JBRIII

I get confused by all the different terms so I checked the web. I asked: How long will a car battery run a 100 watt bulb?
Found site called "homebatterybank.com". Lots of useful info on time versus battery type, size, type of lights, etc. For example, a typical car battery will only power a 100 watt bulb for a few hours before without a complete discharge, 10 of which can destroy the battery. Leds as mentioned are best and can be used without an inverter. Inverters waste 15% of the power.
As I remember most cars using Lithium batteries don't allow total discharge either for similar reasons.
Deep discharge batteries are deigned differently, car batteries made to start car, not to be completely discharged powering lights.
From a personal note, I believe many computer backups use Lead-acid batteries like car batteries, but maybe cheaper. At work, we often discovered the batteries to be dead when the power failed and so did the backup. I have one of those portable units for starting a car, with a build compressor, etc., battery in it died even not being used.
All that being said, I have a Diehard which is at least 20yrs old, taken from a car going to Goodwill, which still works, even after sitting for a year or more without charging several times!
Finally, I have had more than one modern car battery die and when they do they are really, really dead, won't even take a charge to start a car!
Good luck;

ialvarez50

Sorry, yes 600 w/ seconds.

Harry0 Loc: Gardena, Cal

I have some battery packs using 18650 batteries.
Some are singles- they will double my cell phone time.
i have one that uses 8. It will run the camera and a flash all day.
Check the specs- a decent 18650 mah rating is probably bigger than your camera's.

JBRIII

For a Canon 70D, a dummy battery and 10,000 mah battery will provide all the power needed. I have shot 2-3 hours of a total eclipse shooting 5 bracket shots every 15 secs. That's a min. of 5x4x120 or 2400 raw and jpegs. Never use flash so don't know that effect. But as I remember, requester also had lights. Recently seen 24,000 mah usb packs still pretty small and light compared to car battery. Since most won't shoot thousands of photos a day, dummy back and usb pack should be enough even with flash. Easy to check, charge a fresh battery, set to bulb and shoot with your settings every couple of minutes and check number of shots. For my cameras, I believe a 10000 mah is equal to 6 batteries at least.

Led lights could probably be done if not left on constantly and one dies not 1000 watt equavilent light.

In my experience, only testing really tells. I have small telescope with a dew heater and camera, it easily drains a 10,000 mah battery in 4-5 hrs for example.

ialvarez50

Thank you for taking the time, I appreciate it.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

There are any number of portable electric car battery rechargers with 12 volt "ciigarette lighter" sockets. some put out up to 1,000 amps. DC of cource The 12 volt sockets were designed for cellphone recharging. I don't know if that's what you are looking for Dc to AC converters are easy to find on amazon

ialvarez50

The problem is that normal power supplies damage the electronic parts of flash units for photography. This is why it has to be a pure sine wave.

User ID

Why did you quote the OP’s query ???

User ID

So you suggest that the OP give up his lights and just do time lapse. Thinking outside the box. Somewhat intriguing ! Perhaps a change of intended subject matter as well ? A truly unique solution. This is exactly why folks crowd source their photographic dilemmas to UHH’s great collective expertise.

JBRIII

This has interested me and would to know what you (the originator) finally come up with.

As a final note, I checked and Leds use around ~20% of the power of tungsten lamps, CFLs around 25, actually more than I thought. So 1000 watt equivalents would still drain a car battery in an hour or less depending on it's size. even a deep charge battery of substantial size wouldn't last very long. I saw some cheap Led unit for indoors,, Utube, etc. that should run all day on a car battery, but probably insufficient for outdoors, dven they drew too much for power bands according to manufacturer.
I only do nature, astro and museum mostly so either useless, not needed or not allowed, but interests do change.

Thanks;
Jim

ialvarez50

I received the battery and the battery charger and I am waiting for the converter. I have battery-operated LED mini lights that I have used for modeling lights before, I just bounce them from my umbrellas or through the softbox. As soon as I try them I will post the results. Thank you Jim.

Gilkar

Just adding my two cents as I had the need to have an inexpensive portable power supply in order to use my studio strobes on location. I attended a PPA conference and the one of the speakers offered the following suggestion. I used it with much success shooting outdoor weddings and high school seniors. The speaker suggested using a computer battery backup system. They are relatively inexpensive and required absolutely no technical knowledge on my part. I bought one charged it up and was off and running. I usually powered a single monolight with it using my on camera flash as the trigger. I carried it in the back of my car and used a light weight folding hand truck, (the kind used to move your airport carry on bags that do not have their own wheels), to move it to my desired location. It worked well until I got tired of the added work that moving and positioning it involved. I now use portable battery operated remote units to accomplish the same goals.