474 Full Power Pops! No kidding!

My Vagabond Mini Lithium endurance test just completed. An Elinchrom 600RX set to full power was plugged into the VML. A Nikon D700 triggered the strobe every 15 seconds using the camera's built in intervalometer. The test ran for a minute and a half short of two hours. The VML powered 474 full power pops. Recycling time seemed to hold constant throughout the test at about 4 seconds. The outside of the battery cartridge reached 100-degrees F (reading taken using a non-contact IR thermometer).

One quirk I noticed is that the none of the charge remaining LEDs was lit for the duration of the test. In other words, no indication of battery depletion was provided while the test was in progress. I called PCB TS to inquire about this thinking my unit might be defective. I was told that this is NORMAL behavior for the VML. While it is in use, the LEDs are not illuminated. I was told that the lights would come back on once there was a break in the action, so to speak. How long an interval? The TS person didn't know but said "a few seconds". I say WRONG. Remember, I had the intervalometer set for a 15 second interval between pops. Obviously, 15 seconds was not long enough for the LEDs to come back on. I'll have to do some further testing to better understand the behavior of the charge remaining lights. For now, I'd consider this to be a design flaw.

Still, you can't really complain too loudly when you're getting 474 600Ws pops out of a 3-1/2 lb battery pack, can you?

EDIT: With the fully depleted battery now on the charger, I've just measured the charger case temperature. It is currently reading 135 degrees F. It is very warm/hot to the touch.

Dave F.

Hey Dave,
Can the VML handle multiple RXs? I have two 600RXs, and I'd be interested in knowing whether it can handle multiple RX loads. And what's the recycle time with multiple RXs?

I read in the other thread that it can easily handle multiple E640s (I have two of those as well), but I know from experience that RXs can be a bit squirrelly with portable power when feeding multiple strobes.

Can you give it a try? No need to perform a full blown stress-test. 474 is pretty impressive.

SilverHCIC wrote in post #11619450
Hey Dave,
Can the VML handle multiple RXs? I have two 600RXs, and I'd be interested in knowing whether it can handle multiple RX loads. And what's the recycle time with multiple RXs?

I read in the other thread that it can easily handle multiple E640s (I have two of those as well), but I know from experience that RXs can be a bit squirrelly with portable power when feeding multiple strobes.

Can you give it a try? No need to perform a full blown stress-test. 474 is pretty impressive.

I tried two 600RXes on the VML last night. Just a quick test. Both units seemed to work fine. Recycling time slowed to maybe 5+ seconds for the two Elinchrom's (set to full power). The cooling fans slow as the units start to recycle but then recover. The same fan behavior is evident even with a single 600RX on the VML.

Early indications suggest to 600RXes should be OK on the VML. I'll be taking a closer look at that configuration soon.

Dave F.

Thanks Dave.
Sounds pretty impressive. That's a lot comming from a small package. ...
I'm a little concerned about the heat. While I know LiIon batteries get warm when they charge/discharge, I feel a lot better with my Tronix that has a built in fan. I've used my Tronix in some pretty tough environments, and it's amazingly durable. 135 isn't too bad, though.

Dave,
I just spend two plus hours with my VML hooked up to three E640s. Two were set to about 560Ws and the third was set to about 30Ws. Lighting setup for some table top work. The fans ran full time and the lights were one when I looked but I was probably also about 20 or 30 seconds between most shots. The whole setup let me do about 140 shots before the VML cut out.

Since this was a shooting situation not a pure endurance test I expect that the results are similar. More fan depletion. I did not notice the fans slowing down during recycle on the Einsteins.

SilverHCIC wrote in post #11619684
Thanks Dave.
Sounds pretty impressive. That's a lot comming from a small package. ...
I'm a little concerned about the heat. While I know LiIon batteries get warm when they charge/discharge, I feel a lot better with my Tronix that has a built in fan. I've used my Tronix in some pretty tough environments, and it's amazingly durable. 135 isn't too bad, though.

The 135-degrees F was measured from the battery charger case, not the battery. After two hours of constant flashing every 15 seconds, the lithium battery cartridge itself only reached a temperature of 100-degrees F. In any case, the VML does have a thermal protection circuit that will shut it down if it overheats.

Dave F.

dmward wrote in post #11619777
Dave,
I just spend two plus hours with my VML hooked up to three E640s. Two were set to about 560Ws and the third was set to about 30Ws. Lighting setup for some table top work. The fans ran full time and the lights were one when I looked but I was probably also about 20 or 30 seconds between most shots. The whole setup let me do about 140 shots before the VML cut out.

Since this was a shooting situation not a pure endurance test I expect that the results are similar. More fan depletion. I did not notice the fans slowing down during recycle on the Einsteins.

I had seen your other post, David. If that's your house we see in your various photos, I want to move in with you. It looks beautiful.

Dave F.

Awesome! Thanks for posting this info! Looks very promising!

Wow, thats a lot of test shots of nothing. At a certain point Dave, maybe you should just trigger the light with something other than your camera. A lot of wasted cycles on your shutter just to test a battery that has been tested by the manufacture a lot more than you can.

Thanks for the effort, but save you shutter releases for real images.

ChasWG wrote in post #11620315
Wow, thats a lot of test shots of nothing. At a certain point Dave, maybe you should just trigger the light with something other than your camera. A lot of wasted cycles on your shutter just to test a battery that has been tested by the manufacture a lot more than you can.

Thanks for the effort, but save you shutter releases for real images.

All the more reason to appreciate his effort. But, now he needs to check each shot to see if the strobe actually fired.

This makes me a very happy person.

Thanks for your efforts! The results look inline with PBuff test with the AB1600. They got 500+ full-power pops at 10 sec intervals.

ChasWG wrote in post #11620315
Wow, thats a lot of test shots of nothing. At a certain point Dave, maybe you should just trigger the light with something other than your camera. A lot of wasted cycles on your shutter just to test a battery that has been tested by the manufacture a lot more than you can.

Thanks for the effort, but save you shutter releases for real images.

I'm always a bit leery of manufacturers own tests. They have more reason to fudge the tests than anyone. Not to say that PCB isn't a trustworthy company, but I don't give benefit of the doubt easily.

The results are pretty remarkable, and coming in at around 13 lbs lighter than my xplorer XT SE isn't a bad mark at all.

When they're not in use, do these have to be plugged in and charged like the Vagabond system?

mchong75 wrote in post #11626015
When they're not in use, do these have to be plugged in and charged like the Vagabond system?

These are powered by Lithium-ion, just like your gadgets are.