Homemade Vegabond Inverter Portable Power Source

[justywest]

hi jacob.. what i reallllllyyy wanna know is this.. in your video you used an 800w strobe, and you fired it up with a 300w inverter... can you use the strobe at full power with a 300w inverter? since its an 800w strobe.. thanks alot!!! :)

[JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER]

@justywest hey yup i can use it full power no problem :)

[TheKultus]

You didn't make the inverter as the title suggests so I gave you a thumbs down bro.

[JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER]

@TheKultus yea its cool bro :) but technically the titale says homemade vegabond inverter so im buying the parts to make the vegabond i'm not actually making an inverter just the package deal :) but this is an old video i would suggest buying the vegabond mini its fantastic!

[TheKultus]

it's the word "Homemade" remove that, I'll give you a thumbs up, cause you didn't make the inverter at home, you bought it and stuffed it into a bag... NOTHING here is home made.....

[web1bastler]

Ah is the capacity

so 35Ah that means

if u run a 1 Amp device u can run it for 35 hours

[allwyngidin]

hi....i having a inverter battery...

i am not having the ups to charge it,,,as i dont use pc any more..

coluld u pl,z tel me how to charge a inverter battery without the inverter

[miguelzepeda20]

hahahahaha .. ideot proof

[mathscirocks]

if you plug in a 3 prong thing you should ground it. 2 prong you don't have to worry about it

[swapnil353]

this was best !! i want more

[jdsprague3]

I wanna know how the inverter works, thats why I followed the link. Good concept tho

[969SobiasTokeS696]

how the fuck is this a homemade inverter



[transmissionslipping]

@969SobiasTokeS696

I think he is referring to as how he put it together...

[delacosa]

How much Ws is your Flash....please can you tell me how much flashes can you shoot with 1/4...thx

[mogi28]

hey @jacobthephotogrpaher i sent you a message regarding a question i have

[JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER]

@mogi28 Questioned answered :)

[MoJoe931]

hey why dont you get a 12v batt charger and charge the batt back up or run a line from your car batt to charge on the go!!! Or when the batts are dead you can ship them to me ! I with pay shipping cost! LOL

[drc2311]

Thanks for the video, had one question. I have looked at skycraft and can't seem to find the cables/connectors that you are using. Do you have the product number?

[JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER]

@drc2311 Hey seems they sold out... the name of the connectors are Sermos Power Pole Connectors but you can use any kind of connectors you want as long as they are the proper A load. Here is a link to some extras i bought but you have to roll your own cable. These are the cheapest I found on the net so far if you find them cheaper lemme know! $10.46

rcplanet(dot)com and look up product number: RCEPP10

[brandon14872]

for the ground you can use the negetive terminal of the battery

[JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER]

@brandon14872 Well not necessarily... technically you SHOULD stick a rod into the ground and run a wire to that to ground it to the earth that is the safest way to do things but like always do what you feel is safe :)

[Iseekoutthetruth]

you must live in florida Skycraft the building with the ufo on the roof, that is the best place in the world.

[JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER]

@Iseekoutthetruth oh yes!! that place is a wonderland of wires and plugs and screws oh my! I pretty much think if macgyver opened a store it would pretty much be skycraft :)

[08STUDIO]

Jacob, Why is so importat to use a PURE SINE WAVE inverter??

[JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER]

@08STUDIO Here is what I have always been told "Pure Sine Wave inverter produces a better and cleaner current. Output voltage wave form is pure sine wave with very low harmonic distortion and clean power like utility-supplied electricity" So sounds like if the current spikes up or down and isn't consistently PURE it might damage your strobes.

[08STUDIO]

@JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER Thank's dude!

