Quote:
Originally Posted by blw2
... but I didn't settle on one as I need to figure out how I'm going to ensure the switch doesn't get turned on by accident draining my battery.
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You can always get creative and add a switch timer, such as one of these, if you can find a place for it:
Altronix Programmable Timer Module 6030
It has a 3mA current drain in standby. Or you can probably buy similar ones on eBay.
I bought one of these for my stepwell courtesy light:
Amazon.com : SeaSense LED Companion Way Light, Black Cover/White LED : Boating Interior Lights : Sports & Outdoors
I connected it to my 12V bench power supply, and it only consumes about 25mA with three LEDs inside the fixture. If you just used this LED without a timer, it's discharge rate would take 5 months to drain a 100AH battery (or 10 months if you have two batteries in parallel).
The self discharge rate of the battery would probably be as high or higher than the LED fixture, so the risk of leaving the light on is probably minimal.
Unfortunately, this LED fixture does not have a switch, so you would have to wire one up. But there are probably others you can use that do not consume any more than a few millAmperes.
Hopefully, you would notice the light being on before too many days pass; unless of course it is inside a cabinet - in which case you could wire a switch to the door of the cabinet so it goes off whenever you close it.
If you are worried about draining the battery, you could always build your own battery bank with a few rechargeable AA NiMH batteries, so the switch will be "off grid" so to speak.
It all just comes down to how much time you want to invest in a crazy wild idea (of which I have plenty).
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