DIY portable power Vagabond II for Paul C. Buff monolights

Author shares his experience making portable battery powered system for Paul C. Buff (alienbees and whitelighting) monolights.
All the ingredients and specs on the blog post:
http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/diy-portable-power-system-for-paul-c-buff-mono...

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• portable power pack
• lighting portable power
• DIY batery pack
• Paul C Buff lighting
• Vagabond II
• how to

[maclaren4l]

Hey Akel, i'm wondering what is the use of the switch? Is it for safety?

[AKELstudio]

@maclaren4l Yes, more for a safety: want to be sure inverter is not connetced to a battery when stored.

[CANDACE2984]

WHERE DID YOU GET THE SWITCH TO TURN IT ON AND OFF?

[AKELstudio]

@CANDACE2984 it was in  Autozone:-)

[maomao55]

Hi Akel, been followed your blog for a while and have some question here. As not having any electrician BG, i might sound stupid but how could a 300w converter be capable of supporting 3 lights, where its a sum of 1380 ture watts(640x2 + 160). I own 1x500ws and 1x 1200ws elinchrom head. Do you think this 300w converter will be over load to supply both heads the same time? Should I get 500w or higher converter instead? Or the battery need to be enhanced as well? What combination you suggest? thx

[AKELstudio]

@maomao55

Let me explain how I understand this: 1380WS is what those 3 light releases within 1/500 of a second when firing. this is not what they consume, and 300W inveter suppose to handle 300W ot CONTINUES draw, while can handle much more for a fraction of a second.

What you have to look for is a maximum curent draw of a flash unit: for Enstein or WL it is about 18A for a first tent of a second after each pop. More on the blog, see description under the video, cant post more here

[JCSALTOSFOTOGRAFIA]

Hey Akel, what doyou thing about using the duracell or energizer powerpacks ?? Wonder if they would work with elinchrome Dlites 400

Thank you, awsome video and way of sharing your knoleged, becoming a jedi master.

[reubheimer]

This is awesome.. Does it work with any flashes other than PCB lights? ALso I'm wondering if it can recycle quickly , otherwise higher powered flashes like the BXRi might error up soon as the voltage drops.

[formaset]

Take this to the international airport. They'll love it! Just kidding.

My question is: Can this handle my Paul C. Buff White lighting X3200? I believe its a 12 amp monolight, 1340Watts each.

[photographix100]

hey thank you for this vid. i built one and just used it on a shoot. it worked great and lasted for more then two hours! with two old white lightning 10.000sbcp strobes. i do use a GFCI plug just to be safe. i have run a 3rd strobe one it with no problems but didn't need it on the shoot lol. thanks again! i made it #1 to see if it would really work. #2 the vagabonds 2's all seem to be on back order!! and i needed some thing to shoot with now! lol. ..............rick

[PachulizPunk]

Thanks Akel, nice video!!