[brandon14872]

i got a 1000 watt new working inverter for 20 dollars on ebay

[JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER]

@brandon14872 Is it a PURE sine wave inverter? this is VERY important to get this kind they run a little more but the cost of replacing gear might justify it :)

[brandon14872]

the negetive terminal of the battery can be a ground for the inverter

[brandon14872]

why do we have to have super vision if we are kids I am 11 years old and i built a solar generator with no help

[d00mie74]

The negative terminal of the battery is your ground

[JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER]

@d00mie74 The negative terminal isn't a proper ground however. To properly ground the device you need to put a ROD into the ground with a wire running to the ground bolt on the inverter. I have chosen to use a "GFCI" ground fault circuit interrupter because if something were to spike it will shut off the connection immediately almost like a hair dryer being dropped in the sink :)

[mzahra1]

Thanks for posting this, much appreciated !

[mike121223]

i like how you talk ho ho ho lol

inverter should be 40$

batterys should be recharged dont keep going through batterys like that

[ujayet]

Im retarded in these kinds of things but thinks this stuff is cool!! I wanna know is why don't you just connect the light directly to the battery? and also you where saying if you're out in the feild, and the battery goes dead you would have to buy a brand new one, hmm.. how long does the batt. last and can it just be use with solar panel? cause throwing it away does not seem efficient to me..

[JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER]

@ujayet You have to buy a battery charger most people might already have one to charge up their car battery but a good brand is battery tender make sure it matches the voltage of your battery 12V :)

[InsaneJim]

Is it me or did he say he was color blind? then he says the light is green. maybe some one told him the light was green??? A color blind photographer cant be Good. lol.

[ujayet]

@InsaneJim hahhahahhahhahhahhahaha now thats funny!!!!

[JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER]

@InsaneJim Thats why i shoot all black and whites!! :) hehe

[wifebeater756]

@InsaneJim color blind people see shadows better and low light better so color blind people are good for this kind of stuff its not what people think it is some colors kinda look like other colors

[jvandehe]

I looked for your inverter, and the 300W version is ~$8 more than the 150W version.

On a side note, this inverter would allow you to have power anywhere you take your car/truck also. :)

I've done this with a cheap 150W inverter, but only for my no-name 110W flashes. Pure Sine inverter is required for nice strobes like AB's. :)

[CHeRNoRMX]

Can you use a solar panel in parallel to the battery? And have a steady 100~300 watt self efficient power system at your garden? Damn..... I forgot electronics... I think a zener diode or something is needed. Oh.btw.I LOLed with your comments!

[skinpiston]

A wire with a clip-on battery clamp mounted to any water pipe, lamp post, or center screw of an electrical outlet should provide earth ground.

[BATMEX44]

That battery can buy it for 10.00 at the fleamarket. Brand New! Thats a steal!

[hacker1462]

i need to hook up lights to my go kart

it not have lights can i take a battery and hook up some fog lights to it what about

ground u need to ground the battery or not hook up lights on my go kart like u

would a car ground the fog lights and not battery someone pleas responde

[UBERKron]

earth the negative, earth your lights and run a hot wire to a switch then switched feed goes to your lights. check out my vid and rate to thank me.

[msgomezm]

Cool idea ;)

How many shots can this handle at full power?? Aprox. U know ;)

Great videos

[JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER]

you know... I dont quite know! I will have to give it a test run and let you know.

[msgomezm]

That will be cool, I need a similar equipment :D

[homemademotor]

uuuuh come sei intelligente!!ciarriva un cretino a attacare un inverter ad una batteria!!

[JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER]

LOL yes its pretty much a no brainer to hook up an inverter to a battery BUT this is more specifically going after building a cheaper version of a vegabond alien bees inverter.

[jimbob73514]

Well thats how the cookie crumbles... The squirrel either lives or dies of an overdose of pies!! :-(

[badphobar]

handy

a plug bar is a good addition and so handy to wear out the plug bar instead of the Inverter plug, hard to fix.

thanks

[detomaso4ag]

i did same thing but with an AIMS inverter and guess what happend? inverter fried!! dont ever think about doing this with an AIMS even if it is a 300w like mine

[JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER]

that sucks! yea i haven't tried AIMS i've only tried SAMLEX

[gregryf]

What the hell's homemade about it? All you did was hook up stuff that you can buy at the hardware store or even a truckstop

[JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER]

well its not so much "homemade" but as far as the vegabond goes its a home brewed version.. but no i didn't cut the metal and soldier the circuit board to make my own pure sine wave inverter ;)

[skipper700]

very elementary

[MiamiGodess]

Where did you buy the Battery to Inverter cables ?

