GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

In the future on fair weather days, I plan to use my indoor Bowens 500 w/s Gemini strobes,
(2 of them), outdoors. There is no problem providing power to them with my generator but I'd like to use a battery inverter.

I have several inverters although the smallest possibly would be something I could use the permanently use.

The company went under. Looking and searching has provided nothing about a ratings. I don't really want to experiment to find a good in size.

Anyone out there know what would be a good size inverter size to use?

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

There are two important points to consider when purchasing and utilizing an inverter with you electronic flash equipment.

The most import precaution is to NOT buy a low priced inverter the have a modified sine wave- YOU MUST use a unit of the PURE SINE WAVE type.

There are many electronics technologists and engineers on this site and I am sure that someone will offer a dissertation on electronics theory- well meaning of course but all you need to know is that a unit with a modified sine wave produces "dirty power" which will seriously damage your flash equipment.

The othere specification is that you need to know the voltage and current requirements for you units- not the watt.seconds or power output rating - its the voltage and current draw that the inverter has to accommodate. Some mono- lights have a very high current draw during while recycling. Find out what the peak draw for you units is and make certain that the inverter will accommodate that wattage.

With all the required specification in mind, check out the units made by Paul .C Buff, Gordox, Photogenic,Sunpack, and others. There are some system with built in batteries, others are for car hook ups.

If you are using you car battery, it is recommended that the engine is running while the inverter is in use.

I hope this helps.

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

Yes it does help and puts a question in my mind if all but one is the "modified" type. I know my generator is the good type power but not the regular inverters.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Have you used your lights on your generator?
A lot of generators are 12vdc with built in inverters and may or may not work, like Shaprio said they need to be a pure Sine wave inverter.
Pure sine wave inverters are not cheap!!!!
Been there tried that!!! destroyed 2 inverters. I suggest using a battery pack inverter supplied by many of the strobe Mfgr's
.

BebuLamar

If you can't find the current rating of your unit you can measure it. The voltage can be assumed to be 120VAC as you have been using with such a voltage. If you have been using the unit with one single outlet then a 15A or 20A should be fine. But I would much rather measure the current to see what the peak current draw is.

billnourse Loc: Bloomfield, NM

Here is a thought. Why not get a Paul Buff mini powerpak for 349.00. I have used one extensively for remote power to 2 and sometimes 3 Alien Bee 800 and 1600 lights.

These are made for photography strobes. Use the right tool for the job and eliminate the need for converters, generators and other inconvenient pieces of equipment that are not necessarily designed for your purposes. And you don't have to listen to a generator run while you are trying to concentrate on creating images.

Just a thought, your mileage may vary.

Bill

Bipod

What voltage?
What current (amperes)?

aphelps Loc: Central Ohio

Do not be confused by the 500 w-s rating. That means the output power is 500 watt- seconds not 500 w/s as you wrote which is 500 watts per second. The unit does not draw 500 watts continuously. Only a small portion of that figure. However, immediatly after firing there is a brief surge in draw. It is more important that any inverted used be able to tolerate that without cutting off. Also, as others have noted, a pure sine wave output is critical. If it doesn't state "pure sine wave" it probably is not. Cheaper inverters may produce something closer to square waves which can damage most flash units. So look for pure sine wave, 200- 350 watts continuous should be adequate and a peak rating of at least 150% of the continuous rating should handle the recharge surge.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Looked up the specs, and current isn’t specified, but the AC line fuse is 5 amps, so it’s probably safe to assume that’s more than the max current. So say worst case, the unit draws 4 amps during the first part of the recharge cycle where the current draw is the heaviest. That implies 480 watts max per unit. iF all those assumptions are correct, then a 1,000-1,200 watt inverter should run two, but it would certainly be preferable to actually measure a unit while recycling. Also note that a 1,000 watt inverter, assuming 80-90% efficiency and an input voltage of 12.5-13 volts input can easily draw 100 amps peak when fully loaded - not a trivial matter in terms of the 12 volt supply, cables or cooling.

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

I have used them one time just like a home wall 120vac outlet as a test you might say. All seems fine.

