crazy idea I think or is it? external power for strobe away from home

[tracy_king1]

<p>part of the reason I have been leary of buying a studio strobe is cost sure as I'm broke and not sure how much use I would have for one as my two speedlights have worked fine so far, but a big reason also was I would enjoy the ability to bring my strobe away from home and a battery pack for them just seems like an expensive idea there.<br>

Then it hit me though, why not just use a car battery and a power inverter? batteries are cheap for me. I can get used ones from about 5-10 bucks (for that matter I have a few lying around even) while new are about 50 bucks and a power invertor itself as they aren't too expensive. <br>

how well would an idea like this work? I know 12v car batteries can at least handle a high power output in a short burst like in starting a car but would it be able to handle a constant draing for any length of time with my firing strobes off and if so how mlong would it go for a a guess. also would it have much of an effect on the refresh time on the strobes? Any other issues that you might be able to think about with this kind of setup?</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Do a little reading about which inverters will, and will not produce pure sine wave output. If it's no pure sine wave, it will quickly damage most strobes. There's also the problem of current. When you first charge up a strobe, it pulls a <em>lot</em> of current. More than most modestly priced inverters can handle. This is why most people just give in and use a product like the <strong><a href="http://www.alienbees.com/battery.html">The Vagabond</a></strong>. For most people, rigging something like up themselves (in a safe way, that won't destroy their strobes when it's being used) turns out to cost as much or more than just getting something off the shelf that simply <em>works</em>, and has a warranty and great support from the manufacturer.</p>

[paul heskes]

<p>Pretty sure someone posted a tutorial on here about how to go about this Tracy "I think they used 2 car batteries in a large holdall". Try a search, or google it if nothing shows here.</p>

<p>Regards<br>

Paul</p>

[jim_stewart3]

<p>I picked up a pure sine wave 600w (continuous) 1200w peak inverter from ebay for £50, batteries and charger for £50 and a toolbox to house them and my 600ws generator for £8 so you can put one together pretty cheap. To carry it I put it on a collapsing trolley because its not light weight.</p>

[ronald_olsen]

<p>I use a 9 amp/hour sealed lead acid battery and a Vagabond inverter, housed in an home-made sheet aluminum case. Weighs about 11 pounds, I get over 100 full power shots at 15 degrees F with an Alien Bee 1600, easy. I have a set of 7 of these battery packs, have had them since 2004, they are absolutely great. You don't need big car batteries and a 1500 watt inverter. Sorry, Tracy, we're a little bit ahead of you on this !</p>

[philscbx]

<p>Also Invertors, even the right rating for the load can suck a vehicle's battery quickly.<br>

There are slick battery load cut offs to stop the drain before batteries hit a certain level.<br>

Running the vehicle to keep up obviously, and using over size wire to lessen the load as well.<br>

Trolling size batteries in twin packs are going to be heavy, but that's the price necessary.<br>

Good quality inverters are spendy. Tired batteries just get in the way.<br>

I made all components fit on industrial plastic air cushioned hand truck including the AC battery charger.<br>

Now the welding cable size battery leads simply clamp to the hand trucks structure. No worries of dangerous high amp shorts.<br>

If I forgot to shut off the truck lights, just wheel out the power, and jump it.<br>

It's a win/win tool.<br>

If a storm takes out the shop lights, no big deal, just plug in the LED rope lights.</p>

 

[tracy_king1]

<p>what would be so bad about a non-perfect sine wave? from my understanding even most home outlets are not perfect sine waves with their power delivery as many of the power saving things used in a lot ofdevices now cause a lot of harmonics in the power system. if nothing else though I would think I would be able to get a fairly simple notch filter up to help reduce those harmonics.</p>

<p>ronald I was thinking car battery just being that for me they are simple easy and very cheap 12v battery to come by. recharge is easy and hoped they would have quite a bit of power to help out with lasting for some time even with a steady drain. this 9 A/h battery you are refering to thoug how much are they and where at?</p>

 

[simon p barlow]

<p>Hi<br>

I wrote an article in my blog about powering stobes on location from generators or inverters...<br>

http://spbphotography.blogspot.com/2009/01/using-generators-for-location-shooting.html<br>

You also might find this useful... http://www.spbphotography.co.uk/Bowens%20Travel-Pak%20Upgrade.pdf it was done for the Bowens unit, but I also included an inverter, so the idea is the same.<br>

Sorry I cant post them as short links, Safari Beta 4 seems to have issues with the links function on PNet.<br>

Simon</p>

[ronald_olsen]

<p>Tracy, if you type in "SLA, battery,12 volt", you should find dozens of manufacturers of sealed lead-acid batteries. Powersonic makes them, Interstate Battery, Sunnyway of China, etc, etc, etc. They cost only about $20, plus shipping. Get one with "T2" type terminals, call White-Lightning and buy one of their inverters, ask Joe in the technical department to make you a wiring harness for it to connect to the battery.<br>

These batteries are much smaller than a car battery. You really don't need anything that big. A 9 amp/h battery weighs about 6 pounds. Yes, you DO need to use a true sine wave inverter, flashes will eventually self-destruct with a modified sine-wave form one. <br>

I have found that the 9 amp/hour size is just right for x3200's. The plastic case is a standard 3.70" x 2.56" x 5.95", and that almost every battery manufacturer makes this size battery, so they are easy to find if you want to replace it with one of the same size when the original wears out. I use 7 amp/hour batteries for the smaller x1600 flashes that I have; the case is the same size, but they are a little lighter in weight.<br>

You can make a power-pack case for the inverter/battery out of about anything. I have used a plastic tote, a hand-made wooden box, and a small padded camera bag. My final and best solution was to go to the local metal fabricating shop and have them make one out of aluminum. This was more expensive but they have served me well and are are very tough. Good Luck !</p>