Honey, I shrunk the battery pack: A GREAT DIY ...

Cheers David, sorry about another broken link! I'm going to blame it on my iPhone! Lol. It's fixed now though.

So I think what your saying is that it's the peak rating of the inverter which counts for when the light triggers, but the standard rating counts for when it's recharging?

Cheers

Simon

Simon,
Poor wording on my part. It not the strobe firing, its the current demand to recharge the capacitor after the strobe fires. Since it only takes a second or two for the strobe to recycle its the peak demand that comes into play.

Testing the unit I built firing the strobe repeatedly for 6 or 7 flashes did not even cause the fan to start in the inverter. I think the one you linked to has about the same specs as the one specified earlier in this thread so should work.

As for the battery, the one shown earlier here is the same as the packs I have.

Ok David, cheers for all the info. So would I be right in thinking that the higher the watt rating of the invertor the quicker the recharge time should be? So the 300w invertor that I linked to earlier on should recycle a little faster than say the 180w in this thread?

Cheers again and sorry for all the questions.

Simon

Hi Simon, simply put, if your strobe wants to draw more than your inverter can supply you will end up with problems. Always over-spec and remember your P=IV

I don't think that a larger inverter will increase recycle time. But as noted, if the spec doesn't support the light(s) plugged into it there will be problems.

Just as an added data point, I wanted to mention that the original Alien Bees Vagabond portable power supply came with a pure sine wave inverter rated at 150W. I have recently inquired on the PCB Techforum whether a 150-180W rated inverter would be up to the task of powering the upcoming Einstein 640 studio light which is rated at 640WS. The reply from PCB's tech support was, yes, it would. The little AIMS 180 inverter in the DIY pack that's the original subject of this thread has proven itself capable of recycling a 500WS light without any drama. What I don't know is how this information translates to the 220v 50Hz world.

Dave F.

tetrode wrote in post #9715063
Just as an added data point, I wanted to mention that the original Alien Bees Vagabond portable power supply came with a pure sine wave inverter rated at 150W. I have recently inquired on the PCB Techforum whether a 150-180W rated inverter would be up to the task of powering the upcoming Einstein 640 studio light which is rated at 640WS. The reply from PCB's tech support was, yes, it would. The little AIMS 180 inverter in the DIY pack that's the original subject of this thread has proven itself capable of recycling a 500WS light without any drama. What I don't know is how this information translates to the 220v 50Hz world.

Dave F.

Provided that nothing funky is going on (especially misleading manufacturer's specs) all should be ok - 150W is 150W whether it be @ 100V rms or @ 240V rms. Thinking aloud here, at the higher voltage, less current is required so it should be more efficient.

HTH

Hey, I just wanted to mention that I just bought this 300W inverter, and tried using it with my D-Lite2s - it wasn't able to power them beyond power 3.0, which is 1/4 power. Both were plugged into the inverter, but only one was turned on.

http://cgi.ebay.com …ain_0?hash=item​4cee4034e1

I'm not 100% sure that it's the inverter's fault, but something in the chain was beeping.
I'm using essentially a car battery hooked up with a cigarette lighter, so I don't think the battery is giving out - the connection might be a source of a problem, but the cigarette lighter adapter plug should be fine, shouldn't it?

I was looking at the 150W Samlex that people kept mentioning, although I figured I'd be using it with a couple of strobes, and have a big enough battery, so I'd grab a 300W one instead.

Anyone else have experience with this inverter? I'm tempted to just buy the PCB one and use that.

Agamemnon wrote in post #9824328
Hey, I just wanted to mention that I just bought this 300W inverter, and tried using it with my D-Lite2s - it wasn't able to power them beyond power 3.0, which is 1/4 power. Both were plugged into the inverter, but only one was turned on.

http://cgi.ebay.com …ain_0?hash=item​4cee4034e1

I'm not 100% sure that it's the inverter's fault, but something in the chain was beeping.
I'm using essentially a car battery hooked up with a cigarette lighter, so I don't think the battery is giving out - the connection might be a source of a problem, but the cigarette lighter adapter plug should be fine, shouldn't it?

