How do you power a monilight outdoors?

[tony_black1]

What kind of power options available for monolights?ex. compact plus

600 profoto

[steve_hovland]

I haven't actually done this yet, but I am thinking of powering a WL10000 with a Radio Shack inverter plugged into one of those jumpstart battery packs.

 

I see that Costco now has inverters at pretty cheap prices compared to what I paid for my Radio Shack thing in 2000.

 

I would feel more comfortable doing this with a low-tech unit than with something with digital controls, although power from the wall isn't actually the pure either.

[steve_hovland]

I just tried this out. Works just fine. No strange noises or smoke.

 

WL10000 is about 250 WS.

 

The Radio Shack inverter is rated for 300W for up to 5 minutes, and has a thermostatically controlled fan. This is a more expensive unit than some I have seen.

 

I do not use a modeling light in this unit as I judge lighting effects with digital tests.

 

If you are using the modeling light it will drain the battery a lot faster and you need to add the power of the modeling light to the power of the strobe when sizing the inverter.

 

You probably want to get an inverter 50-100% bigger than the strobe at full power.

[nz]

I've been thinking of building my own battery setup. Unlike the premade ones sold for car jumping or emergency use a setup you put together yourself will be sized to your needs. Will be easier to keep running. Likely cheaper per power measure. Plus you don't need to haul the charger with you.

 

An inverter. I'm not sure if you need a pure sine wave inverter or not for this. Wouldn't hurt but pure sine waves cost more.

 

A good battery. Not a car battery. I'm thinking one of the smaller batteries aimed at the solar market. Just look at the 1 hour numbers not the 20 hour discharge rate. Assuming you'll be using the setup over a short period of time. This will build in a bigger safety margin in terms of power reserve and keep the battery going longer.

 

A good 12v charger.

 

The bits to connect it all together.

 

On the inverter sizing. It depends on the power being drawn. I guess if you use the fuse rating for a max safe number then you'd be on the high side. For example if the light had a 5 amp fuse then an inverter with 600 watts would be safe for that light. You'll need to add up all your lights. The way I understand it is slow recharging lights draw less power then those that recharge quickly. So same watt seconds but very different power needs.

 

Battery sizing is going to depend on how many flashes you need to fire and what time frame. It might matter how often you need to use the setup.

 

 

Downside is the heavy battery you'll be hauling.

Plus if you can't do the cabling yourself you'll have to find somebody to do it.

[johnmarkpainter]

PLEASE get a pure sine wave inverter. Also, check out the "Vagabond" at

www.alienbees.com

[stephen_bay]

Also check out dyna-lite's battery system for AC power:

 

http://www.dynalite.com/fxp1100_n.html

[steve_hovland]

Jonathan, please explain why a pure sine inverter is important. Thanks.

[tony_black1]

can I use this dynalite power system for ac with every AC head like profoto or broncolor monoheads?

[stephen_bay]

I believe it provides you with an AC outlet that you can use for anything.

[paul -]

<i>"PLEASE get a pure sine wave inverter. Also, check out the "Vagabond" at www.alienbees.com

"<p>"please explain why a pure sine inverter is important."</i><p><a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00EETR">This thread </a>mentions that an AlienBees rep stated the Vagabond "did not produce particularly clean sine wave AC power", and may not work with other lights. I've read in multiple threads on several sites that the commonly available cheap inverters will somehow burn out studio strobe lighting. They provide a "modified" sine wave (a fancy way of saying square wave), not a pure sine wave.<p>But then again, <a href="http://www.shutterbug.com/test_reports/1104sb_portable/">this Shutterbug article </a>claims the Vagabond is a pure sine wave inverter. It also explains a bit about why other wave forms are problematic.

[steve_hovland]

I accept the idea that cheap inverters might fry sophisticated flash units.

 

I suspect this would be less a problem with really simple units like my WL10000's because there probably isn't much in there beyond switches and capacitors.

 

One thing you could do would be to add a simple computer surge protector to the circuit.

 

Another would be to get some cheap simple units like the Adorama Digipoppers which have very simple full-half-quarter power levels.

 

At less than $200 for 300ws, and for occasional use, you can afford to sacrifice these units.

[paul -]

If buying new, lower power, portable battery capable units is an option, the <a href="http://www.adorama.com/JTM300WB.html?searchinfo=mobilight%20300&item_no=3">JTL Mobilight 300 comes with a (so-called by JTL) "Quantum Turbo compatible" high volatge battery pack with shoulder case for $320 at Adorama.</a> The lights work with direct AC, with the battery pack, or with the included car cigarette lighter/power outlet adapter going through the battery pack.<p>We don't expect much out of the Mobilights, don't know what the wave form is coming out of the battery pack, and wouldn't want to try them on other studio lights. However, when not using the battery packs with the Mobilights, they work great on a Sunpak 120J's high voltage input with a Quantum cord. The battery packs have gotten far more use this way than with the lights, so for us they were a good buy.