gas generator w/ hmi's?

P

pahooji

Member
i'm planning on shooting a lot of exteriors in the woods in the middle of nowhere, with hmi's and daylight kino's. all i have for power is a 5000 watt coleman gas powered generator. i know hmi ballasts have a pretty low tolerance for voltage drops, and that a bad generator can even hurt or blow an hmi ballast. has anyone had experience with this? i've heard there are "voltage regulators" you can buy for this sort of thing, does anyone have any info. on those?
thanks,
nick
 
Hi:

I use two of the Honda EU2000 generators. They have crystal sync capacity and work very well with HMIs, laptops, monitors. They are quiet and barely sip gas as well. I would recommend renting a Honda EU series or two over what you are using.

Not sure if you can use some sort of external voltage regulator in this situation. I have a box that does the exact opposite of what your needing, it varies the voltage while maintaining a steady amperage. Good for the camper when hooked up to sketchy campground power supplies but not what you need.

Good luck,

Dan
 
You need a crystal sync ginny, and a whisper quiet one would be nice also. In reality, it doesn't cost much to rent a ginny. The real cost (at least here in Tennessee) is the camlock cable to power big lights.

Matthew
 
I have a Honda EU3000is genny that runs magnetic ballasts without any flicker because of its inverter design. Many construction type gennies will cause flicker with magnetic ballasts. Your option is to rent a crystal sync genny like it was suggested above or rent HMI's with electronic ballasts which will have a much better chance of not flickering.
 
bcheong said:
I have a Honda EU3000is genny that runs magnetic ballasts without any flicker because of its inverter design. Many construction type gennies will cause flicker with magnetic ballasts. Your option is to rent a crystal sync genny like it was suggested above or rent HMI's with electronic ballasts which will have a much better chance of not flickering.
Click to expand...

What brand HMI's are you using?

I've seen some really good deals on used Magnetic Desisti units, but was unaware that the EU series would power them without flicker, good to know.

What's the largest light you got to strike on the EU3000?

Thanks.
 
I've struck old 1200 Strands and I think 1200 LTM's before. I've never tried anything larger than a 1200. I don't think it'll strike a 2500.
 
i'm using arri 1200 hmi's with electronic ballasts. i've had problems with them before when the voltage dropped too low; they wouldnt even strike.
 
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