what is the cheapest way...

to power 2 strobes... u know the cheap 50$ strobe with a stand that u usually have them plug in to your ac outlet at home... ?

could i use the battery of my car?

thanks

My brother bought a car battery booster-box that has two AC outlets on it... You could look for one of those.

Cheapest? Some hamsters in a turbine. Won't charge very fast though.

nrowensby wrote in post #13172329
My brother bought a car battery booster-box that has two AC outlets on it... You could look for one of those.

nice
thanka

Its very likely that the DieHard device doesn't include a pure sine wave inverter.
There has been a lot on this forum and others about potential damage to moonlights when using non-pure sine wave inverters. Proceed at your own risk.

ccc_javier wrote in post #13172267
to power 2 strobes... u know the cheap 50$ strobe with a stand that u usually have them plug in to your ac outlet at home... ?

The cheapest way to power them is to plug them into your AC outlet at home.

Curtis N wrote in post #13172858
The cheapest way to power them is to plug them into your AC outlet at home.

man...............
man............

cm'on

dmward wrote in post #13172779
Its very likely that the DieHard device doesn't include a pure sine wave inverter.
There has been a lot on this forum and others about potential damage to moonlights when using non-pure sine wave inverters. Proceed at your own risk.

thanks for the warning

I bought a Samlex 300 watt pure sine wave inverter. When I can get my car close enough I will hook the inverter to the battery. If that wont work I have a small car battery that I can put in a rolling bag (big enough for the inverter, battery, and cords) that I can bring on site.
This was much less expensive than a vagabond and I have powered 1 AB 800 and 2 AB 400s through several shoots in a single day and always had power.
This also has the benefit of me being able to plug in my computer and charge batteries on site.

You should know a couple things,

1) Pure sine waves play much better with electronics, especially cheaper electronics.

2) Car batteries are not deep cycle batteries, the difference is that they will suffer heavy memory effect and become useless much much sooner.

Proper DIY projects for this sort of thing to get (reliable enuogh by DIY standards) power runs generally around 200$ all parts in, the vagabond mini is like 240$ if you are in the states its a no-brainer.

Elsewhere heres some basic things to get you started:

-Pure Sine wave (Samlex is generally well regarded, you'll probably want at least the 300w model as you need to check the PEAK charge)
-Deep cycle batteries, these are usually SLA, pretty heavy, lots o power, they run around 30-60$
-Smart charger with trickle charging for your battery
-Fuse, best is 2 fuses, one from the inverter to the strobe, and 1 from the battery to the inverter, this is even though the inverter generally already has one.
-Get good Gauge wire, strobes pull ALOT of power, be safe.

Talking about safety, make sure to have a switch in between the battery and inverter to be able to turn the power off whenever not in use.

Csae wrote in post #13174767
You should know a couple things,

1) Pure sine waves play much better with electronics, especially cheaper electronics.

2) Car batteries are not deep cycle batteries, the difference is that they will suffer heavy memory effect and become useless much much sooner.

Proper DIY projects for this sort of thing to get (reliable enuogh by DIY standards) power runs generally around 200$ all parts in, the vagabond mini is like 240$ if you are in the states its a no-brainer.

Elsewhere heres some basic things to get you started:

-Pure Sine wave (Samlex is generally well regarded, you'll probably want at least the 300w model as you need to check the PEAK charge)
-Deep cycle batteries, these are usually SLA, pretty heavy, lots o power, they run around 30-60$
-Smart charger with trickle charging for your battery
-Fuse, best is 2 fuses, one from the inverter to the strobe, and 1 from the battery to the inverter, this is even though the inverter generally already has one.
-Get good Gauge wire, strobes pull ALOT of power, be safe.

Talking about safety, make sure to have a switch in between the battery and inverter to be able to turn the power off whenever not in use.

thanks
and wow... i guess i need to check into vagabonds