Impressed with the Vagabond Mini Lithium!

zenabi wrote in post #14339518
Sorry to hijack your thread, but I was wondering if anyone has tried plugging their laptops into the Vagabond Mini. If so, how did that work?

Look at the wattage rating on the laptop power supply brick. That will get you pointed in the right direction. I would expect the Vagabond Mini should power it without problem.

110yd

110yd wrote in post #14339447
Mark1
I am Curious as what lights you are powering with the Vagabond Mini Lithium. I am considering a portable power source other than the monster DIY unit I have(12V Battery and Samlex 600w Inverter). I would like to be able to power two Elinchrom RX 600 units or two Alien Bee 800's. The inverter in the Vagabond Mini Lithium is some what of a lightweight and I suspect full power pops might cause trouble...

It says you can run up to 4 lights. And can expect 400-500 with 2 AB800's. The vagabond is specificaly designed to work with the bees so I would take that to mean full power, not just partial power. Just keep in mind the more lights and the more power, takes it longer to recharge. It does say in the manual that the power output of the vagabond will dip on the light recycling. However most non digital lights should be able to take it. The Bees have this ability in the design of the light. Digital lights will not like this at all.

Dual voltage lights do have trouble with the vagabond. So the Elenchroms may have trouble.

zenabi wrote in post #14339518
Sorry to hijack your thread, but I was wondering if anyone has tried plugging their laptops into the Vagabond Mini. If so, how did that work?

It will run somethig comfortably up to 250 watts. How long it will run..... it does not say.

I like the VML so much that I got a 2nd one.

No telling what reception halls are like for weddings. I can power 3-4 lights with these if necessary. Usually just have two though. But it's nice to have the light stand completely mobile - there are no cords for anyone to trip on or watch for - I wind the power cords around the light stands and strap the VML's to the light stands. Then you can move them anywhere you want.

I also love the VLM.

I initially bought one and a spare battery. Ran two Einsteins and an AB400 off it a bunch.
I've ran one modeling lamp on full with that setup also. Two modeling lamps and some kind of cross wave induction phenomenon occurs causing the modeling lamps to blink on and off in alternating fashion.

I just bought a second VLM and another spare battery.

Same here, VML per light stand. Love it. Build could be more solid but then there is nothing else in that price range.

Same here! I love it! I bought the Joe Black tuxedo for the VLM ( http://www.vmlbracket.​com/ ) and it looks awesome and works perfect!

Impressed with the technology as well (I'm coming from a DIY inverter plus SLA battery rig that I hated to use because it was bulky and heavy), and I would have extra ones right now if it wasn't for the build quality.

Little piece of plastic that secures the tab that locks the battery broke off early on when the VML slid down the light stand under it's own weight. Yep, that useless clamp is well-documented already.

Also, one of the receptacles for the power plug on the VML is extremely loose. I tend to baby everything I have, so I'm not used to having things wiggle, move around, and come apart on me like this.

Again, once I'm shooting, I love it because it just works, but it would be nice if there was an option to spend a little more so the package is a little more durable.

Mark1 wrote in post #14329110
I dont know if I would call it poor build quality... But I agree it is far from a top quality build. Paul seems to build with a "good enough" design philosophy.

It is poor build quality. Everything he makes is targeted to the "good enough" market. He's got your number and you're drinking the Kool-Aid. There's nothing wrong with that, at least you're admitting it.

There isn't anything else at the same price point because you can't build anything good for that price point.

The Tronix Mini at $380 shipped to your door is a little bigger and a little heavier but it works so much better. And you'll re-cell the VML 3 times before the TM needs it.

K.C. wrote in post #14344738
you'll re-cell the VML 3 times before the TM needs it.

On what do you base that prediction?

Also, referring to your graph, what the heck is "instantaneous power, watts-seconds?"
(I know what a watt-second is, and it's something a capacitor can hold and release, not something a battery-powered inverter can deliver.)

Curtis N wrote in post #14344947
On what do you base that prediction?

Rob Golbraith's follow up after a year of use of the VML and my first hand experience.

Curtis N wrote in post #14344947
Also, referring to your graph, what the heck is "instantaneous power, watts-seconds?"
(I know what a watt-second is, and it's something a capacitor can hold and release, not something a battery-powered inverter can deliver.)

I didn't create the graph, it's from Innovatronix, they make the Tronix battery systems.

What they're indicating is the size of pack or monoblock the battery/inverter can deliver power to and recycle.

K.C. wrote in post #14345312
What they're indicating is the size of pack or monoblock the battery/inverter can deliver power to and recycle.

Ok.

They have the Buff VML listed at 1200 "watts-seconds", which doesn't jibe with Buff's claim that it can power up to four 640ws strobes (2,560ws total).

However, Buff's specs say it takes 7 seconds to recycle 1280ws, so it may not be very practical to add more demand.

The mini is more or less best used as a light stand hanger. What I mean by that is 1 Vagabond mini for one monolight. Sure, you can power multiple lights, but that's not the point of the small form factor.

I am a little underwhelmed with the specs on the mini. I was close to buying, but I have looked for info on the output power, and can not find info on the web that lists the continuous or peak power. To state that something will power from one to four lights is a bit of specmanship. If I look at the documentation on a relatively name brand inverter, they will clearly call out a continuous and a peak power rating.

See page 30 of the document below
http://www.samlexameri​ca.com …2A_24A_Manual_D​ec2006.pdf

Or take a look at the summary specs of any of the following inverters:
http://www.donrowe.com​/inverters/puresine.ht​ml

VML specs are here:
http://www.paulcbuff.c​om/vm120.php

Download the instruction manual here:
http://www.paulcbuff.c​om/manuals/vmini.pdf

Click the "Compatibility/Recomme​nded Accessories" tab to read about its maximum continuous load of 120 watts.

Peak output is not listed, but it the "Specifications" tab lists approximate recycle times corresponding to various strobe loads. It seems to be a linear relationship at about one second of recycle time per 213 ws of strobe power, but gets slower than that if you go past 640 ws.

Keep in mind that the load of a recycling strobe is not constant. It rises, peaks and falls during the recycling period. If you do the math you can conclude that it goes way beyond 120 watts to recycle strobes, but the web site and the product manual both mention that the voltage drops significantly under such loads.

My VML should arrive in a few days. I'll put my clamp-on amp meter on it and follow up with more data.