I want to rig a 120 volts light to a car battery how can I do it to make it work?

Question

it a heat lamp for my iguana because I putting him outside in a big cage and I can't run a extention cord to the light so I need to use a car battery for the light thanks

Answer 1

You can use an inverter. Just go to any auto parts store and you'll see them. Keep in mind the wattage of your lamp. If you heating lamp is 700 watts (just an example) you'll need an inverter capable of producing at least 900 watts.
And also keep in mind that a heating lamp takes a lot of juice, so it will discharge a car battery in no time.

Answer 2

An inverter works with the vehicle alternator to get 120 V., so unless you park your car by the cage & leave it running, it probably isn't your answer. You could try a hand held 12 V. spotlight, instead of the heat lamp. Vector makes a 3-stage one with variable brightness & a trigger lock. Fully charge it & use the supplied power adapter plug with a fully charged car battery that has a power supply socket connected to the terminals. You'll need to recharge both on a regular basis, but, it's a possible solution to your problem.

Answer 3

You'll need to get an inverter, easily found at most good auto parts store. Keep in mind they're not efficient, you'll run the battery down real quick.

You'll also need a deep cycle battery, very expensive. Regular car batteries aren't meant to be run dead and recharged all the time, they'll quickly burn out.

You'll be better off rigging up some sort of AC setup. It will be much cheeper in the long run.

Answer 4

You are going to need an inverter to push 12 volts dc up to 120 ac.