons basecamp gets longer run time WITH a light bar thean my ecto does without one. same batteries but he always gets at least 15 mins longer run time it feels like.

yeah the light is definately going to shorten the packs duration, but i doubt youd notice much difference.
like @dustyroller said, weve ran the same trails with the same packs and it takes me 5 to make the loop takes my son 3

which is really weird cause hes full gas most of the time, while I'm usually slower and crawling, but imalso going off road and spending 5 mins trying to climb a log while hes just laughing as his truck hops over it on the first try...
little jerk..

 

[rhill]

Just the info I was looking for. Thanks! I think the small tradoff will be well worth it. I am on the lookout for 2200mah packs that will fit the Optic. Found a pack on Scamazon but looks like long delivery time. Sure would be nice if 3200's would fit.

 

[dustyroller]

Both of these work well, and cheap enough especially when on sale. the goldbat have a 80c rating and heavier garage wires
GOLDBAT 3S 11.1V Lipo Battery 2200mAh
Zeee 3S Lipo Battery 2200mAh

 

[WRM]

I doubt that the lights will have a significant effect on run times, but you could certainly find out for yourself.

1) Take a fully-charged pack and put it in the vehicle.
2) Turn on only the lights for a set period of time (e.g. 1 hour).
3) Re-charge the pack to full, note how many mAhs it takes to top it off.
4) Divide power consumed by the pack capacity to give you percent of power consumed/time unit.

That number will be slightly greater than simply lights because you'd also be drawing Rx & ESC "idle" current but should give you a good idea of how much power the lights are costing you. If you really want to nail it down, repeat the experiment with Rx & ESC on, but lights off, then subtract that from Rx/ESC/Lights ON power consumed for the same duration.

 

[rhill]

Both of these work well, and cheap enough especially when on sale. the goldbat have a 80c rating and heavier garage wires
GOLDBAT 3S 11.1V Lipo Battery 2200mAh
Zeee 3S Lipo Battery 2200mAh

Thanks for the link, I missed those somehow. I have used zee packs in planes with no issues. I will buy a few of both and try them out.