How Do You Power

coolguy007

coolguy007

Active member
OK so this is a topic i bring up cause i guess i havent seen it discussed much on these forums, so here it goes, once you have your camera (for me hvx) you lights sound all that good stuff and your ready to go...how do you power everything? When i ask this i mean for location shoots where you can not easily plug into a wall. The answer i know is generators 1. but which ones (which ones are quiet) 2. and do you guys buy or rent, 3. if you own lights should you buy or rent, ok thanks alot
 
One pretty cheap and quiet way to power everything is to use a car: A car, certainly a diesel, runs pretty quietly at idle, but can generate a lot of power. Get a 110v or 220v power inverter. They range from 150 watts up to 2500 watts which should be ample. Make sure you get a 'true sine' inverter: they give a much cleaner signal, which is important for avoiding sound issues( trust me, been there,...). We use a 2500w inverter to power an HP xw8200 workstation, video-decks, LCD displays, and much more, and it works perfectly: we can still use a 1000W HMI. And thats all in a car.

They are pretty efficient ( +95%), so it's very easy to go from 12v to 220v ( or 110v), and then use the standard adaptors for each appliance( which might be 5v, 9v, 12v,...).
When you're too far from a car for a shot, use a charged car-battery with the inverter.

The lower ratings ( 150w, 300w) are pretty cheap, even the true-sine ones. Calculate your Wattage requirements( eg. camera, laptop, monitor), and buy accordingly.
 
I noticed they had an inverter that is 5000 watts. Can your run 5000 watts from a running car battery? That would be cool!
 
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