Portable Power

Artisticurves · Jul 7, 2014

I used to have a vagabond mini, but I loaned it to another photographer and it came back damaged. I am looking to replace it with new portable power and saw Motomaster Eliminators on sale today. HAs anyone used these with their strobes before? Is their anything I should be concerned about?

Derrel · Jul 7, 2014

Photogenic Ion Lithium-ion Pure Sine Wave Inverter System 956055

$50 rebate available.

tirediron · Jul 7, 2014

Artisticurves said:
I used to have a vagabond mini, but I loaned it to another photographer and it came back damaged. I am looking to replace it with new portable power and saw Motomaster Eliminators on sale today. HAs anyone used these with their strobes before? Is their anything I should be concerned about?

"Eliminator" is a whole range of CT products; to which specifically do you refer? A lot of inverters aren't suitable for modern monolights and powerpacks since they require pure sine wave power, not the 'squared sine' produced by the majority of inexpensive models.

Artisticurves · Jul 7, 2014

Thanks for the input. I had read somewhere about the "pure sine wave power" and wasn't sure about the implications. I'd like to find something in Canada so cross border issues with the battery are avoided. I'll see if there are any Canadian distributors for the Photogenic unit. Thanks for the help.

Derrel · Jul 8, 2014

The other big company I know of is Innovatronix, which sells direct world-wide. They have pure sine wave inverters, but last time I checked were more geared toward "big" units. I have one of their older Tronix Explorer 1200 units, which weighs in at 18 pounds. It makes great ballast in my rolling shooting cart...but it is a toyal PITA, weight wise when added to an 11-pound power pack. But again...ballast against the wind and all.

One issue with some inverters is that "digital" monolights do not work well with some inverters; this was a BIG problem back in the mid-2000's, and Innovatronix had a lengthy list of lights which DID work with their inverters, as well as a shorter list of units which WOULD NOT, confirmed would not, work right. So, that was a nice resource that Innovatronix's web site provided.

I really do kind of want a SMALL, light pack system as portable power, rather than an 18-pound unit...the lithium ion battery system is super-powerful, lighter than the lead-acid type of material, and has a long service life, which is why I mentioned the Photogenic Ion unit: Photogenic is one of the very oldest, if not THE oldest maker of lighting equipment in North America, dating back to I want to say something crazy like 1911 or 1914 or something. They have always built really GOOD quality products.