I am looking for a way to power either both of my Photogenic 1250 DR powerlights or at least one of them in the field. What is everyones suggestion to do this ? I was looking at the inverter honda generators but which one would l need (1,000 or 2,000) ? The watts are the easy part but I think that the lights take a lot of amps. Are the 15 amps required to charge the flash in the fastest time or can a lesser amperage supply be used and it just charges slower. I am new to wanting to take these in the field so any suggestions comments are appreciated. Thanks for the help in advance.
I am in the same boat as you; I have four PL1250DR lights.
I have not received a definitive answer from Innovatonix.
I have spoken with some people at Photogenic and they are supposed to generate some real numbers in regards to recharge peak voltage.
If these lights use the full 15amps available to them at the instantaneous peak they would be drawing 1800 watts. Hopefully photogenic will catch the true instantaneous peak and find it is only 8-10 amps (using a 15amp fuse for headroom). Maybe I will call today.
*Not sure why he said I should get 1500-3000 units when peak draw would be under 2000. My initial question to them was about powering two units so maybe that was their thought.
Yeah those innovatonix units look good. I was going to get a honda inverter generator since they are safe as well. But the 1000 watt generator only puts out 8.3 amps. The 2000 watt version puts out 16.7 so I don't know what to do if those lights need 15 amps.... That sorta stinks.... Any other ideas ?
The PL 1250DR are digitally controlled units. As nearly all those they need a high and fast current (with some exceptions of lower WS flashes), the microprocessors switch to a 'reset' when the current draw is too low.
Inverter (batteries) are limited in this regard, I'm not sure whether the 1250DR will work or not.
Are you referring to the inverter or the light circuitry with this statement: "the microprocessors switch to a 'reset' when the current draw is too low."
If you are referring to the inverter I think it would be fairly simple to make sure there is enough draw to keep it from switching over - turn on the modeling light at the lowest setting.
If you think the inverter switching is to slow the SAMLEX engineer made me feel quite confident that is was fast enough.
Cool, I am glad that they got back to you. I will be very interested to see what they have to say. Any other info from anyone else would be great as well !
I am looking at this power supply for my Photogenics (1250 DRC and StudioMax III). I've read some reviews, it seems to work great. The only drawback would be the weight & price.
BTW, I currently use the StudioMax III 320w AD/DC strobes with Quantum Turbo 2x2 batteries. I have used these on long shoots and location, and it barely went to half power!! So, if you can work with 320w max power, you might want to consider these. I can use all of my Photogenic light modifiers (ex. beauty dishes, speed rings, etc.)
Littlebike wrote:
Are you referring to the inverter or the light circuitry with this statement: "the microprocessors switch to a 'reset' when the current draw is too low."
I was refering to 'digitaly' controlled flashes. Some work flawlessly when battery powered, some not. I think it depends on the respective electric design whether it'll do.
PeterBerressem wrote:
I was referring to 'digitaly' controlled flashes. Some work flawlessly when battery powered, some not. I think it depends on the respective electric design whether it'll do.
That is usually due to fluctuations in the sine wave from cheaper inverters, the electronics freak out.
The Dyna-lite inverter may be able to support a PL series photogenic but the alien bees or innovatronix devices cannot. The XT has a peak of 1200 watts, supposedly a photogenic draws nearly 1800 watts peak (will know real numbers once testing is done) so I would not trust it with my lights.
The problem with Photogenics and lights with similar behaviour is not the amount of current draw. It is because their uP power supply allows the uP to re boot if the AC input voltage falls to low. Any inverter will brown out (current limit) unless it can supply the full peak initial recycle current. The real initial peak current on lights like these (and ours) is in the range of 30A to 50A - so you're talking 3500W or more if you are going to be free of brown out.
Our lights are made to tolerate brown out - even down to 30-40VAC. This is whay you can run even 8-10 of them on a Vagabond.
We're working on serious digital lights now (Don't ask for dates yet please). When they come out they will work fine with inverters - by design.
I purchased a 2500W generator from Harbor Freight for $300. I plug a 1200W SMART UPS in to the generator and then plug the strobes in to the UPS.
I have no problems running three P800D packs on the generator and have run two P2000D packs with 4 heads each with no problems.
I use the SMART UPS to clean up the power a bit just in-case. I have not had any problems with the packs or heads and my Norman repair rep tells me I am good to go and that the packs are so well built that dirty power would likely not cause a problem with these packs - they are real work-horses.
I have the generator in the back of my van with 100 foot orange extension cords. Works great for location work.
I have not heard from him, I am going to wait until Thursday before ask him again, and, considering today is Presidents Day he may have had the day off.
I just heard from Photogenic and he has not had opportunity to test them yet. He said he should have the numbers by the end of the week.
He is going to test:
-initial power on draw with modeling light
-initial power on draw without modeling light
-recycle power with modeling light
-recycle power without modeling light
-and draw after charge (static draw).
This should give us enough information to buy the right converter.
Really good guy, he called me to apologize for not getting to it sooner.
Littlebike wrote:
I just heard from Photogenic and he has not had opportunity to test them yet. He said he should have the numbers by the end of the week.
He is going to test:
-initial power on draw with modeling light
-initial power on draw without modeling light
-recycle power with modeling light
-recycle power without modeling light
-and draw after charge (static draw).
This should give us enough information to buy the right converter.
Really good guy, he called me to apologize for not getting to it sooner.
None of this is going to tell you whether they will work with an inverter. You need to ask him "At what AC voltage does the power supply drop out and crash the uP?"
