My DIY "Megabond" portable power station

I mainly lurk on here a lot but figured some of you would be interested in seeing this unit I put together for shoots that don't offer AC power. It isn't for everyone since it's much heavier than most portable power packs like the Vagabond, but it does a lot more imo.

The guts of it are a 1500w pure sine wave inverter (the Vagabond II uses a 300w I believe) and a 125Ah deep cycle battery (the V II uses one in the 20Ah range I think) mounted in a Stanley "Fat Max" rolling tool case. Not only does it power the strobes, but I can put three AB800s in the top compartment and any accessories (power/sync cords, etc) in the middle one as well. The unit should be good for thousands of flashes on one charge. I've only used it once so far and it performed without a glitch at all, recycle times were seemingly just as fast as being plugged in at home, even with the modeling light set to its highest. Here are a few pics of the setup:

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^ Interesting DIY'er... Looks clean... If I had one issue, it would be the power inverter being outside of the Stanley "Fat Max" rolling case... Weather conditions can turn pleasant to bad without a moments notice... I'd hate to have the power inverter exposed to those circumstances... Nonetheless, I love "version 1.0" of this DIY'er portable "rolling" power station... Good stuff and thanks for sharing!!!

- airbutchie

Wow, that certainly sounds like it produces a lot of power - a 125Ah monster!

How much does the rig weigh fully loaded?

airbutchie wrote in post #10244510
^ Interesting DIY'er... Looks clean... If I had one issue, it would be the power inverter being outside of the Stanley "Fat Max" rolling case... Weather conditions can turn pleasant to bad without a moments notice... I'd hate to have the power inverter exposed to those circumstances... Nonetheless, I love "version 1.0" of this DIY'er portable "rolling" power station... Good stuff and thanks for sharing!!!

- airbutchie

Yeah that crossed my mind but having it in a well ventilated area was more important to me. I looked into a lot of DIY ideas and putting the inverter in a tight, sealed space without ventilation was always a common theme and one I didn't like. This whole setup including a charger cost me $25 less than what a Vagabond would while offering a LOT more power.

Agamemnon wrote in post #10244782
Wow, that certainly sounds like it produces a lot of power - a 125Ah monster!

How much does the rig weigh fully loaded?

The battery alone has to weigh a good 75-80lbs so the whole thing maybe 90-95lbs. It's nothing at all to pull on wheels though. I could always use a smaller battery too...

How do you charge the battery?

WarpedCore wrote in post #10244873
How do you charge the battery?

Just a normal 12V car battery type charger. I got a digital one that charges lead acid and gel cell batteries for like $20 at Walmart.

Wow, what a beast!

Dave

Can't you put on plastic caps over the nuts and bolds on the battery and the transformer? would be a little bit safer. Otherwise very nice idea .

Can you run a laptop on it as well...?

That's a solid setup you've got there and although big it's well thought out. Version 2.0 may have an inverter that is installed under a lid with a ventilated compartment (passive) to give it an edge against the weather. I do like the fact that it''s also going to double as ballast for a lightstand.

masterwillems wrote in post #10245358
Can't you put on plastic caps over the nuts and bolds on the battery and the transformer? would be a little bit safer. Otherwise very nice idea .

Good thinking. I'll have to get some. I don't like how they're so close together on the inverter.

MAMEDIA wrote in post #10245388
Can you run a laptop on it as well...?

Definitely... and a desktop too.

alexanderGARDNER wrote in post #10245477
That's a solid setup you've got there and although big it's well thought out. Version 2.0 may have an inverter that is installed under a lid with a ventilated compartment (passive) to give it an edge against the weather. I do like the fact that it''s also going to double as ballast for a lightstand.

Yeah the only thing I really worry about is dirt and little things getting through the fan hole. I won't be using my strobes in the rain so this thing probably won't see it either.

definitely please insulate both terminal side of your battery cables... With the low internal resistance of the battery, a short circuit there will melt or weld any metallic part in contact...
Also, I would add a fuse on the battery itself to be safe.

If your battery is not sealed, also be careful during charge to let it vent out.

And last addition, I would add a GFCI (and maybe a ground rod) to be on the safe side when working with flash

Pretty Neat DIY project

This is very similar to the one I have except I used a Stanley Mobile Work Center. It's smaller and I only have a 600w pure sine wave, 12v 21ah battery.