[Garbage19]

Unless you're trying to run a bunch of strobes at one, this is too much. You can use a 150w inverter and a 12v 10ah battery making the setup much lighter.

[JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER]

Very good point and i just ordered two of the 150w inverters and two 12V 18ah batteries will keep you all posted as to how these builds work out

[jackies35]

great vid! If you wanted to add a computer, printer (event photographer printers not inkjet), and the aB800, would that battery work? I have a 750 Watts black and decker inverter with 6.5amp...

I need to run and use my Macbook, printer(not inkjet), and AB800 outdoors. Please help me with some feedback! thanks!

[linuxpyro]

Looks good. Regarding grounding, one thing to be careful of is that the inverter probably connects the negative battery lead to the chassis, so if it comes in contact with the positive battery terminal it could cause sparks, melting wires, etc. (At least this is the way it is on mine.) I think it also connects the ground on the output side to the negative battery lead, so you should be fine. If you did say hook up a solar panel, you'd probably want to ground the entire system though.

[hektik86]

you would need a ground for the 120v

[solartape]

cool.....needs a solar panel

[chris305baller]

this kids dumb he's gonna pay for a new one each time it dies lmao

[platomaker]

this video was made over a year ago, so do you need to ground it or not?

[nsra1933]

Notice how jacob the photographer never answers any posts?

[JohnathanYT]

JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER,

Are you still using this set-up?

If so any mods to it?

If not...why?

I see the Vagabond is selling for about $300. For about $150.00 we can build our own with twice the number of pops, but the Vagabond looks so much more pro. The Vagabond page mentions a 1200 Ws pack is good for about 250 pops, that is plenty for me. I'm kinda on the fence right now about building or buying. Just want to get your input.

Thanks,

John V.

[TheLightningStalker]

Depending on the strobe, it's possible that you could get away with using a modified sine inverter.

[moreczbogdan]

use a fuckin car battery that u can recharge. or modify an UPS

[chrischris349]

Sealed Batteries like that are lead acid, they recharge..., Also a car battery would be easily damaged by alot of usage, Not to mention who wants to carry around a car battery, spillin' acid everywhere?

[jerryf44]

You need a fuse between the battery and the inverter. Use the ground, that is why they put the lug there.

[00THEONEWITHNONAME00]

COOL...

ADD A SOLAR PANEL TO YOUR SET AND YOU'RE READY TO GO!

(wind turbine maybe)

SO SAMLEX PRODUCTS ARE ALRIGHT???

[gamer2284]

i have the same kinda battery, i need a small inverter thats like maybe 200 watts

[miramichiphoto]

I tried making one of these with an AIMS 300w pure sine wave inverter, and it didn't work. Why does the Samlex work and the AIMS does not??

[shiggadee]

i guess he's never met a truck driver before, or he'd know this is not new... we do this all the time... it's how everything works on the truck

[shiggadee]

the truck (18 wheeler) has 4-batteries... we usually use 1200v or higher... depending on what you have on the truck....laptops, microwave, coffee makers, treadmills (higher voltage), even small heaters...

[jovicakluk]

do you mean 1200 watts

[shiggadee]

yes.  sorry.

[vehiclespa]

88mph

[manayruthhindimagami]

god damn shit that's not homemade inverter.....idiot..

[minicoppergpiscool]

y would you by a new one just charge it

[johnohlsen]

Q: If you were to use a larger (850 Watt) invertor with two outlets & had a simple box fan strapped to & running a car alternator, wired to a larger (Marine) battery, would it keep your battery from going dead & still have enough power to run something else out of your second outlet?

[RADS190]

that disobeys the laws of thermodynamics. you described building a perpetual motion machine.

[scottamata]

why would they call things like that laws... laws can be broken.

i doubt perpetual motion is impossible... i once tried to make 1 before you know, recharge the battery by solar energy that was lighted by the same battery. that was connected to a motor with another motor helping charge the battery.... it sounds like it would work but not like i planned.hahah i was 9 when i made that failure. i came up with it myself before i even knew what perpetuate motion was.

