remote lighting

[davem]

we have just brought some illuminated champagne tables for our bar, they are 600mm in diameter with a roung glass top and an ice bucket in the middle.
within the table and under the glass is a small flurescent tube that lights up the table.
We have to plug these tables into a wall socket to light them up.
We want to power them from within the table via a rechargable battery, we have access to the inside, and we also want to switch them on via a remote control.
Can we do this and if so how?

 

[shrtrnd]

First thing I would consider, is replacing the flourescent lamp, with an LED (light emitting diode) assembly. It'll keep your power consumption WAY down, compared to what a Flourescent bulb will use in wattage. Interestingly to me, a lot of these LED assemblies are made to replace incandescent and flourescent bulbs, and are not that difficult to replace.
I'm suggesting this because you say you want to run them off rechargeable battery.
Something to consider.

 

[Mitchekj]

There's not actually all that much difference in power consumption between fluorescent and LED, as compared to incandescent.

 

[shrtrnd]

Incandescent 100W
Flourescent 30W
LED <2W
He wants to run this with a battery.

 

[Mitchekj]

A 2W LED will put out nothing even remotely close to a 30W fluorescent, moreso with the 100W incandescent. I agree LED is the most efficient of the three, you may have overstated it, is all. The list you provided does not take into account light output.

These three are about equivalent:
60W incandescent
13W CFL
10W LED (the expensive ones, most are about 12W)


And yes, for battery operation LED will be ideal. Just don't think that you will save any more than a day or two between recharges over the fluorescent.