Can these chargers be left on, unattended? Do they revert to trickle-maintenance charging once the cells are full, or is there any danger of damaging the cells?
It would be nice to just leave the packs plugged in when not in use, so they are always ready to go.
I don't believe NiMH chargers do trickle charges. I've got a Maha C801D for my Eneloops and I'm pretty sure it just charges till they're full and then leaves them alone. NiMH cells prefer complete or near-complete discharges before being recharged, the exact opposite of what Lithium batteries do. And after completely discharging my 5aH pack, I attached it to that charger and it shut off right around when it should have with a 1.8A charge setting. There is a thermometer but it's only accurate if you have it inside the pack and it's only necessary for larger (10aH+) packs.
And as to your other question, there's no intelligent reason for running it on AC power. If you have AC available, you should plug your monos straight into AC and be charging your battery. You will likely damage something if you attempt to charge the battery and run the inverter at the same.
bacilonur wrote:
there's no intelligent reason for running it on AC power. .
Sure there is. (for me) Granted it's a somewhat picky point, and you can't do it with the Ranger either, but I let's say you are shooting both indoors and out, or outdoors by both by a building and out in the field. You have to unplug from the battery, then plug into the wall, then back again, each time you move. OK, that is REALLY lazy, but still, why not NOT have to do that if possible?
Also, and more important: If you use modeling lights a lot, it might be very nice to have the packs always charging, when possible. True, you can carry spare packs, but that's yet another hassle.
Well, not a big deal at all, but worth asking about.
bacilonur wrote:
You will likely damage something if you attempt to charge the battery and run the inverter at the same.
That's what I was afraid of. There are some chargers that can handle this (regulated amperage, or something) but I guess those are too expensive for this project. Sure would be nice, though.
You can definitely rig something like that up, but you'll likely need a bigger Pelican pack and more cooling. You have to remember that the AC adapters for the AcuteB, B2, and Bron Mobil are $1k+, last I checked. So there's obviously a lot more going on inside than just a standard battery charger. It'd need to be something inside the charger, because it has to supply a direct 120VAC source directly to the mono AND supply 12V to the battery.
What you could do instead is implement my original idea of having an external charge port so that you don't have to disconnect anything. All you do is unplug the monolight, turn off the inverter, and then plug in the charger. That would trim 30 seconds off the process of switching back and forth between DC and AC while keeping the battery topped up as much as possible.
bacilonur wrote:
What you could do instead is implement my original idea of having an external charge port so that you don't have to disconnect anything. All you do is unplug the monolight, turn off the inverter, and then plug in the charger. That would trim 30 seconds off the process of switching back and forth between DC and AC while keeping the battery topped up as much as possible.
Not to bad. One might even be able to rig-up a small solenoid switching system, to do all three at once. It could run off the battery pack's 12v, so wouldn't take up too much room.
Thanks for sharing this. I have the vagabond 1 setup which isn't bad, but having a dedicated power supply for each flash would be nice.
One suggestion:
What about instead of having the plug installed in the side of the box have you considered using a cord-grip and having a cable which would plug your power-pack into the monolight without needing to carry a separate power cable. Sure you would limit it's use to a power-supply for your light, but I can't think of one instance where I have used my vagabond for anything other than powering strobes.
If you aren't an electrician... look into thomas-betts cordgrips. You can get them where they cinch down on the cable essentially making it "water resistant" but now that I think about it, that doesn't really matter because Bees aren't water-resistant
But this was well-thought out, and very well executed. Thanks for sharing
SPX,
The inverter would have to be 240V to 12V not sure if those are available. If the DC side has to be 24V then it would be necessary to configure the battery pack for that voltage. Hopefully, there are sources for proper inverters in the UK and also the NiMH batteries.
A better answer is that you need to match the output voltage on the pack to the requirements of your lights. For the bees it is 120vac but I am sure you can get a 220 volt inverter. Just make sure that it is a pure sine wave job.
I've almost got mine totally assembled! Just waiting on a connector to splice to the inverter to connect to the battery. I bolted a spigot to the case, so I can clamp the battery pack to a lightstand (or just about anything) with a superclamp.
You don't really need that, as the 1050 has a little carabiner that hooks to a stand screw handle just fine. A superclamp increases your weight by around 60%.
Deans connectors are the best, btw. Buy a couple sets so you can make adapters and extensions.
Thanks, Jeff. I just finished using it on a product shoot. It worked perfectly. If the inverter doesn't crap out on me over the next few weeks, I'll probably build another pack. Finally, a DIY that's actually USEFUL
bacilonur wrote:
You don't really need that, as the 1050 has a little carabiner that hooks to a stand screw handle just fine. A superclamp increases your weight by around 60%.
I've seen that some are using the carabiner, but my preference is the ability to clamp it to stands/monopod/anything securely so that it doesn't bang around at all. It's not enough extra weight to worry me, especially since it will help balance a monopod or weigh down a lightstand with an ab1600 up top.
brett maxwell wrote:
I've seen that some are using the carabiner, but my preference is the ability to clamp it to stands/monopod/anything securely so that it doesn't bang around at all. It's not enough extra weight to worry me, especially since it will help balance a monopod or weigh down a lightstand with an ab1600 up top.
Brett, when you're done, will you be posting a photo of the pack? I'd really like to see where you bolted the spigot.
