POWER SUPPY

[GARYHINDS]

HI

DOES ANYONE USE THIS TO POWER THEIR FLASH UNIT OUTSIDE. ANY COMMENT ON THIS WOULD APPRECIATE. THEY COME IN DIFFERENT POWER TOO. DO THEY WORK

DieHard Portable Power 750 with 12 Volt Outlet and Light FROM SEARS


THANKS
GARY

[Harry]

Gosh darn it Gary. I was just reading up on making power supplies for strobes that had a whole lot of information on why most power inverters won't work. I don't remember all of the specifics, but the jist of it was that it's hard to make one, that works reliably or safely, for less money than you can buy one for. Something to do with half-wave vs full wave? Is this what you are trying to do? A product link would help.

[rshunk]

I doubt seriously that it's a pure sine wave inverter - which is what you need to power your lights outside when you are away from a traditional power source.

Check out Welcome to Innovatronix Incorporated's Web Site for an inverter that works with most lights. Fast shipping and pretty lightweight. Hard to beat the price, too!

Here's a review of the Explorer 1200 from Innovatronic: Rob Galbraith DPI: Tronix Explorer 1200 delivers on its promise of bargain performance



Bob S.

[Ed Shapiro]

The explorer is the one to get! I have 2 and they work just fine. It does not really pay to try a do-it-yourself project. Same goes for low priced boat and car inverters that are designed of simple lamp lighting and small cooking appliances.

Within the innards of your electronic flash unit there are a number of different componants that are used to step up the voltage from 117AC Volts to anywhere from 300VDC to 1000DC Volts which is required by the capacitors. This requires a step-up method as well as a rectification function, that is, converting the AC to DC. In the olden days transformers and selenium rectifiers were used to achieve this conversion. Nowadays solid state voltage multiples (capacitor networks in conjunction with diode circuits) rectification "bridges" are used. Most of the time, however, many of theses circuit designs are not compatible with other devices which are used to step up 12 Volt (DC) batteries to 117AC Volts which incorporate their own step up and conversion circuitry.

To measure things like sine waves, an oscilloscope and the knowledge of using this device is required. To make a long story short, I hate the odor of burning electronic circuits and wiring. It's and acrid stench and usually indicates big time replacement or repair expenses are on the way.

Hope this helps- Ed

[Danlphot]

The Vagabond II from Paul C. Buff is just as light and only $300, shipping was a lot less too. Plus you get the legendary PCB reliability and service.