[RADS190]

thing about it, to get perpetual motion you would require a frictionless, lossless device that will transmitt 100% of its input, you cannot get energy for nothing. what you put in is what you get out such as losses in heat and noise (transformers etc) friction and heat generation (moving parts etc). if perpetual motion were possible, id like 10% in what they make coz i dont think its fully impossible, just a bastard to achieve.

[soyelgatomalo]

for ground get a wire 10 gauge atached to metal case of inverterand... get a cooper pipe 3/8 12 inch long drill a hole attach other side of wire and hammer it in the ground few inches

[SoundsFantastic]

could be anything metal.. coppers a bit pricy ;)

[SoundsFantastic]

could be anything metal.. coppers a bit pricy ;)

[phazonxl]

that should get you a nice full 1.4 hours of operation with a 300watt load.

[louis703]

buy s vegabond 11 and from paul c buff and have your equipment together when you need portable power.

[ComradeLynx]

I made thing like this from an old UPS!!

[greyish1241]

UPS backup inverters usually are not pure sine inverters - many are labeled with a note as to their total harmonic distortion which on my APS was listed at something like 45%. This has the potential to damage the circuits in the strobes.

[ComradeLynx]

I dont use it for strobes

[ShoviT]

Is there any noticable difference in recycle time when using your inverter versus ac outlet?

[ttyou1]

Hey to make it more powerful and were u dont kill ur self or any body eles ground it if you dont ground it it will find the closet metal object and jump right to it and will spart while doing itso watch ur self!!!And im the advice kid!!!

[blue714photo]

i have a similar set up and have had a 6 outlet extention cord with 3 lights out doors on l;ocation shoots. NEVER NEEDED A GROUND. so dont worry.

[cool347957989]

just buy a dam ups

[TheBlackSky000]

Where is the HOME MADE things ?

All you have is buying things and connect them !

[stevehmi]

Have you tried using a compact flourescent bulb for the modeling light? You'd have to buy the kind that are usable with dimmers - a bit more expensive up front, but they last much longer, and, most importantly, your battery would last longer between charges.

[johnnypro69]

Compact fluorescent is supposed to generate *noise* but that is just what I've heard.

[shuttrbg22]

Why didn't you just buy a UPS?

[Snapshotok2000]

Nice set up !

But if for some reason that battery goes dead, you can just recharge it. The charger for that battery cost about $40.00, maybe less. Or you can use a small solar panel with your when you're out.

[rambozo777]

2 questions.

1 can you add links to where you got the battery/inverter/cable

and 2 how do you recharge the battery.

[Bohemists]

JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER

Joined: March 13, 2007

Last Login: 1 month ago

He got cooked!!!! :DDD

[shibuya86]

hahahaha

[shibuya86]

I said this because I read Bohemists post.

Jacob I hope you come back soon to post your nice videos.

[esquimogenerik]

for the ground maybe you could use the one you have on AC plugs, or if you're really "on the field", a piece of steel, or something like this, you "plug" into the ground.

as you don't have a very very powerful discharge (1.4A max) it's not so risky.

i guess there's a fuse in your AB, and you have one too in your inverter.

[xmacvicar]

Jacob...

Instead of putting this together 'from scratch', can you just buy something like this? It's from "Canadian Tire", a big hardware chain here in the north...

120V AC household power, 12V DC power

# Built-in 400W inverter

Its an all in one powerpack called "the eliminator'....any thoughts?

[unbeliever121]

because... he was at home when he made the video? maybe "homemade" is a reference to his location, more than than the actual set up.

[JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER]

hmm good point i guess its not technically homemade... but just bought the pieces and put it together :P oh well

[unbeliever121]

heh, yeah. now a macgyver power supply, that'd be something to see. two rubber bands, a paperclip, and some bubblegum.

[classicsanchez09]

lol..na but 4 real wtf thatz all shit from the store .

[silvalistt]

In what way is this "homemade"?