How long will your batteries power my lights?

Batteries : Making your LED lighting portable since 1800

(EDITORS NOTE : Check our our new High Power 20,000 mAh battery here, and read more about it here)

Here at HitLights we sell battery packs to power our strips and LED products. They're relatively simple, you charge them and plug them in, and your lights turn on! A little more complicated, however, is figuring out which battery you need, and how long it will power your lights for.

Today, we're going to figure that out.All of our strips draw a certain amount of Watts, or power, from either a power supply, or in this case, a battery. The capacity of batteries is measured in mAh (milliamp hours) or Ah (amp hours). One mAh is one thousandth of one Ah. The batteries we sell have a capacity of either 3500 mAh (3.5 Ah), 6500 mAh (6.5 Ah), or 20000 mAh (20 Ah). But how do they relate to Watts?

Let's break out some math.

That's also relatively simple. The electrical power formula states that Watts = Amps x Volts. Our lights run on 12 Volts. So if we plug that into the formula we realize one amp is the equivalent of 12 watts of power. Thus, our three batteries actually contain 42 Watt Hours (12 x 3.5), 78 Watt Hours (12 x 6.5), and 240 watt hours (12 x 20) respectively. From here, your total battery capacity in time is pretty easy to calculate.

Start with the total Wattage of your strip - let's say the Standard Density Luma 10 strips at 32 Watts, and divide that battery capacity by that number. From these we find that the 3800 mAh battery can power this strip for 1.3125 hours (42 / 32), the 6000 mAh battery can power this strip for 2.4375 hours (78 / 32), and the 20000 mAh battery can power this strip for 6.25 hours (240 / 32).

It's science!

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Got battery lifespan down? It's just one small factor in LED lighting. Choosing the right LED light strip for your project is also important, and our free eBook, titled 'How to Choose LED Strip Lights' is an ideal guide in the next stage of your LED lighting journey.