Seanzky wrote:
The main question I have now is, which inline fuse holder can I get that holds ~75A but at the same time can hold a #4 wire? I've gone to AutoZone and looked online and can't find one. Does one even exist? Most of them hold #8.
I saw some car stereo ones. Are those okay?
Seems to be ok. You don't necessarily have to use the AWG size as recommended in the manual, the manual is conservative and on the very safe side. I personally think a #6 or #8 will be enough for a 600W 12V inverter. Here's a graph of current vs. time of a capacitor being charged:
In the very beginning, the current is very high vs. wire/fuse rating, but later it drops quickly until the capacitor is fully charged (same voltage as the source), and all these take place within a very short period of time (like 2-5s). Therefore, you may get away with a lower rating wire since you are not pulling 600W of power continuously. I agree it's pretty hard to find a 75A fuse/breaker. That is why I chose a 24V inverter for my large battery pack, half the current-smaller wires.
I was going to get the 24v version, too, since the price difference between the inverters weren't by that much. But the price for the battery was another story. Haha. Thanks for all the info, 400d!
If I feel like I should have an external fuse, I'll get one of those that I linked to and hook it up to the positive side between the inverter and the battery, right?
Seanzky wrote:
If I feel like I should have an external fuse, I'll get one of those that I linked to and hook it up to the positive side between the inverter and the battery, right?
Yes. A lot of people built one and didn't use an external fuse, no biggie.
Here is the answer form Samlex with regard to the fuse I installed.
Hi Greg
"The fuse is required to protect against the possibility of fire if the battery cables are shorted. The fuse should be as close to the battery positive terminal as possible. The fuse rating is OK."
This is a really good DIY. Mine was finally assembled yesterday and it rocks. It recycles quicker than my Vagabond II (comparison was done with one 500 BXRi on each power pack). It can also handle both 500 BXRi much better than my Vagabond II can. Obviously it's the 300w vs 600w. And the size is much bigger than the Vagabond also. But mine has wheels so it's not a problem.
The only thing I don't like about the inverter is the long beep when the strobes recycle. It's very loud. At least it's a distinct beep from the Elinchrom "ready" beep.
The battery charger I bought is also pretty nice.
I love this DIY. If I need a third pack, it will definitely be another Samlex and 12v 21 amp battery.
Congratulations Sean, glad I could help. I haven't really noticed the beep but I haven't used it much either since I built it. I'll have to check that out. Have fun with it.
Thanks, Gregg. Yeah, the beep only happens when I load up 1000ws of strobes. With one 500ws strobe, there's no beeping. I think the beep means when it has to push beyond 600w? I also noticed the fan doesn't turn on as soon as I turn the unit on, unlike the Vagabond II.
I have a video but I'll have to redo it because everything I was saying was incoherent (just like my other test videos --lol).
But the inverter by itself is already bigger than the Vagabond II. Lighter but bigger. The batter I have is about half the size of the Vagabond and maybe only 5 lbs. lighter. It's a monster of a set up but the performance makes it worth it.
About how many pops do you get off that ? at 1000w
Its a bit hard to calculate given resistence and whanot, but im wondering how many pops roughly i would get.
Yes, 21 amps. I'm not sure how many pops but it came fully charged. I played with it while making a test video and after about 20 pops, it only took 20 minutes to charge it back to full... or maybe a little less. I have a 15 amp charger, though.
I also used a 4 gauge welding wire. I don't know how that affects the whole set up.
That's just for the battery, the inverter, wire, and copper things that screw into the battery terminals. I don't count the charger and the Stanley tool box I bought because I plan to use those for other things, around the house or photography. It's something that I should have had anyway. Also, should I add more power packs in the future, $240-260 is all I'm spending.
I've been doing a little research on a DIY portable power kit myself. I've read this thread and also ran into another post that mentions the beep of the inverter and thought I'd pass the response Samlex had to the beeping sound one person was getting...
Apparently when you get a beep it means the inverter has overloaded and it has switched to a modified square wave for a time until it recovers. So you might want to dial down the power to the strobes if it's making the inverter beep. The size of the battery seems to be important to the setup to keep the inverter from beeping and sending a modified square wave to the strobe from a pure sine wave inverter...
Seanzky wrote:
The only thing I don't like about the inverter is the long beep when the strobes recycle. It's very loud. At least it's a distinct beep from the Elinchrom "ready" beep.
The battery charger I bought is also pretty nice.
I love this DIY. If I need a third pack, it will definitely be another Samlex and 12v 21 amp battery.
Albert Taylor wrote:
I've been doing a little research on a DIY portable power kit myself. I've read this thread and also ran into another post that mentions the beep of the inverter and thought I'd pass the response Samlex had to the beeping sound one person was getting...
Apparently when you get a beep it means the inverter has overloaded and it has switched to a modified square wave for a time until it recovers. So you might want to dial down the power to the strobes if it's making the inverter beep. The size of the battery seems to be important to the setup to keep the inverter from beeping and sending a modified square wave to the strobe from a pure sine wave inverter...
I read your article, good one Sean. Note a manufacturer like PCB would be challenged to find a 300 watt inverter that is high quality enough and small enough to be in the price range he wants to sell it at. As you know from your research you have an idea of what the selling prices are. Even if he paid $75 to a $100 for one it would be very hard put all that together and keep it under $300 to the user and make a profit. You can't have it all, small, compact, and cheap or powerful, heavy, and more expensive.
