Possible to power cold cathode lights with batteries?

[lyzrdstomp]

My artist wife has an art show coming up and she wants to back-light several of her images. The gallery doesn't have any AC outlets available, and running a long extension cord from "down the hall" doesn't look professional, so we're wondering what's the best way to do this.

We could go with 10-20 bright white LEDs behind a diffusion panel, but we're also looking at some of those PC case mod cold cathode lights. Either way, it would have to be powered by batteries for about 8 hours a day.

Anyone know of a battery "pack" method to power 10-20 LEDs or cold cathode lights 8 hours a day without having to purchase a warehouse in batteries? Would one of those large 12 volt batteries have enough current to drive one of those cold cathode lights for hours? Of course, the battery would be hidden away inside the lightbox and not just lying on the ground under the image.

I have a feeling that the cold cathode lights can't be powered by a bunch of batteries strung together due to the small amount of current... any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[VVV]

The CCFL will require an inverter. I don't know how many of those lights you actually need, but I think a regular 12V car battery should be able to run 2-3 CCFLs for several hours. Think of a laptop: the backlight does run for a few hours on a small battery and it's not only the backlight that runs off of it.

 

[lyzrdstomp]

Think of a laptop: the backlight does run for a few hours on a small battery and it's not only the backlight that runs off of it.

Excellent point! Thanks for the reply.

 

[Meridian]

Think of a laptop: the backlight does run for a few hours on a small battery and it's not only the backlight that runs off of it.

Excellent point! Thanks for the reply.

Also, you could run a cheapie 700watt inverter ($35) of the battery if you wish to keep it simple...