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Location shooters - any experience with this power supply?
Innovatronix Explorer 1200Ws http://www.innovatronix.com/cgi-bin/pro … /index.asp Any thoughts? All this $250 sounds too good to be true. I know pure sinewave inverters go for around this much by themselves, but this bills itself as both an inverter and power supply capable of 500 flashes @ 600w/s. I did a brief google search and found a couple positive experiences, but I'm just curious as to if there's any more out there. I have several calumet 750 monolights i need to feed, using a generator makes me nervous, and calumet wants over twice as much for a dedicated lower-powered battery system. May 11 05 05:07 pm Link well they bill the unit as a pure sine wave invertor.. some how i doubt that, i would love to see the wave on an oscope..ill bet more of a PWM sine.. but even if its a PWM sine, it should handle charging a captive discharge device, like a strobe without issue.. alein bees sells thiers for 349.00 of which 199.00 is the inverter, 39.00 is the battery..the rest packaging and charging units..so its concievable..nice find May 11 05 06:45 pm Link Posted by Doug Swinskey: Just curious what the difference between a pure Sine and a PWM sine is? Does it have to do with screwing up your lights? May 11 05 07:40 pm Link Posted by (MGAphoto) ANT: Posted by Doug Swinskey: Just curious what the difference between a pure Sine and a PWM sine is? Does it have to do with screwing up your lights? hmmm... a pure sine wave usually comes from an alternator.. May 11 05 08:40 pm Link Thanks for your wisdom, Doug. I think I'll give my manufacturer a call and see what they have to say. May 11 05 11:46 pm Link Here are some that include batteries for around the same price or less... http://www.4lots.com/index.asp?PageActi … tegory=214 The 400 model is more wattage and amp-hours than Alien Bees Vagabond for half the price. The big one is built into a roller... talk about convenient! They also seem to include power conditioning. May 12 05 10:11 am Link I use vivitar 285's with umbrellas or sunpak 555's.. but then again I mostly shoot skateboarding so the big studio lights don't make sense for me to purhcase right now. May 12 05 03:50 pm Link you can build your own. But if you choose to go with a Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter, it will cost you more than that unit. I'm sure the capacitors in the powerpacks/strobes can handle a modified sine inverters just fine. the advantage of building your own (typical 12V Car battery and a 12V inverter) is that you choose the size and type of battery. Those Optima batteries are kick ass. But at $250, the system you posted looks like a good deal. May 12 05 03:51 pm Link I've used big Honda 3000 & up generators to power 4-8 4,000w/s packs for location shooting. EACH strobe manufacturer's power packs act differently with generators on location. Many packs do NOT like a slower surging trickle recharge cycle, they draw & expect to get full amp power on demand. Trust me, this can be a major PITA, so it's best of you get as much information as possible from the maker, to be sure your lights/packs will be covered under warranty if you follow their instructions, and something goes wrong. StratMan May 12 05 04:02 pm Link How many assistants will you have? The more the merrier. I never use flash anywhere I go. Been shooting locations for the last 11 years in my 15+ year career. I never liked that "sunset behind the girl pop the flash in her face look".....bleah. Just not my style is all. Take all your scrims and reflectors...use your assistants. Faster production. May 12 05 07:13 pm Link Posted by Gary L.: It depends on the design of the strobe system. Alien Bees make it very clear that a modified sine wave can damage their strobes. Check with the manufacturer. May 12 05 07:35 pm Link Posted by michaelGIORDANO: Really? I love it (can you tell?). I use reflectors and scrims to, it's all good. Just depends on the look I want for a particular shot. May 12 05 07:36 pm Link Posted by Gary Davis: Posted by Gary L.: It depends on the design of the strobe system. Alien Bees make it very clear that a modified sine wave can damage their strobes. Check with the manufacturer. you are right, one should check to make sure their gear will be ok with these devices. I don't use Alien Bee, plus, doesn't Alien Bee sell batteries for their units? May 12 05 08:16 pm Link This is confusing  I would like to get something portable but these lighting companies kill you by charging $$$ for their portable units.May 12 05 08:26 pm Link Posted by (MGAphoto) ANT: the suggestion that you buy a car battery and a DC to AC inverter from an auto parts store isn't a half bad idea.. May 12 05 08:36 pm Link Posted by Doug Swinskey: How do you know it's not a pure sine wave inverter? AB seem very up front about providing information and it all seems to make sense. I don't see any reason to doubt them. like i said before, the only place to get a pure sine wave is from your household recepticle, or an alternator like the honda mentioned previously..(generators produce DC electricity, alternators produc AC, not sure why honda calls thier unit a generator..it produces AC) This is incorrect. Generators do NOT produce DC (my best guess is you're using automotive terminology which is oversimplified and not applicable to this discussion). And not all generators will produce a true sine wave, many of them will clip under heavy load. The honda generators I've looked at sounded like they were well regulated though so would probably be ok as long as they could handle the power requirements. These power requirements are pretty high though because of the surge that happens and the begining of the recycle period of the flash. May 12 05 10:04 pm Link Posted by Gary L.: yes they do, but for some reason a lot of people seem bent on finding alternative solutions. May 12 05 10:06 pm Link Posted by Gary Davis: Posted by Doug Swinskey: How do you know it's not a pure sine wave inverter? AB seem very up front about providing information and it all seems to make sense. I don't see any reason to doubt them. like i said before, the only place to get a pure sine wave is from your household recepticle, or an alternator like the honda mentioned previously..(generators produce DC electricity, alternators produc AC, not sure why honda calls thier unit a generator..it produces AC) This is incorrect. Generators do NOT produce DC (my best guess is you're using automotive terminology which is oversimplified and not applicable to this discussion). And not all generators will produce a true sine wave, many of them will clip under heavy load. The honda generators I've looked at sounded like they were well regulated though so would probably be ok as long as they could handle the power requirements. These power requirements are pretty high though because of the surge that happens and the begining of the recycle period of the flash. Q. how do i know its not a pure sine invertor? May 12 05 11:14 pm Link "Q. how do i know its not a pure sine invertor? A. because its starting with a DC voltage ie: no sine wave..direct current..its is chopped into an AC sine wave via IGBT (transistors) components." This is nit picking. "a generator is comprised of a wound armature with a commutator and field coils" A generator doesn't necessarily have a commutator. With a commutator, yes it will produce DC. Without a commutator it produces AC. "all invertors are current limiting..they are limited to the current carrying component that produce the chopeed sine wave..or they would all burn out the moment the battery power dropped and still tried to produce the rated output voltage" Shutting down or failing is not current limiting. "sized properly, the inverters should work without issue." True, but a non current limiting or true sine wave inverter would require a much high power capacity in order to be "sized properly". BTW, I don't feel like arguing semantics all night. May 13 05 12:57 am Link |
