Not sure if anyone's familiar with this battery, but i've been using it for a bunch of different things. With it's built in 110V inverter, i've used it to charge my batteries while driving to a shoot. I've used it to power my cameras through the Canon ACK-E6 outlet adapter. I've used it to power up my laptop when i'm working remotely. I've used them to power up my 500 LED Video light panels out on location. Oddly, I've only used it to jump a car once.
I tested it out with my 183 LED Video light that's powered via 12V DC. I'll be making connectors for the two cigarette lighter sockets that comes standard with this battery. These cigarette lighter sockets provide a direct 12V DC with a 40 amp fuse which should be plenty of throughput to power the LED panels. If some of you are building out stacks of Z96 LED Light panels, this also should work fine. Well it was $99 bucks when I grabbed it, but it's on sale right now for $79. Shipping to my zip code added in another $11 bucks, but still not a bad deal for anyone looking for a great 12V DC power source.
Since 'some' of the 500 LED Video light panels are also powered via 12V DC, i'll be looking into modifying the power cables to go directly instead of using the built in Inverter. This would be a more efficient way of powering up my large 500 LED Video panels and would bypass that Inverter fan that kicks on. Remember, only 'some' of the LED Video panels are setup to accept 12V DC. Especially the ones that offer the V-Mount battery option. If you're looking for the right ones, you gotta get the ones with the Dimmer knob and XLR power cable.
Can also be found here via Amazon:
For those looking for something a little more portable, I've been watching these so called 'super batteries'. I'm curious if anyone has had any experience with these? Rechargeable (claimed) Li-Ion batteries with different power ratings, all 12V DC + Charger. Very inexpensive batteries which should power up those little LCD's, portable HDMI LCD monitors, On camera LED lights, and then some...
Portable Super Li-ion 12V Battery + Charger
bob
I have owned this product long ago, it's only an 18 amp battery, years ago there was the truck pack that was 2 18 amp batteries in parallel but this item requires close to a full day for full charge, and full day after each use, time consuming, least with the ac plug in it could charge in 2 hours
Ron R.
@Emm, yeah sound won't matter on this particular shoot since it''s a music video. Looks like we're going to use a car battery and 750w power inverter.
Emm
Post author@Ron R. - For such occasions, I have been looking at this portable generator (or the larger version of this) https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-EF1000iS-4-Stroke-Generator-Compliant/dp/B002RWK9LY/
You can run a very long extension cord to move the sound away from the shoot, but if you're using a fog machine i'm guessing you don't care about audio in your shoot anyways. Those fog machines buzz quite a bit. Basically a portable generator like this will be able to better power such items and then some.
Ron R.
@Emm, thanks for the reply. It's a small unit, but I realized it's still 400 watts. Rethinking this...
Emm
Post author@Ron R. - Whoa I think you need to reevaluate the wattage. A fog machine is basically a heater which will kill any battery in minutes. A better option would have been a portable generator.
Ron R.
I just bought one of these for a music video shoot. After charging the battery, I hooked a fog machine to it through the AC port (standard wall socket style connector), and it only worked for 15 seconds or so before the battery drained too low to run the fogger. Can it only power through the DC car lighter style connector or does it sound like a have a bad battery? Thanks!
Emm
Post author@laughingcrows - It's not using 12V. There is an AC inverter built into this jumper battery, so I used the AC adapter for the camera. It's basically just like plugging it into a wall. The AC adapter for the camera converts it to 7V DC.
laughingcrows
You said you've run your camera with this battery. But is that safe? Powering a 7 to 8 volt DSLR with 12 volts?
mike
I too was wondering if this could power some alien bees or does anyone know something cheaper than the vagabond, which seems to be deadstock right now? Thanks.
Lam
Can i use this to power my alien bees and use them??
Emm
Post author@Darryl - Several hours at least. If you have the 12V type LED (dimmable knob type), then you can run directly to the battery via Cigarette lighter adapter. No need to use inverter.
Darryl
@Emm - how long does this last if a 500 LED is hooked up? 2-3hours? 1 hour?
Thanks!
Elias
I mean the led light seller
Elias
Hi!
Wonder if the seller ships internationally?
allen
oh thank you. I will check out an adapter at Radioshack then.
Emm
Post author@Allen - Ideally the battery should work. If you're just talking about the fitting, you can grab a fitting from Radio Shack. It should just be two wires.
allen
Hi Emm. I bought the ut 12V 4300mah Rechargeable Battery Pack for the ring light. I am disappointed to report that it does not fit my ring light.
al
Thanks 🙂 makes sense, however i wonder how the powerbase does it as its listed as 14.8v!?
cheers
Emm
Post author@Al - You would need to drop that voltage down to about 7v.
al
@emm I was meaning for the little blue 12v super battery, shouldn't these work with the ac adapter to give a few hours of power to the camera? like the swixtronix powerbase? or would we need to reduce the voltage?
Aaron
Has anyone tested these batteries with the LED 500? Emm said they work, but does any one know how long the battery will power them?
ahphotovideo
The portable jump battery has gone back up in price at Harbor Freight. I did, however, find it cheaper than the $79 price at Amazon. It appears to be a rebranded, but otherwise identical item to the Harbor Freight battery.
The item is available here:
https://www.amazon.com/Wagan-400-Watt-Jumpstarter-Compressor-Utility/dp/B000GPV2QA/ref=pd_sim_auto_7
(It even qualifies for free shipping with Amazon Prime).
Emm
Post author@Al - it might only be worth it if you have other things to power up. These jump batteries ace 119v plugs too.
al
Not sure how the math works but how many standard 550d batteries would equal the 4300mah battery pack? ie how long would you expect to shoot on one of these 'super batteries'?
allen
emm - bought the 20 dollar battery that you had your eye on. thanks for the nod to it.
AC
What do you guys think about this one?
Schumacher PP-2200 Portable Outdoor Power Unit
I'm not keen all all this voltage lingo... so wondering if this is a good buy. Planning to get 3.
Emm
Post author@Al - yes it works. I use it for that too.
Emm
Post author@AC - looks like sale is over.
AC
The link for the 5 in 1 battery you posted is coming up Harbor Freight, but the price still shows $99.
Is the sale over so quickly? Or am I not looking at the right page?
al
would this work with the ACK-E6 outlet adapter?? 🙂
Daniel
Hi! I've bought 3 of these and hooked them in serial to power a 36V 100W LED chip. These batteries are fantastic. very compact for their incredible mileage! As an alternative you could buy some Rhino batteries from HobbyKing.com
Jason Mongue
Those 500 led lights look exactly like the Ikan 500 lights. Anyone know if they're the same product, rebranded?
Emm
Post author@Allen - Yeah Jag35 has one here.
But personally i've been keeping my eye on this one to test out 12V 4300mah Rechargeable Battery Pack
allen
I recently purchased the '352 LED Ring Light with 12V input AC Adapter for Video' and have been looking for a battery like this to power it when I run and gun. Do you know of any batteries like this that perhaps don't weigh so much? Perhaps something you could fasten on to a belt?
Emm
Post author@John - No it's not that fancy. This is just a simple 12V battery, but with tons of reserve.
John
Great info! Is it like a Vagabond which can be used to power the Bowens or even the modeling lights (plus directly into it)?
Thank you, Emm!
Mickey Jones
Too many "https" in this link.