GLKTN Loc: TN

I have an interest in this topic. I have some Paul C. Buff White lightning strobes that use 120v house current. I purchased an inverter generator for my ham radio equipment and travel trailer AC. Will this be clean power for my strobes? If so, no separate inverter necessary. Thanks ahead of time.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Inverters come in two main stripes... Modified sine wave and pure sine wave. Electronic equipment performs best with pure sine wave inverters. Modified sine wave inverters can burn out circuits with high drain requirements. Here are some options MADE FOR photographers:

Paul C. Buff's Vagabond Mini Lithium battery plus inverter solution is $240 direct from Buff, and can power up to 3200 Watt-seconds of their strobes. That would be my first pick, based upon previous experience with their Vagabond II about a decade ago. We used that unit to power a Norman 808m power pack (800 W-S) at full power, for outdoor fill flash photography. The Mini Lithium is smaller, lighter, more powerful.

https://www.paulcbuff.com/Portable-Power/Vagabond-Mini-Lithium.html

A very similar unit is made by Photogenic. It's called the Ion, and it costs a lot more (about $400) because it is sold through dealers. http://www.photogenic.com/ion/

See also https://innovatronix.com/index.php/products/item/262-photography-imaging-equipment — Some of their models have higher power ratings, but are correspondingly expensive.

My tendency would be to use one power supply for each lamp head, for several reasons. First, with your lamp head on a light stand, the power supply can be mounted low on the stand to act as ballast. That's important if there is wind! Second, recycling times will be maximized. Third, you'll double the number of exposures you can make. Fourth, you'll have a spare, should one unit die on the job. Just carry an extension cord!

Whatever you buy, for safety, GROUND that sucker to the Earth. Every outlet has three sockets — Hot, Neutral, and Ground, and just like the wiring in your home or office, the Ground socket only works if you connect it to a rod or pipe driven into the Earth. A 12", heavy guage tent stake driven into wet ground with a mallet is better than nothing. I used to carry a pack of stakes and a water bottle. The stakes are also convenient for tying down the feet of light stands for further support.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Just a comment on inverters (I used to design inverters for Exide power systems). The gold standard is a “pure” sine wave output, and actual inverters vary for not-even-close (where the output looks something like a square wave) to a pretty good sine wave, and everything in between. It used to be that in the days of linear power supplies, that a “pure” sign wave was the goal because a square wave, is by definition, the sum of every odd order harmonic all the way up to to that frequency associated with the rise-time of the edge of the square wave. However, in modern switching power supplies, the first thing that happens is that the incoming power is rectified to DC (often without a transformer) then that DC is applied to the switching transistors, transformer and regulators. The net-net, is that within reason, the incoming waveform isn’t as important at it used to be.

Case in point: during a hurricane, I run critical items off an inexpensive inverter powered by my car battery before the rain stops to the point I can start my generator. I run a computer, Sony HDTV, a modem, router, IPhone/IPad chargers and the DVR cable box (as long as the cable is up). I’ve looked at the waveform, and while closer to a sine then a square wave, it isn’t pretty. Not only have I never had a failure on any of the attached items, but it just doesn’t worry me (and what’s likely to be more sensitive than the items I just mentioned). Just some thoughts...

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Thanks for that!

We have four Priuses in our family. I've considered buying a 2.5KW inverter unit and running it off the high voltage NiMh battery in one of them. There are companies that make custom solutions for this. A Prius on a full tank of gas can run an inverter like that for days.

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

From the messages I've recoeved.so far, pure sign wave or not is the deciding factor.

Concerning your ham equipment and trailer, the generator I used originally for computer work and ??? is a Yamaha 2800watt inverter generator. It puts put a good clean 120vac (or 12vdc) at 20 amp.

It was made for attaching and mounting to an RV and to supply clean power, is only around 65 pounds, a lite weight when you compare it to other inexpensive ac generators, and is sound rated somewhere around 60 db.

It is very quiet and carrys about 5 gallons of gas. Which is why I would rather not use it, (smelly gas in my car).

My other store bought inverters are only 50 watt, 100 watt, 500 watt, and 750 watt. I'll likely try the 750 to check things. I do know inverters can be had in the internet but they cost more than my very expensive generator!