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Portable power supply for outdoors photography
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Jun 9, 2021 15:03:02   #
ialvarez50
 
Hello every one. I have a question for the experts. I want to make my own portable power supply so I can bring my professional lighting equipment outdoors. My question is. Have any of you made one? I saw a couple videos sometime ago, but of course, I cannot find it now. They talk about using three things,
1. Rechargeable battery
2. A pure sine wave inverter and
3. a charger for recharging the battery.
I hope that someone gives me a list of things and maybe a brif description of why they are good.
Thank you for all your help in advance.

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Jun 9, 2021 15:06:32   #
Quixdraw Loc: x
 
Why not just get a small generator? Things will just plug into a powerstrip.

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Jun 9, 2021 15:10:17   #
jim quist Loc: Missouri
 
I use the ones from Paul C Buff and they work great.
https://www.paulcbuff.com/Portable-Power/

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Jun 9, 2021 16:52:19   #
ialvarez50
 
Yes, I an aware of the units from Paul but, I like to save money and just make my own.
Thank you for taking the time to answer.

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Jun 9, 2021 16:55:00   #
ialvarez50
 
Thank you but, do you know if generators create a pure sine wave? Any device like a flash, is very susceptible to the corrent produced by the device. It can be damaged.

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Jun 9, 2021 17:04:18   #
User ID
 
ialvarez50 wrote:
Hello every one. I have a question for the experts. I want to make my own portable power supply so I can bring my professional lighting equipment outdoors. My question is. Have any of you made one? I saw a couple videos sometime ago, but of course, I cannot find it now. They talk about using three things,
1. Rechargeable battery
2. A pure sine wave inverter and
3. a charger for recharging the battery.
I hope that someone gives me a list of things and maybe a brif description of why they are good.
Thank you for all your help in advance.
Hello every one. I have a question for the experts... (show quote)

Get a Honda silent generator. Thaz your whole list. Brief description of “why” is “thaz how all the kool kids do it”.

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Jun 9, 2021 17:09:10   #
User ID
 
ialvarez50 wrote:
Thank you but, do you know if generators create a pure sine wave? Any device like a flash, is very susceptible to the corrent produced by the device. It can be damaged.

Has it occurred to you to just get a real AC generator (aka alternator) so there’s no inverter involved ?

I don’t know which models that might be cuz we never worried about it, just used whatever was sold at Agway. I’m thinking you might be overthinking this. Maybe you’re an engineer ? We ran a whole set of studio power packs from a typical farm generator. If we’d had an engineering consultant we’d never have gotten any work done.

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Jun 9, 2021 17:17:52   #
Haydon
 
jim quist wrote:
I use the ones from Paul C Buff and they work great.
https://www.paulcbuff.com/Portable-Power/


I have a vagabond mini as well Jim.

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Jun 9, 2021 17:23:00   #
ialvarez50
 
User ID wrote:
Has it occurred to you to just get a real AC generator (aka alternator) so there’s no inverter involved ?


Do AC generators run on battery? Can they fit in a small tool bag?

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Jun 9, 2021 17:25:01   #
ialvarez50
 
User ID wrote:
Get a Honda silent generator. Thaz your whole list. Brief description of “why” is “thaz how all the kool kids do it”.


So, dont spend $600 on a Paul C Bluff unit spend $2000 on a generator?

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Jun 9, 2021 17:26:10   #
User ID
 
ialvarez50 wrote:
Do AC generators run on battery? Can they fit in a small tool bag?


They fit in a large tool bag, and run on dinosaur juice.

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Jun 9, 2021 17:27:54   #
User ID
 
ialvarez50 wrote:
So, dont spend $600 on a Paul C Bluff unit spend $2000 on a generator?

$1200.

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Jun 9, 2021 18:30:42   #
bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA
 
You can get any pure sine wave inverter. There are lots of brands. They are rated in watts.

Look at your professional lighting equipment and figure out how many watts they use. Then get a "pure sine wave" inverter that is rated about 50% greater. That inverter will attach to any 12 volt battery, including the one under the hood of your car. A portable (and heavy) alternate is any RV deep cycle battery or marine trolling motor battery.

Becoming more common are backup power supplies for when the lights go out. Costco had one with a Duracell brand. Because they typically use lithium batteries they are lighter but more expensive. Jackery seems to be a common brand on Amazon.

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Jun 9, 2021 18:31:42   #
bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA
 
User ID wrote:
Get a Honda silent generator. Thaz your whole list. Brief description of “why” is “thaz how all the kool kids do it”.


I have one. They are quiet, but not quiet enough for video shooters. Photography would be fine.

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Jun 9, 2021 18:41:36   #
User ID
 
bsprague wrote:
I have one. They are quiet, but not quiet enough for video shooters. Photography would be fine.

Must be stills ... who worries about wave form for video lights ?

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