DIY Portable Power for Strobes Monolights Vagabond II Alien Bees Build your own

[JACOBthePHOTOGRAPHER]

Alien Bees Vagabond II too expensive? or out of stock? Just piece together your own for $170.00 around half the price. I wanted to to have a battery for each light stand so as to keep cords out of the way AND to act as its own weight to keep the stand from tipping over so it serves many useful purposes. Also if one power supply goes out you will at least have more than one on location so worst case scenario you can still power all your alien bee strobes.

YouTube- DIY Portable Power for Strobes Monolights Vagabond II Alien Bees Build your own

YouTube- DIY Portable Power for Strobes Monolights Vagabond II Alien Bees Build your own

Here is the shopping list:

The Install Bay ATFH10C-10 10 GA ATC Fuse Holder With Cover (10 Pieces) - $9.99 ($2.00 for each homemade build )
The Install Bay ATFH10C-10 (atfh10c10) - Fuse Holders - Sonic Electronix

2 x Polarized 2 Conductor 10 AWG Connector Set - $5.00 each ($10.00 per set )
Polarized 2 Conductor 10 AWG Connector Set

Powersonic PS-12180NB - 12 Volt/18 Amp Hour Sealed Lead Acid Battery with Nut-Bolt Connector - $30.00 each
Powersonic PS-12180NB [Powersonic PS-12180NB] - $35.00 : Portable Power Systems, Got Batteries?

Samlex 150W Pure Sine Wave Inverter - $99
Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter 150 watt - DonRowe.com

Alien Bee Vagabond II Carrying Bag = $19.95
AlienBees: Illuminating the Galaxy with Professional Photographic Lighting Equipment

GFCI cord $10.45
http://www.lowes.com/pd_145275-33536-30339011_0_?productId=1135923&Ntt=gfci&Ntk=i_produ cts&pl=1&currentURL=/pl__0__s?newSearch=true$Ntt=gfci$y=0$x=0


Total: 171.40
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also if you want a good 12 volt charger go with: SUPER SMART BATTERY TENDER JR. - $19.98
Battery Tender SUPER SMART BATTERY TENDER JR. from Derby Cycles

[tomrit]

Over on the Fred Miranda Forums, there is an article about building a battery pack in a small Pelican case. A lot smaller, lighter, more sophisticated, and about the same price you are talking about.

Search for "Pelican Battery Pack".

[Songman45]

Interesting video. I don't know how to embed the video but I'm reposting the link for those who have difficulty picking it out of the OP.

http://www.youtube.com/v/7g17KuAGexM&hl=en

Steve

[whiteeye]

Great info. I did something very similar, although I used a plastic tool box in lieu of the PB Bag. I did it all for about $200.00

The best part is that I sold my VB 1 for $225. So I upgraded to a much more powerful system and made $25 in the process.....

[Douglas]

Well, was looking at this but the costs have gone up on the items. The inverter is now $119 instead of 99. And other odds and ends have gone up since this post. So once you add in the charger, its almost the same price as a vagabond.

[jerryph]

Another nice thing... the vagabond comes with alligator clips to use an external power source. For those times that I want more power faster, I have a new full sized car battery that I received for free that I can attach the inverter to. The original battery was good for about 400 full power blasts at 1,000 W/s, but with this battery, I can likely go well over 1,000 full power pops and still have juice to spare.

[Big Mike]

I also built my own, mostly for the weight savings. Mine is a about half the weight of a Vagabond.
I bought a 300 W inverter and a $60 charger, so in the end, the price was almost the same as buying a Vagabond.



I put it into a tool bag and hang it on the bottom of a light stand.

[Douglas]

Just curious. If its the same price, why not just get the vagabond? Is it always on backorder?

[jerryph]

Originally Posted by Douglas

Just curious. If its the same price, why not just get the vagabond? Is it always on backorder?

The Vagabond has been on backorder quite a long while now at the PCB site. I've also been waiting for the PLM to come back for months as well, and that is getting into the ridiculous side for how long I've waited... basically, it's been so long that when they do come out, I am passing on the item. When I ordered the VII, it was in stock and it came within 1 week of me placing the order.

There are ways now to order the pieces for your very own portable power solutions, for less than the cost of a VII, however, if you are not careful, you will possibly end up damaging your lighting gear.

Things like:
- properly fusing the setup
- using the proper parts
- using the right wire gauge
- quality connectors
- using a quality battery
- using a quality battery charger

... all make the differences between a good and safe setup and one that will shock your butt across the room and take out your multi-thousand dollar studio head out in the process at the same time.

[Douglas]

Yikes. Didnt know they were on backorder that much. I know the PLM's were insane. When I ordered some in March, they said they had people waiting since November for them. If the company has 1 flaw, its the speed with which their products are made. Anything more then a week or 3 is crazy.


I may have to look into making one of these then. Need a video with good instructions. (The one above is ok, but to actually see how the wires are spliced would be nice. And also, I dont recall it mentioning the fuse installation)