Hey Greg,
I appreciate your comments. I'll be glad to share all I know about my light and my experiences with it in regards to solar. I know nothing about solar and not much about DC. With that being said here goes.
The Bo-Jo Fish Light uses all 120 volt components. I use a motor that is rated at 2 watts, but draws 20-23 watts. I ship my lights with 2-23 or 26 watt compact flourescent lamps and the light has a photocell control which also consumes a fraction of a watt. The total light on 120 volts is a mere 60-65 watts and can be operated for 10 hours for about 5 cents.
When compared to most underwater green lights, this is rather impressive. The ones I have experimented with were around 200 watts each.
While this sounds simple on 120 volts, a 60-65 watt 12DC load is a pretty good sized solar load, so I am told. You can reduce the bulb size to 13 watts each with no impact on the lights ability to attract fish. I have not tried smaller lamps. Any reduction in over-all wattage will add to run time on solar. Also, a 12volt inverter consumes power to convert 12volt DC into a make believe 120 volt AC. With a 300 watt inverter and a Good 12 volt battery, I have gotten up to 25 hours on a solid one time cycle before the battery quit. Solar people say it is not good to completely discharge a battery. I do not know.
I am in the middle of trying something else for solar that would use a different motor and LED bulbs, but this looks costs prohibitive at this time.
I'm all ears, if someone has other ideas. Also, could make someone real happy that would Like to experiment.
Thanks again
Bob
