DIY portable power for Alien Bees

Ok so I got an Alien Bee B800 a month ago. I dont have a studio so I really need to be able to use this thing on location anywhere. Being in Arkansas and we just got electricity in like 1992, 110v outlets are not just abundant in the rural areas. The vagabond is $300 . I dont want to spend $300.

I realize alot of people have already made similar setups. This is just another experience and setup configuration that works.

So I got on ebay and landed a 600w samlex pure sine wave inverter, problem is its 24v not 12v. I could not get a 12v samlex nearly that cheap. Being that cheap was the name of the game I could not pass up the 600w 24v at $48. So instead of getting one 15ah 12v battery I ordered 2 12v 9ah tempest sealed lead acid batteries for $18ea. Wired them in series and I have a 24 volt 9ah battery. As far as amp hour and power capacity is concerned I would have 18ah worth of battery life when compared to a 12v system, since 24v only draws half as much current from the system to create the same power.

Actual inverter model
http://www.samlexameri​ca.com …ption.asp?Produ​ctsID=7017

Actual batteries and source
http://www.batteryspec​.com …gi?action=link&​product=33

Got everything charged up and tested. Work perfectly. It recycles as quickly off my power system as it does in the wall. I would be interested to add another Ab800 just to see how it affects recycle times. Recycles at full power in about 1 second as is, just like the wall outlet. I have not yet tested battery life.

My setup worked great but it sucked to carry around an inverter and 2 batteries in series. So I measured everything and went to Lowes. Picked up this tool box for $15. Got the dremel and cut a hole in the side to access the outlet and controls (the power supply setup runs the Dremel perfectly). Then cleaned up the cut with an olfa knife. Used 3M velcro tape and stuck everything to the bottom of the toolbox. You can still get everything out if you pull the batteries up at an angle and then pull the inverter up one end first. Yet you can hold the entire thing upside down and nothing will fall out. The toolbox is nice because it gives me a place to put my speedlites now too!

Why 2 12v batteries instead of a single 24volt?
Well the main reason is flexibility. Price was a concern as well, but mainly flexibility. Batts of the 24v variety are more expensive and a lil harder to find. Not to mention I would have had to buy a 24v charger that would have been married to this setup. With 2 12v batts it gives me flexibility with wiring. I can either have a 18ah 12v if I wire parallel or a 9ah 24v wired in series. I have the ability to use any old 12v charger to charge them. I can even cut a cigarette lighter adapter and add some F2 connectors and can charge 12v batts as I drive down the road. If this inverter craps out on me and the next one I use is 12V I can still use these batts. In a perfect world I would have a 12v inverter. Then I could use it with the car electrical system to run all sorts of things as well. Not to mention with 2 batts on a 12V inverter if one craps out I still have one battery that will work. I will only get half as many full power pops but I will not be totally without power. The 12v inverters were just going for alot more than this one.

Edit: After looking at the final post. I feel a comment about the other items in the pictures.. for the record, thats not my bay. I dont have a nice counter like that to take pics on.

how do you charge those batteries?

Does this work okay with their wireless triggers?

Jon

I just unplug the batts and use a 12v charger I have that I just put some connectors on and plug'm up and charge them. I made 2 sets of connectors coming off the charger in parallel and I can charge them in parallel or one at a time. I could have hardwired the charging cable in with the other wiring and then I could use a quick connect to just plug straight into the charger but its very simple to just unplug the batts so I did not bother. It might hook up in 4 seconds instead of 11 seconds. I am never that pressed for time. Though a 24v charger would be nice so I could just leave them wired in series. That would save another 2 seconds.

I have no idea if it works with their wireless triggers as I dont have any. Works great with the older cactus ebay triggers though, obviously. They have their own power.

Thats something new to me, But if it works keep on using it. It think this is perfect. I wish I could have one. Great job on it.

Looks great! Thanks for sharing.

1) Can you please give us links to your sources for the inverter and batteries?

2) How many pops can you get on a charge?

Sure. I will also edit the original so that all the info is on the first post.

This is the actual inverter. The one I bought was used from ebay.
http://www.samlexameri​ca.com …ption.asp?Produ​ctsID=7017

Actual battery source
http://www.batteryspec​.com …gi?action=link&​product=33
Many of the Tempest batteries are available with F1 or F2 connectors. The only difference is the size. Bigger is better, get the F2 connectors. They are .250" connectors.

No idea on battery life yet. So far it works fine for about 12 full power pops. I will try to get a youtube video up of the actual recycle time but it may be on Monday. Busy weekend planned.

I'm building one that's pretty similar. Same Samlex inverter (except 12V) and a 35AH battery

that's a great DIY job ya got there, add a shoulder strap to it and you'd have me sold

Exit wrote in post #5163289
I'm building one that's pretty similar. Same Samlex inverter (except 12V) and a 35AH battery

Wow.. that should last until you need a new flash bulb.

Are you buying a new inverter or do you have a line on a used one? I have heard that they changed the protection circuitry in the new ones and they will no longer work. In fact, a rep from Samlex told me specifically it would not work. However their customer service could be morons, thats often the case today. I would certainly like to know if the new models they currently produce will work for this still.

And yea Deadpass... a strap is next on the list. It needs one bad.

I might offer one "improvement", depending on your situtation. Many, probably most common automotive chargers--if that is what you are using, use a so called "full wave center tap" rectifier. By buying a cheap bridge rectifier, such as from Radio Sh## you can instead of a 6/12V charger, create a 12/24V charger. The old center tap will supply 12V, and the bridge will supply 24. The charger of course, will only now be capable of outputting 1/2 the amperage.