Battery Power For Lights Outdoors And Away From Oulet

R

Robertofish

Active member
I was considering buying a lighting kit probably one of the Lowel Dv Creator Kits since I don't really have a lighting system and those are nice and come with a hard case, but I had a question how can you light a scene when you are away from an outlet is there some way to turn say aa batteries into a power outlet using some sort of transformer, I don't really know all that much about power for lighting systems but any help would be appreciated
Thanks
 
Oh where to start. You can power your lights from an inverter (transformer with diodes) but for tungsten lighting, like your lowels, it is very inefficient. To give you a idea of how bad this will be, if you ran a 1000 watts of lights, a large automotive battery would run them for maybe a half hour max. Flos, or better yet LEDs will use less energy for a given amount of light. Battery inverter systems can work well under some circumstances, but careful choice of equipment and loading is needed. AA batteries aren't even a consideration for this use.

Grant
 
Generally if you need tungsten lights away from an outlet (or are using fixtures larger than a 2K), you will need a generator. Even using flos and some LEDs will need a genny too, to get any sort of respectable run-times.

Also, note that battery powered lights like the ones at Coollights require some pretty hefty batteries (hefty either in weight for the Ni-Cd, or in price for the li-ion). Just something to remember.
 
I heard about np1's which have around 3.8ah in battery power will these work? You can get 4 and a charger for around 750, the main light I was thinking of using would be a pro light for a hair light out doors other then that lighting is taken care of in most situations. I might need another low watt light or two max but nothing crazy like a 300 watt or above light, how long would one of the np1 batteries power a pro light using an inverter is there an equation to use I know that wh/volts=ah
Thanks
 
When I need portable lights which run off battery power I use my LED lights which draw very little compared to the hot lights in that Lowel kit.
 
So would the NP1s work with an inverter for power for the lowel lights, and if so how long would they last all I really need is a few hours all together.
Thanks
 
Back up a minute - is this outdoors?

If so, you might try using reflectors and powering them off the sun. It's a lot cheaper...
 
Robertofish said:
So would the NP1s work with an inverter for power for the lowel lights, and if so how long would they last all I really need is a few hours all together.
Thanks
Click to expand...

NP1s just aren't capable of this type of wattage. If you are outside, and looking for fill, any tungsten light is going to make your color go wonky unless you gel, and that will suck up at least half your light output. This is just a wrong headed way to do this. LEDs are the only realistic battery-inverter option unless you bring BIG batteries. For quick and dirty outdoor fill in dim lightling, I use a Cool Lights 600LED with a Bescor Brick. The color isn't perfect, but it is the best alternative IMHO. For outdoors, running on batteries + inverter, there just isn't really any other practical option. By the time you get enough large batteries and a capable inverter large enough to run anything of substance, you could buy a small quiet generator.

If this is a one shot deal, just rent a Honda.

Grant
 
Are the LED lights capable of inside use like the lowel lights, they might be a better more power friendly option, are there any kits of LED lights for under 1,000 that are good? I don't know that much about LED lighting.
Thanks
 
LED lighting is IMHO, a compromise. They aren't as nice as flos for soft lighting and they aren't as hard as a fresnel or other tungsten for longer throw. Inexpensive ones have color issues. But for low power, portable situations, it is fantastic. The more expensive units can be color tuned or have superior color balance, but that will cost a lot. Really top notch LEDs can run over $2000 per fixture easily. Cool Lights IMHO are the best economy option. What you are finding out, is there is no one light that is going to do every job.

Grant
 
So you would be able to run the LEDs off of some NP1s and an inverter, would there be gels that you could get that would make the color better for the LEDs, if I was to get a kit of leds which would you recommend?
 
If you buy a Cool Lights 600LED, they can run directly from 12vdc, so no inverter required. The light has a 4pin XLR connection, not to be confused with a standard XLR mic cable. The light comes with a nice acrylic filter pack and that is probably enough to start. You should check out the Cool Lights site since there is a bunch of worthwhile info there. Richard A. the owner will personally respond to your queries for info. when thinking about power for any device, take some time to learn the use of ohms law. It is the formula used to calculate watts volts amps and ohms. Just remember that a battery is only good for about 50%-75% of its amp rating. An NP1 probably isn't the best battery for this, but it will work briefly. There are many different types of NP1 batteries, so you would have to look at the specific battery you intend to use.

Not knowing what you intend to do, or shoot, you might also think about some of the cheapo cold shoe mounted LED lights that run on AA batteries. You could get six of them for the price of one Cool Light. There are plenty of better shoe mounts for around $300. Spend some time and look at the BH site or something similar, there is a lot of product on the market. You might also want to do a search here, since much of this topic has been discussed in depth in the past.

Grant
 
Robertofish said:
I was considering buying a lighting kit probably one of the Lowel Dv Creator Kits since I don't really have a lighting system and those are nice and come with a hard case, but I had a question how can you light a scene when you are away from an outlet is there some way to turn say aa batteries into a power outlet using some sort of transformer, I don't really know all that much about power for lighting systems but any help would be appreciated
Thanks
Click to expand...

For 1K lights you will need 10 amps continuous from a battery. Say your 'work day' for the lights is 10 hours. you will need 100 amp-hours. In order to make sure you have that capacity, you will need a 200 amp-hour battery, fully charged for such a day. While Ohm's law yields 8 amps for a 1K light @ 120 V... the inverter will take 'something'. Back in the olden days inverters were very inefficient, and wasted about 50% of the power, these days things are different, but I think 20% loss in the inverter would be a good estimate.

The basic need is given by Ohm's law.

W = V * Current.

So if you have more lights than the one 1K, each one will need to be calculated, and number of battiery(ies...) determined, as well as how many inverters, or how big an inverter is needed.
 
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