Building my own power pack - Which Inverter?

[kawasakiguy37]

Im looking to built a powerpack to power some alien bee monolights. I know supposedly the Vagabond II somehow uses a samlez 150W (continous) inverter, even though even the weakest alien bee seems to peak at more than the samlex can output (300w surge).

How is this possible? Ive looked at some other pure sine inverters like these:

Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter 120 watt - DonRowe.com

Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter 300 watt - DonRowe.com

and finally this:

2200 ? Elite 180W

Are these units actually able to output higher surges than they are rated? Or am I missing osmething here.....FYI, alienbee spec sheet can be found here:

AlienBees Specs Chart

 

[Alpha]

Peak and continuous power are different.

 

[kawasakiguy37]

Peak and continuous power are different.

Yes, what are you trying to say? There are peak power ratings for both the inverters and lights but I am confused as to how they match up. Do I simply need an inverter with a 360W peak rating to power a light that takes 360W?

 

[Alpha]

Going to revisit this.

 

[wesd]

Also remember to think about the efficiency of the inverter, if more than half the the juice is being converter to heat than your not going to get as much out of the batteries. Will your strobes run off DC?
Wes

 

[kawasakiguy37]

No I believe they are AC only (usually plugged into wall).

Those inverters state 85-90 percent efficiency, is that good? Sounds good....