which battery packs?

[liquidslap]

Where can I find info on building a battery pack myself and what would be the cost savings?

[Steven G Webb]

Originally Posted by liquidslap

Where can I find info on building a battery pack myself and what would be the cost savings?

Depending on your experience with batteries, chargers and inverters and your talent with wiring up electronic/electric components, there may not be a huge savings. Your fit and finish may not be comparable to commercially available products. The Vagabond products by PCB are neat, tidy, functional and competitively priced.

[zemlin]

Another vote for the mini vagabond. FWIW, two of them with chargers fit nicely in one of the bags they sell for them.

[liquidslap]

Originally Posted by Songman45

Depending on your experience with batteries, chargers and inverters and your talent with wiring up electronic/electric components, there may not be a huge savings. Your fit and finish may not be comparable to commercially available products. The Vagabond products by PCB are neat, tidy, functional and competitively priced.

If it's anything like wiring up an arcade machine, I can handle it. Looks like the inverter they suggest costs $100 alone. Is the samlex 300w the only good one or can any 300w inverter fair just as fine? I ask because I own a 300w inverter, but I didn't pay $100usd for it.

[jerryph]

Samlex is a brand. Brand is not important, though they are a well known and reliable brand, but type of inverter is. It *must* be a PURE SINEWAVE inverter. Anything else will just burn flashes.

[superakuma]

Originally Posted by liquidslap

If it's anything like wiring up an arcade machine, I can handle it. Looks like the inverter they suggest costs $100 alone. Is the samlex 300w the only good one or can any 300w inverter fair just as fine? I ask because I own a 300w inverter, but I didn't pay $100usd for it.

Trust me, unless if you are building a heavy duty unit or doing it just because, it is not worth it. You are NOT saving any money if you are trying to built a "cheap" one.

I built one before and I used the Samlax inverter model #PST-30S-12A. It was great for my Flashpoint lights but couldn't handle my AB lights. The inverter cost about me about $140 and the battery cost me $65. The cables, charger, clamps and fuse and other minor stuff made the total cost to be about $250.

Yea it is "cool" to build your own but you have to know what you are doing. You can KILL yourself or someone else if not done correctly. I've seen some DIY kit where they didn't even talk about using a fuse or any other safty preconception when building it.

[jerryph]

Wasn't it someone here that made their own... it "kinda" worked, but they had to buy a bigger inverter, that one ended up being the wrong one, popped a light, then they replaced that studio head and bought the proper inverter after being clearly told what NOT to use... total cost was like close to $1500 before all was said and done?

Yeah, do it if you know how... not to save money, because you won't, but because it is cool to say "I made this on my own".

I'd have the knowledge on how to make a good one quite easily. It won't be cheaper, but it will be better than a VBII... but then again, I have a VBII... so I don't need to make one... lol

[poloman]

I vote for the mini too!

[Mike_e]

Guys, it's really simple to build one so long as you get a PURE sign wave inverter. (as has already been noted) You just put the battery in a box (whatever you like really) and run some 5-8 gauge wire to the leads on the inverter. I shouldn't have to say but I will-make sure you run negative to negative and positive to positive.

That's it. You will still need a charger and remember to unhook the inverter while charging (I don't know if that's really necessary but why chance it). I think that I said earlier in thie thread that I used a boat battery, I put that in a boat battery box and bolted a 1500 watt PSW inverter on top of that. It takes a two wheeler to move it around but it's still a lot easier to move -and store- than a generator and since I don't need as much as a generator yet more than the regular packs it suits me fine. Especially since I can switch out batteries in a couple minutes should I have to. If I needed extra power another battery with box could be had for under $150 and that's way below another retail battery kit.

Having said that I'd still get one already made unless you need a lot of power.

As to the size inverter I wouldn't go with anything less than 800-900 watts, anything less is likely to burn out- either your inverter or you strobes, or both.


Edit: OK, I bolted a couple of 1 inch flat iron strips to the battery box and bolted the inverter to those. Using the same type of box would allow me to simply switch out tops to change batteries. It still doesn't look as refined as a nice photostore nylon pack, but it beats the heck out of a generator.

[poloman]

Originally Posted by Mike_e

Guys, it's really simple to build one so long as you get a PURE sign wave inverter. (as has already been noted) You just put the battery in a box (whatever you like really) and run some 5-8 gauge wire to the leads on the inverter. I shouldn't have to say but I will-make sure you run negative to negative and positive to positive.

That's it. You will still need a charger and remember to unhook the inverter while charging (I don't know if that's really necessary but why chance it). I think that I said earlier in thie thread that I used a boat battery, I put that in a boat battery box and bolted a 1500 watt PSW inverter on top of that. It takes a two wheeler to move it around but it's still a lot easier to move -and store- than a generator and since I don't need as much as a generator yet more than the regular packs it suits me fine. Especially since I can switch out batteries in a couple minutes should I have to. If I needed extra power another battery with box could be had for under $150 and that's way below another retail battery kit.

Having said that I'd still get one already made unless you need a lot of power.

As to the size inverter I wouldn't go with anything less than 800-900 watts, anything less is likely to burn out- either your inverter or you strobes, or both.


Edit: OK, I bolted a couple of 1 inch flat iron strips to the battery box and bolted the inverter to those. Using the same type of box would allow me to simply switch out tops to change batteries. It still doesn't look as refined as a nice photostore nylon pack, but it beats the heck out of a generator.

The mini weighs 3 lbs...