Running studio Lights off an inverter

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purplepaul

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Paul
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After watching the one light DVDs i have been looking into getting a setup which would have more punch than a speedlight set up.
I have been looking at the alien bees but wth the import costs etc they are a little out of my price range at the mo.

I have a set of interfit 150w lights and i have been thinking of putting together a pack similar to the vagabond they use but im unsure if it will have the power i need to run a single 150w strobe.

Any advice on this would be great
Paul
 
I suggest you do a search... there seems to be a lot of information out there....

A lot of people would recomend using a pure SIN inverter.... although a general purpose one would proberably do the job just fine....

Maplins do a nice pure SIN 400W inverter for about £80.... add to that the price of a decently sized 12V sealed lead battery (another £80).. plus a charger and some sundries and jobs a goodun :)
 
I too am very interested going down this route to use my 300w interfit strobe head on location.
 
Well, I'm one step ahead of you guys on this.

I have such a setup.

I bought a pure sine inverter and a Sealed lead acid battery, connected them together, charged the battery, added a 4 gang and put the whole lot in a Lowepro magnum 35 camera bag. At some point I will take some photos of the setup to show people. Works great too. Havent run it down at all, mind you I havent used it for more than 75 flashes at a time yet. I am running 2* Alien Bee AB800s

The whole lot cost me £120 i think, and that was reusing the bag, so you'll have to find something to put it in.

Downside, not moisture resistand at all.

Upside - it's not limited to studio gear like the bespoke battery packs are.

I can run my lights, my laptop, my phone charger, a printer if I want. And if I think I'm going to run out of power, I can even run it off my car battery. Add an extra battery to this for around £30, double the capacity.
 
barneyrubble said:
Well, I'm one step ahead of you guys on this.

I have such a setup.

I bought a pure sine inverter and a Sealed lead acid battery, connected them together, charged the battery, added a 4 gang and put the whole lot in a Lowepro magnum 35 camera bag. At some point I will take some photos of the setup to show people. Works great too. Havent run it down at all, mind you I havent used it for more than 75 flashes at a time yet. I am running 2* Alien Bee AB800s

The whole lot cost me £120 i think, and that was reusing the bag, so you'll have to find something to put it in.

Downside, not moisture resistand at all.

Upside - it's not limited to studio gear like the bespoke battery packs are.

I can run my lights, my laptop, my phone charger, a printer if I want. And if I think I'm going to run out of power, I can even run it off my car battery. Add an extra battery to this for around £30, double the capacity.
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YOU LEGEND! right I want all the info: where you bought the inverter make and model, battery spec and all the other bits needed so i can power my 300w interfit heads. Are you using both AB800 at once off the same battery?

Any pics would be great too...much better idea being able to run a laptop etc too.

thanks again!
 
oh and what about safety and chance of shock? is there any or is the system safe.
 
Briefly, I bought a Pure sine wave inverter from here:

Link

I bought a 600w pure sine inverter from him, he doesnt seem to have any of those at the moment. I paid £95 for mine, and prices seem to have gone up some.

I added an 18AH Sealed Lead Acid battery inclusive of charger and delivery for £43. So it cost slightly more than I thought, but you can pick this up for £32 delivered now

Battery

So I picked it up for around £145 delivered. But I have also been using it for other things too. The inverter came with all the cables required to connect to the battery.

As to safety, it's not moisture proof. Also you would need to create some sort of cover for the battery terminals themselves to stop them shorting.

Apart from that you need a bag to put it in, I just resused an old camera bag.

I will sort some photos maybe tomorrow. It's not pretty but it does the job, and yer I run both AB800s from it. As the load goes up, so does the recharge time, but I havent had any real issues with it yet.
 
barneyrubble said:
Briefly, I bought a Pure sine wave inverter from here:

Link

I bought a 600w pure sine inverter from him, he doesnt seem to have any of those at the moment. I paid £95 for mine, and prices seem to have gone up some.

I added an 18AH Sealed Lead Acid battery inclusive of charger and delivery for £43. So it cost slightly more than I thought, but you can pick this up for £32 delivered now

Battery

So I picked it up for around £145 delivered. But I have also been using it for other things too. The inverter came with all the cables required to connect to the battery.

As to safety, it's not moisture proof. Also you would need to create some sort of cover for the battery terminals themselves to stop them shorting.

Apart from that you need a bag to put it in, I just resused an old camera bag.

I will sort some photos maybe tomorrow. It's not pretty but it does the job, and yer I run both AB800s from it. As the load goes up, so does the recharge time, but I havent had any real issues with it yet.
Click to expand...

thanks pal, will give it ago too! :clap:
 
barneyrubble said:
Briefly, I bought a Pure sine wave inverter from here:

Link

I bought a 600w pure sine inverter from him, he doesnt seem to have any of those at the moment. I paid £95 for mine, and prices seem to have gone up some.

I added an 18AH Sealed Lead Acid battery inclusive of charger and delivery for £43. So it cost slightly more than I thought, but you can pick this up for £32 delivered now

Battery

So I picked it up for around £145 delivered. But I have also been using it for other things too. The inverter came with all the cables required to connect to the battery.

As to safety, it's not moisture proof. Also you would need to create some sort of cover for the battery terminals themselves to stop them shorting.

Apart from that you need a bag to put it in, I just resused an old camera bag.

I will sort some photos maybe tomorrow. It's not pretty but it does the job, and yer I run both AB800s from it. As the load goes up, so does the recharge time, but I havent had any real issues with it yet.
Click to expand...

Thanks mate will put one together soon

I think a toolbox might work as a way of carying it round.
 
They don't get shipped form the states, I think they are in the Phillipines. Shipping is 50 dollars, which aint bad. You cant blame Innova for the import duties either...
 
I thought they were shipping from the states, yeah $50 aint bad at all is it, what kind of power head were you thinking of running?
 
Two 400w/s elinchroms, or one 400 and one 250.

Im a little concerned with the weight, as I already carry too much, so any shooting might have to be close to a car park.
 
The weight you can't really get away from unfortunately. Mine is heavy and I'm only running a small 18AH battery. You just need an assistant to carry it for you :lol::lol:
 
Kris said:
Two 400w/s elinchroms, or one 400 and one 250.

Im a little concerned with the weight, as I already carry too much, so any shooting might have to be close to a car park.
Click to expand...

Im considering some kind of hold all which allows you to drag the entire system on wheels using a retractable handle. Then its simply a matter of wheeling it around.
 
barneyrubble said:
Briefly, I bought a Pure sine wave inverter from here:

Link

I bought a 600w pure sine inverter from him, he doesnt seem to have any of those at the moment. I paid £95 for mine, and prices seem to have gone up some.
Click to expand...


The price has gone up some, £340 now !!
 
seventythree said:
personally i'de have an rcd on the first plug into the inverter. the same type as you get for lawnmowers and outdoor equipment etc.

like this one: http://www.screwfix.com/prods/63731/Electrical-Supplies/RCDs/Masterplug-RCD-Adaptor
Click to expand...

yes, definitely do this.

Also might want to get a set of IEC cables made up using 16A industrial (weatherproof) connectors if they plugs or extension leads could get damp (eg put on wet ground), and if there is a grounding point on the tronix pack, while it is safe, and the rcd should deal with it if there is a big problem, it may be worth running a ground cable out to a large nail in the ground too.
 
Some thing else to think about is the ups or back up power supplies for the computer industry they already have the inverters in and come in a neat package...just stick in a bag and go!
 
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