Originally Posted by
justcrankn
I would really like to know how much power the Nova uses in strobe. I don't need more light at night, I need it during the day so it will have to operate for up to 12 hours. Red in back, amber on sides, white up front...
The Nova manual for the BullLED says max current is .35AMPS. I measured this and is fairly accurate when the steady ON strobe option is selected (BullLED has 8 strobe options ... one of them being steady ON). This is approximately 5W (14V*.35A). When a strobe pattern is choosen it, the power rating drops below that rating and varies due to the OFF state of the strobes.
So figure 20W at Steady ON is worse case or max useage (all four BullLED heads at Steady ON).
So ... worse case ... 4 BullLEDs on Steady On state = 4*.35A for a total current draw of approximately 1.40A ... rounded up to 1.5A to make the math easier.
1500mAH battery will last (at that current setting) about 1 hour.
3000mAH battery will last ( ) about 2 hours.
Obviously, 4 BullLEDs on STEADY ON will be a little much.
If a strobe pattern used half the current of max (.7A rounded up to 1A for easier math)
1000mAH battery would last 1 hour
3000mAH battery would last about 3 hours.
At low settings, you MIGHT get 12 hours with a 12AH (12000mAH) battery.