Lights for market stall

I'm doing a Christmas market stall , there is no electricity but i need lights, i have a few battery ones but they are not very powerful. Can anyone suggest good rechargable lighting or even a generator to buy/ hire.
thanks

I'm afraid I don't have any solutions, for you but I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has solved this problem as I do a lot of outdoor winter events and there is often very little lighting.

I think you need someone with electrical knowledge to set it up Jille, But there are lots of low voltage LED strips around, for instance in Robert Dyas. Wired to a car battery you could make a brave show, and they use hardly any power. But you have to get the maths right for the voltage.
An alternative is Campingas lanterns which have incandescent mantles.They need lighting with a match, but run for days. Let us know how you solve it, kind regards, Dennis.

In a similar vein to Deninis, I remember some time ago I used camping LED lights, they are battery operated and rechargable.

a lot of the rechargeable lights only last 3 to 4 hours. I found some 12v flourescent strip lights, they should run off a car battery, as well as my rope lights??

I'd suggest a leisure battery rather than a bog standard car battery - they're a lot more tolerant of too much charge being taken out of them (deep discharge).

Assuming everything is 12V, the simple version is to add together the current requirements and divide that into the number of Amp hours the battery stores... 1 Amp hour => the ability to draw 1 Amp for 1 hour (or 2 Amps for a half hour and so on).

But since the lights probably list power rather than current, you need to know that power in Watts = Volts * Amps. So crudely, you can add together the total power requirements of all your lighting, divide by 12 (12V battery) to get the current draw and divide *that* into the capacity of the battery to get the run time.

Then make sure the battery is fully charged before you take it out with you...

Q&D worked example:

You have a 12V, 50W light and an 86AH (12V) battery.
Your lights will draw (50/12 =) 4.1666A; therefore, your battery will theoretically keep them lit for 86/4.1666 = 20.64 hours.
Theoretically.

thank you Peter, I don't really get it but OH will, i didn't know there was such a thing as a leisure battery, you live and learn

You might need to ask the organisers of the Christmas Market about lighting. I did not apply for a market once as they said 'no LED lighting allowed' with no explanation as to why! (I was intending to use a few of those clip on desk lights with LED bulbs). We use Campingaz lanterns in our tent and know them to be safe, but I'm not sure they would be allowed on market stalls as they contain a naked flame?

Some years back I went to an exhibition of jewellery at Somerset House, London, with a group of friends. The queues were horrendous and although we had pre-booked we waited in a separate line for an hour to get in. Then to our amazement we were all handed torches and ushered into a completely darkened room. We all shone our twinkly lights around but it was a struggle to see any jewellery for the crowds. It was a curator’s nightmare and we left bemused. Sorry, but this thread just reminded me of it. Dennis.