The context is a multi-day group summer campout with a big tent (dome actually) as common space. People have been complaining about the noise of a generator (not mine) providing the lights at night. I thought I could make use of my (to be purchased soon) Christmas pixels strings for this, quietly powering them from a 12v deep cycle battery - and having fun with some colors and lighting effects as well.
(I was actually thinking to maybe prsent it as a simple light with variable brightness and perhaps color like a dumb RGB string - but then have it slowly begin injecting a brief chase or other pixel based effects late at night, and play with people's minds a little bit. I want somebody to avidly tell me about the really strange glitches they only occassionally saw in the lights, while I look dubious with a staight face. I don't think my fellow campers know about individually controllable pixels so I might pull this off for a while).
I could avoid using a battery charger at the same time the lights are connected (since it would raise the voltage above 14V, most likely). I might be able to recharge the battery during daylight, if it runs down too much. However, I think I can get three nights worth of light from the battery without recharging, if I'm reasonably efficient.
Going from 12 VDC to an 120 VAC inverter, and then a 120 VAC to 12VDC power supply would not be very efficient, so I'm looking for all DC power options - direct connection, DC-DC converter, LDO regulator - and hoping for some experience, product suggestions, or other community brilliance.
RJ says someone did this and said it worked fine (I'm assuming "did this" means direct connection to the battery, which is the simplest option). I'm hoping that psrson might see this thread and give us an update.
