Non led trailer lights drains battery faster

[BUlldogtrix]

Just an observation. Hauled a washer and dryer to my daughter’s apartment approximately 100 miles for college coming up. Used a small 6x10 trailer. I used about an extra 50 miles going up. I was pleased with this amount over the mountain. We came back after dark with a full charge. Same distance. Used 150 more miles on return trip. I have standard lights on trailer. With a couple marker lights. I figured out that non LED lights were using the extra power. I stopped about 5 miles from house and unplugged lights. Mileage was normal then.
just an observation

Sponsored

 

[tmeyer3]

I'm surprised you were able to see a difference with only lights. The difference between 6W and 60W lights is a big one, but compared to a 123kWh battery it's negligible.

 

[ÆCIII]

LED lights use only 15% to 20% of Incandescent lights of the same brightness (lumens) on average due to light coming from electroluminescence verses heat. But trailer lights would generally consume less than one percent of the total energy compared to the motors and other components.

So if there were 125 Watts of Incandescent lights total on a trailer, they'd use about 100 Wh more (per hour) compared to LEDs, but only about 2 Wh/mi increased consumption rate if driving 50 miles in an hour.

As @tmeyer3 noted, that's a negligible difference. I think you had other factors affecting consumption on your return trip.

- ÆCIII

 

[mongo]

Just an observation. Hauled a washer and dryer to my daughter’s apartment approximately 100 miles for college coming up. Used a small 6x10 trailer. I used about an extra 50 miles going up. I was pleased with this amount over the mountain. We came back after dark with a full charge. Same distance. Used 150 more miles on return trip. I have standard lights on trailer. With a couple marker lights. I figured out that non LED lights were using the extra power. I stopped about 5 miles from house and unplugged lights. Mileage was normal then.
just an observation

Was that 100+50 (i.e. 150) outbound and 150 return?
1 mile of range is around 370Wh. If you were driving for 2 hours, that's a draw of 185W, or over 10 Amps at 12V. Trailer lights shouldn't pull that much.

And that's just one extra mile of range...

 

[BUlldogtrix]

Sorry. Distance is 100. Each way. I used 150 total going and 250 total coming back after dark. Maybe a combination of all lights being used.
On return trip. I left with. A charge of 354. Arriving home with 104 left

 

[mongo]

Sorry. Distance is 100. Each way. I used 150 total going and 250 total coming back after dark. Maybe a combination of all lights being used.
On return trip. I left with. A charge of 354. Arriving home with 104 left

That's a huge change. Headwind? Temperature? Stuck surge brakes on trailer?
100 miles = 37kWh at 2 hours travel time that's 18kW draw somewhere... or >60k BTU heat output.
What did you do for charging?

 

[jookyone]

I left with. A charge of 354.

354?! Considering it's rated at 318 miles with the AT tires, you can politely disregard this whole problem...

 

[Woodrick]

Always look at the Energy Graph for consumption information. It even tells you what's lost or gained because of winds.

 

[CyberGus]

Maybe they were 1000W halogen lights? ?‍

 

[mongo]

Maybe they were 1000W halogen lights? ?‍

18 of them????

Sponsored