A question about parking lights.. For how many hours can i leave my parking lights on? Whithout the battery going down?
- posted
17 years ago
A question about parking lights.. For how many hours can i leave my parking lights on? Whithout the battery going down?
They only take about 1 amp, so all the hours of darkness will be ok. Unless you live at the North Pole. ;-)
It depends on the condition of your battery.
It's pretty simple math. Your lights draw (probably) 3 or 4 amps each, and there are 4 of them. Let's round up the current to make a worse-case scenario -- suppose the lamps all draw 6 amps each, that would be 24 amps. The battery supplies 650 amps, so we divide 650 by 24, this says the battery will last 27 hours. Remember, we rounded the current draw upwards, your battery would likely survive the ordeal something on the order of 36 hours. Since there is seldom a time when it is dark for 36 hours at a stretch, you should find your way back to the car and switch them off.
I frequently leave my car with the parking lights on for 30 minutes.
You're well out there, Jeff. 650 amps refers to the maximum cranking current - not the capacity. That is measured in amp/hours and a typical figure would be about 70 amp/hours for a large car battery. So it would run a load of 7 amps for 10 hours, roughly.
To add info, batteries are usually measured at the 20 hour rate, so a 70 amp/hour battery would be checked using a 3.5 amp load. A lesser load would probably last pro rata longer - a heavier one less.
Also in the UK, side or parking lights are 5 watts - ie just under 0.5 amp.
So just under one amp when the parking lights are set to one side only if one bulb back and front.
My car is E90 320d Sedan 2006.. How many hours can i leave The parking lights on?
There seems to be an echo here...
On 4 May 2006 08:20:37 -0700, "Erhanboy" waffled on about something:
How long do you want to leave them on?
Over night? Should be no problem unless the battery is weak, and the climate very cold (hard starting).
In a long stay car park whilst you're on holiday? Nope. Don't do it.
Dodgy.
Yes in thinking of leaving it on over night.. but i might forget and leave it on upto midday or night. Thats why i want to know how many hours it will stay on. it is an automatic car so if the battery goes down i can do nothing but calling the service..
You do realise that most BMWs will allow only the two lights on one side on for overnight parking? Switch off lights and ignition and set the turn indicator lever to left or right as required. This more than halves the full parking light current draw.
im thinking of leaving them on all nite.. i mean incase i forget to turn them off in the morning..
Yeah, I got that mistake (amps vs. watts) right after I hit Send. I way over stated the wattage as if they were amps, but the result is still that the battery would provide juice until the sun comes up again.
As many as you want.
I LEFT MY 520i LIGHTS ON FROM MIDNIGHT TIL 7PM THE NEXT DAY
TURNED THEM OFF, GAVE IT A REST, AND THE CAR STARTED FINE
(sorry caps)
don't drain your battery completely, you will wreck it
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