Ideas for portable power for lights?

PhotoBrody · Jul 18, 2012

I have a shoot early morning on Friday, I was going to order a specific power supply but I'm a little skeptical on it. I need something to power 1-3 continuous softboxes averaging around 1000-3000 watts. I do have a generator, but..that thing weighs a ton and don't want something noisy..just something that you charge and will last for a couple hrs. Anyone have any recommendations? Thanks!

tirediron · Jul 18, 2012

With a total possible draw of 10Kw/h you're going to be hard pressed to find any sort of "charging station" that will do the job. In fact, a 10Kw gen-set is s fairly substantial unit. I would seriously look into replacing the continuous lighting with speedlights. You'll probably get more bang for your buck, and all you'll need is a BIG box of 'AA' batteries.

cgipson1 · Jul 18, 2012

Or you get get Monolights.. and there are several good portable power solutions for those. Fairly light weight, and will last quite a while. Much superior to continuous lights. Not as convenient or as portable as speedlights, but much more powerful.

PhotoBrody · Jul 18, 2012

Sorry, I should have clarified - thats about 3000 total for all 3 light kits. I figured even if I just use one - rather than bring all 3, and use the half power setting on it, that might be around 500 watts. I do have a speed light, but only one. I wish there was power at the location...

PhotoBrody · Jul 18, 2012

cgipson1 said:
Or you get get Monolights.. and there are several good portable power solutions for those. Fairly light weight, and will last quite a while. Much superior to continuous lights. Not as convenient or as portable as speedlights, but much more powerful.

Do you have a link to which ones you're referring to? I'd be happy to check them out.

cgipson1 · Jul 18, 2012

anything from the Adorama Flashpoints to Buff Alien bees / white lightnings to Elinchrom for the monolights. Almost all of the monolight manufacturers also have portable power sources. The Buff Vagabonds are really popular portable power units and work with a variety of makes..

depends on what you need...and how much you want to spend...

http://www.paulcbuff.com/

http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?...onolights&cat3=Monolights&Feature1=Flashpoint

http://www.elinchrom.us/

PhotoBrody · Jul 18, 2012

cgipson1 said:
anything from the Adorama Flashpoints to Buff Alien bees / white lightnings to Elinchrom for the monolights. Almost all of the monolight manufacturers also have portable power sources. The Buff Vagabonds are really popular portable power units and work with a variety of makes..

depends on what you need...and how much you want to spend...

Paul C. Buff, Inc.

Flashpoint Monolights | Buy, Compare & Review

Professional Lighting Technology | Elinchrom

Awesome, thank you!

Tony S · Jul 18, 2012

Get a loooonggg extension cord, because powering those lights even at half power is going to overpower most any inverter you are going to be able to get. To get an inverter with enough power for this, you would have to spend as much as a good strobe lighting set up and heavy battery system.

PhotoBrody · Jul 18, 2012

Tony S said:
Get a loooonggg extension cord, because powering those lights even at half power is going to overpower most any inverter you are going to be able to get. To get an inverter with enough power for this, you would have to spend as much as a good strobe lighting set up and heavy battery system.

Haha! Yeah, I'm definitely checking into getting a good portable set up.. I love my softbox set, but unless I want to tag around a heavy duty generator..