DIY (200ws) Lencarta Safari kit.

BluKoo

BluKoo

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Murray
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I have effectively converted my Lencarta Smartflash 200 into a portable flash kit, and all it took was a power inverter and a 12v dc car battery.

Although my smartflash head is only 200ws and the Safari kit is 600ws I'm very happy. I have all the kit I need (at the moment) and it does exactly what I need it to do and I saved myself a load of money :)

A breakdown of what it cost:
Lencarta smartflash 200 head & standard reflector: £120
Stand: £20
600w pure sine wave power inverter: £88

Total: £228

Compare that to the Safari kit and that's a saving of £572.

I assume others done this before? I wouldn't imagine i'm the first :lol:
 
Any photos of the setup?

I assume you already had the car battery as you've not included it in the cost.

Is the power inverter silent or do you have to put up with a bit of noise when it's running? I have a 300W cheapo inverter and it's a little bit noisey.
 
Currently it's just running off the car battery which is in the car, and I have a 25m extension cable plugged into the inverter so I can get a bit of distance between me and the car but i'm going to buy a separate battery so I can use it anywhere. That shouldn't be more than £30.

I can't hear the inverter running at all.
The is the one I bought: http://www.commsandsound.com/mercury-pure-sine-wave-inverters-600w-12vdc.html?source=googleps

Here is a quick pic of the set up until I get a separate battery...

IMG_1384 by Murray 1986, on Flickr
 
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Why the 600w version ? is this as your running from an extension ?
 
That's interesting :)

But the Lencarta Safari has three times the power and runs off a very light lithium battery. Could you hook that up to a lithium motorcycle battery or something?

Nice motors BTW :)
 
BigJohn said:
Why the 600w version ? is this as your running from an extension ?
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I went for the 600w version as I was advised by Gary that I would need 370 watts if I wanted to use the modelling lamp. Also this gives me the ability to run something else at the same time.
The recycle time is a little slower at full power, but not by much.

HoppyUK said:
That's interesting :)

But the Lencarta Safari has three times the power and runs off a very light lithium battery. Could you hook that up to a lithium motorcycle battery or something?

Nice motors BTW :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I realise the Safari has 3 times the power, but this is fine for me just now. My budget wouldn't stretch to the Safari, and as this is my first flash kit I thought it was a little overkill.
The inverter can be hooked up to any battery as long as it's 12v. Not sure what a lithium motorcycle battery would be, or would cost.
Maybe it's something I can look into.
 
BluKoo said:
I went for the 600w version as I was advised by Gary that I would need 370 watts if I wanted to use the modelling lamp. Also this gives me the ability to run something else at the same time.
The recycle time is a little slower at full power, but not by much.



Yeah, I realise the Safari has 3 times the power, but this is fine for me just now. My budget wouldn't stretch to the Safari, and as this is my first flash kit I thought it was a little overkill.

The inverter can be hooked up to any battery as long as it's 12v. Not sure what a lithium motorcycle battery would be, or would cost.Maybe it's something I can look into.
Click to expand...

I just had a quick google and a replacement lithium motorcycle battery seems to be about £200, or three times lead-acid. Very round numbers. About one third of the weight.

Not sure how this translates to a studio flash, but the lithium powered portable flashes I've tried are certainly a fraction of the weight and have several times the capacity.
 
Interesting and ideal for static location outdoor shoots (given me some ideas now).

Although after playing with a Safari kit I was amazed by how light it was, wouldn't fancy humping a car battery around a wedding party type shoot. :p
 
AndyBakerUK said:
Interesting and ideal for static location outdoor shoots (given me some ideas now).

Although after playing with a Safari kit I was amazed by how light it was, wouldn't fancy humping a car battery around a wedding party type shoot. :p
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That would be a good checklist the morning of the wedding: Camera, lens, bag, water, memory cards, tripod, laptop, mains lighting, modifiers, car battery, jump leads!

Like this idea though, cos if you are doing a location shoot and can get your car within a reasonable distance then it would mean that you can have a fair amount of power handy, far more than a speedlite.
 
I like the idea that you shouldn't be limited to the number of flashes either as long as you keep the engine running . Although an upgrade on alternater maybe needed .
 
So the plan is to run the flash on petrol. Hmm.... :)

We all know about these, right? http://www.innovatronix.com/explorerXT.asp

More expensive but they include the battery and are recommended up to 2,400 w/s.

There's an article on that site saying why you shouldn't do what you're doing - but since they want to sell you their own product it may be a touch partisan.
 
JonathanRyan said:
So the plan is to run the flash on petrol. Hmm.... :)

We all know about these, right? http://www.innovatronix.com/explorerXT.asp

More expensive but they include the battery and are recommended up to 2,400 w/s.

There's an article on that site saying why you shouldn't do what you're doing - but since they want to sell you their own product it may be a touch partisan.
Click to expand...

I was looking at those explorers as it means I could use my bowens, anyone tried them?
 
At the end of the day, these things are just a battery with, hopefully, a pure sine wave inverter that delivers clean current.
I don't think that it would be difficult for most people to save a shed load of money by assembling their own using the right bits

FWIW, I did tell the OP that I had reservations about his project, partly because there was very little info about the amount of consistent wattage supplied and mainly because, from memory, it is described as a 'modified sine wave inverter' which is very different from a pure sine wave inverter. There is a possibility that it could damage the flash head, in which case our repair techie will just give a hollow laugh instead of repairing it FOC:)

Having said that, the SmartFlash is a simple bit of kit and is less likely to be damaged than some.
 
Garry Edwards said:
At the end of the day, these things are just a battery with, hopefully, a pure sine wave inverter that delivers clean current.
I don't think that it would be difficult for most people to save a shed load of money by assembling their own using the right bits

FWIW, I did tell the OP that I had reservations about his project, partly because there was very little info about the amount of consistent wattage supplied and mainly because, from memory, it is described as a 'modified sine wave inverter' which is very different from a pure sine wave inverter. There is a possibility that it could damage the flash head, in which case our repair techie will just give a hollow laugh instead of repairing it FOC:)

Having said that, the SmartFlash is a simple bit of kit and is less likely to be damaged than some.
Click to expand...

The inverter I got was a pure sine wave one, so hopefully I shall have no problems :)
 
BluKoo said:
The inverter I got was a pure sine wave one, so hopefully I shall have no problems :)
Click to expand...
That's good news, hopefully you'll be fine then.
I think that the one you sent me a link to originally had lower output and only a modified sine wave
 
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