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Portable AlienBees w/Vagabond battery
The whole Vagabond thing is very expensive. Does anyone know of a cheaper
alternative? Patrick |
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Portable AlienBees w/Vagabond battery
"Patrick L." wrote:
The whole Vagabond thing is very expensive. Does anyone know of a cheaper alternative? Patrick You could look for a used power pack. Find something that can connect to your existing lights, and make a deal. Unless you really want something new, there are often good used deals to be found. Ciao! Gordon Moat Alliance Graphique Studio http://www.allgstudio.com |
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Portable AlienBees w/Vagabond battery
"Gordon Moat" wrote in message ... "Patrick L." wrote: The whole Vagabond thing is very expensive. Does anyone know of a cheaper alternative? Patrick You could look for a used power pack. Find something that can connect to your existing lights, and make a deal. Unless you really want something new, there are often good used deals to be found. Ciao! Well, AlienBees run on AC power, no DC input jack, so just a DC power pack won't do, that is why I asked. The Vagabond system is a battery, and another inverter thingy which converts it to AC 120 volts, or something like that. Patrick |
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Portable AlienBees w/Vagabond battery
On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 18:42:13 GMT, "Patrick L."
wrote: The whole Vagabond thing is very expensive. Does anyone know of a cheaper alternative? Patrick Seems to me that all they're using is a 12V DC/AC converter (inverter) to supply 110V power to the flash. Can't you find something like this at Radio Shack or elsewhere? Just make a compact bundle out of a lead-acid 12V battery (the kind used in UPS units) and the inverter, that's all there is to it. |
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Portable AlienBees w/Vagabond battery
Subject: Portable AlienBees w/Vagabond battery The whole Vagabond thing is very expensive. Does anyone know of a cheaper alternative? buy a UPS battery backup system to power your AC lights, though I'd like to find one that didn't shreek the warning beep. or find a Norman 400b and use an LH head with a modeling light. this reply is echoed to the z-prophoto mailing list at yahoogroups.com |
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Portable AlienBees w/Vagabond battery
"zeitgeist" wrote in message news:ac4Lb.779895$Fm2.758751@attbi_s04... Subject: Portable AlienBees w/Vagabond battery The whole Vagabond thing is very expensive. Does anyone know of a cheaper alternative? buy a UPS battery backup system to power your AC lights, though I'd like to find one that didn't shreek the warning beep. or find a Norman 400b and use an LH head with a modeling light. this reply is echoed to the z-prophoto mailing list at yahoogroups.com I had one (before it died on me) for my computer. However, it did not work as a remote AC battery for my monolights. Patrick |
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Portable AlienBees w/Vagabond battery
"Patrick L." wrote in message hlink.net... "zeitgeist" wrote in message news:ac4Lb.779895$Fm2.758751@attbi_s04... Subject: Portable AlienBees w/Vagabond battery The whole Vagabond thing is very expensive. Does anyone know of a cheaper alternative? buy a UPS battery backup system to power your AC lights, though I'd like to find one that didn't shreek the warning beep. or find a Norman 400b and use an LH head with a modeling light. this reply is echoed to the z-prophoto mailing list at yahoogroups.com I had one (before it died on me) for my computer. However, it did not work as a remote AC battery for my monolights. Patrick If you buy an invertor, (12 VDC to 115 VAC) make sure it can handle the wattage. The little cheap ones (around 140 watts) won't drive bright photoflood lights. Buy an invertor that can handle the wattage of your lighting setup or you'll just be wasting your money. |
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Portable AlienBees w/Vagabond battery
There is an alternative, but without the nice carrying bag. Wal-Mart
has a portable 15 Amp Hour vehicle battery/DC Power Source with its own charger for about $40.00. They also have a 350 watt inverter for about $60.00. So, for around $100.00 you have a portable 350 watt AC supply. That should do the trick for a couple of heads. Patrick L. wrote: The whole Vagabond thing is very expensive. Does anyone know of a cheaper alternative? Patrick |
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Portable AlienBees w/Vagabond battery
Ok, but has anyone really tried this?
The information on the Vagabond/Alien Bees is that the flash units may be damaged by anything other than a true sine wave inverter. True sine wave inverters are expensive, but the modified sine wave inverters a la WalMart are relatively cheap. "Dave" wrote in message ... There is an alternative, but without the nice carrying bag. Wal-Mart has a portable 15 Amp Hour vehicle battery/DC Power Source with its own charger for about $40.00. They also have a 350 watt inverter for about $60.00. So, for around $100.00 you have a portable 350 watt AC supply. That should do the trick for a couple of heads. Patrick L. wrote: The whole Vagabond thing is very expensive. Does anyone know of a cheaper alternative? Patrick |
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Portable AlienBees w/Vagabond battery
"Bobs" wrote in message ... On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 18:42:13 GMT, "Patrick L." wrote: The whole Vagabond thing is very expensive. Does anyone know of a cheaper alternative? Patrick Seems to me that all they're using is a 12V DC/AC converter (inverter) to supply 110V power to the flash. Can't you find something like this at Radio Shack or elsewhere? Just make a compact bundle out of a lead-acid 12V battery (the kind used in UPS units) and the inverter, that's all there is to it. No, that's NOT "all there is to it". It is, indeed, an inverter that is necessary but garden variety "Radio Shack" inverters are not true sine wave inverters. The electronics in Alien Bees require true sine wave input power. These inverters are available, but cost more than the cheapos you find at Wal-Mart and Radio shack. Do a Google search as I don't have time now to look up sources of supply... but they are not hard to find. Tom |
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