I was looking at the 150W Samlex that people kept mentioning, although I figured I'd be using it with a couple of strobes, and have a big enough battery, so I'd grab a 300W one instead.

Anyone else have experience with this inverter? I'm tempted to just buy the PCB one and use that.

I feel your pain. My Genesis 200 lights wouldn't work at all with the AIMS 180 inverter. They just made ominous clicking noises. However, other 300WS and 500WS studio flash units work brilliantly. It seems some units are *extremely* finicky when it comes to inverter-generated AC.

Dave F.

Agamemnon wrote in post #9824328
Hey, I just wanted to mention that I just bought this 300W inverter, and tried using it with my D-Lite2s - it wasn't able to power them beyond power 3.0, which is 1/4 power. Both were plugged into the inverter, but only one was turned on.

http://cgi.ebay.com …ain_0?hash=item​4cee4034e1

I'm not 100% sure that it's the inverter's fault, but something in the chain was beeping.
I'm using essentially a car battery hooked up with a cigarette lighter, so I don't think the battery is giving out - the connection might be a source of a problem, but the cigarette lighter adapter plug should be fine, shouldn't it?

I was looking at the 150W Samlex that people kept mentioning, although I figured I'd be using it with a couple of strobes, and have a big enough battery, so I'd grab a 300W one instead.

Anyone else have experience with this inverter? I'm tempted to just buy the PCB one and use that.

I would not use the cigarette lighter to power a 300W inverter. The cigarette lighter is not made to handle that kind of power. If you wire it straight to your car battery you will probably get different results. The wiring behind the cigarette lighter could easily have the insulation burned off (or a blown fuse) trying to power something that was sucking 300 to 600 watts. (Power is equal to volts times amps) At 12 volts that would mean that the inverter was sucking 25 Amps. Granted it would not do that for a long time, but it is over what the cigarette lighter wiring is probably rated for. Taking the inefficiency of the inverter in to consideration, it would try to draw even more current.

I would suggest going straight to the battery. I doubt if the wiring for the cigarette lighter is rated to handle anything near 300 watts.

ADDED--The input current fuse is spec'd at 40Amps in the Samlex 300Watt Inverter. Wiring to a cigarette lighter is a BAD IDEA!!

Regards,

110yd

Does anyone know if this setup would work with a d-Lite 4? I am looking at getting one of those for more power, and the elinchrom modifiers!

Dave

Agamemnon wrote in post #9824328
Hey, I just wanted to mention that I just bought this 300W inverter, and tried using it with my D-Lite2s - it wasn't able to power them beyond power 3.0, which is 1/4 power. Both were plugged into the inverter, but only one was turned on.

http://cgi.ebay.com …ain_0?hash=item​4cee4034e1

I'm not 100% sure that it's the inverter's fault, but something in the chain was beeping.
I'm using essentially a car battery hooked up with a cigarette lighter, so I don't think the battery is giving out - the connection might be a source of a problem, but the cigarette lighter adapter plug should be fine, shouldn't it?

I was looking at the 150W Samlex that people kept mentioning, although I figured I'd be using it with a couple of strobes, and have a big enough battery, so I'd grab a 300W one instead.

Anyone else have experience with this inverter? I'm tempted to just buy the PCB one and use that.

From the Samlex site...

http://www.samlexameri​ca.com …2A_24A_Manual_J​an2007.pdf

"
NOTE: When using cigarette lighter receptacle in a 12 V vehicle, limit the power
to less than 100 watts as the cigarette lighter receptacle wiring in a 12 V vehicle is
normally wired and fused for 8 to 10A
"

^^ Well that makes things more interesting. Because now we know that the Samlex was powering the D-lites fine it just didn't have enough juice because of the cigarette lighter issue. Hmm... maybe a DIY battery pack can work with the D-lites after all.

Dave

I built one, as spec'd by the OP, AIMS 180, 10-pac... I'm a bit concerned hearing the fan on my AB-800 come to a stop while the light is recycling. It doesn't behave that way using my Vagabond II, whether set to fast or slow recycle setting. The recycle time is slower with this pack as well.

I love the weight/size, and can live with the recycle time, my only concern is damage to the AB electronics.

PCB says that a pure sine wave inverter will not harm the electronics.