Preserving Battery Power

There are two ways to approach dry camping: either you figure out a way to increase the amount of power you want by using the genset or solar panels or you figure out a way to decrease the amount of power you need.

I started to reduce the amount of power way back in Thunder Bay when I bought a French press for making coffee. The new laptop is another way of reducing power since I can watch a movie on it instead of firing up the iMac. Last night, I read for about an hour and was acutely aware of just how much juice a 12V light uses. So, I decided it was time for me to find an LED puck light,  about which I’d heard rave reviews from other RVers.

I was heading for the cash at Canadian Tire this morning when I just happened onto their LED puck light display! The one I bought is white and has sticky tape on the back for fixing to a surface. It has three little lights. Tapping the unit shuts one light off at a time, like a dimmer. I’m very impressed; it’s bright and a much easier light to read by. I think I will do like some RVers and slowly replace my 12V lighting with these LED lights. The one I bought was 10$, which isn’t that much more than a 12V lightbulb.

9 thoughts on “Preserving Battery Power

  1. WOW, a Caterpillar ad at the top of your blog today. You’re running with the Big Dogs now. I know you can’t see those or have any control. It just struck me as funny today, a big Cat ad on a blog from a gas powered Class C 🙂 Have a great day and a fun trip to the Island.

  2. Croft, it DOES start! It just doesn’t stay started. 🙂 Every time I run it, I get twice as much run time as the previous. I’m just waiting to get to Watson Lake so I can take the carb apart and clean it, as well as change the oil filter.

    Norman, I can see my ads, but I missed the one for the CAT. WOW! LOL!!! Thanks for the good wishes!

  3. I love those LED lights. When I go camping, I usually take my forehead LED flashlight. Super for when you need to use both hands and great for reading also. If you get one, it’s definitely worth getting one with a red filter. Bright white light against white pages can be too stark.

    • Julie, the one I picked up at CDN Tire is sort of blueish. It’s very nice to read by, much better than the yellowish 12V lighting!

  4. Rediscovered this archive when I started investing in pucks. (I am linking to it as a reference point) We have been picking up a new style that are white, run on 3 AAA batteries, are LED, swivel and pivot, so it works great for covering a greater beam coverage. One other feature I like is that they are velcro, so easier to change the battery.
    Down in AZ I am picking them up for $14.99 USD for 3.

  5. The one I bought isn’t as great as yours, but I will be upgrading now that I know how much I like the LEDs, and even when I’m plugged into shore power. But they sure are more expensive here! The plain one I got was 9.99$ at CDN Tire for ONE!

    If I was going to stick to the model I currently have, I was going to switch the sticky strip for Velcro. 🙂

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