portable electricity source

H

holyghost

New member
I will be going to a region of Africa that has no electricity. I will be needing to power HVX-200 batteries and a apple laptop. What would you recommend to take with me to power this equipment. please help.
thanks,
holyghost
 
I have been looking at something like this.

I recently used a less powerful version of this and it worked well. It is really heavy, which may be hard on a trip like yours. The good thing is that it can charge in a car as you drive from place to place.
 
Michael Friedman said:
I have been looking at something like this.

I recently used a less powerful version of this and it worked well. It is really heavy, which may be hard on a trip like yours. The good thing is that it can charge in a car as you drive from place to place.
Click to expand...

Which model did you use and what devices did you plug into it (camera, laptop...)? How long were you able to run your devices?

I've been reading varying reviews of the Xantrex, some sayng that it can barely run a 50 watt light bulb for more than 2 hours. Others saying that it can provide much more power than that.
 
The best I have found

The best I have found

After a little more investigating I found what seems to be a great solution. Please if anyone has used these products please let me know. I am interested in the solar charger as well but have no idea how long it will take to charge my laptop.

http://www.brunton.com/product.php?id=603
 
ozzymandius said:
Which model did you use and what devices did you plug into it (camera, laptop...)? How long were you able to run your devices?

I've been reading varying reviews of the Xantrex, some sayng that it can barely run a 50 watt light bulb for more than 2 hours. Others saying that it can provide much more power than that.
Click to expand...


I used a Duracell branded unit that I got at a truck stop at the last minute. It worked for an hour with 2 LCDs and a DV camera running off of it. It never ran out but I think it was close. I was planning on doing a thorough test this week.
 
Michael Friedman said:
I used a Duracell branded unit that I got at a truck stop at the last minute. It worked for an hour with 2 LCDs and a DV camera running off of it. It never ran out but I think it was close. I was planning on doing a thorough test this week.
Click to expand...

Look forward to the test results

A lot of people have used the Tekkeon and claim it can run the HVX and a laptop for a few hours, but it would be nice to get some exact figures and comparisons for the top portable power options, just short of a generator.

http://www.amazon.com/Tekkeon-myPow...4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1192077069&sr=8-2
 
How many hours of shooting and for how long will you be there? If it's just for a few days, I'd recommend buying more HVX batteries and buying more laptop batteris.. I got a great deal on them from a guy in boston. He sells me 4 of the big long life batteries for a 100 bucks and they last almost as long as the panny and the DVXbatterires. They run 15 minutes less time.. but for 25 bucks each, they are a steal... The same guy recommended a site and I was able to get mac laptop batteries for 50 bucks a piece.. So for about 500 bucks you could buy 12 camcorder batteries and 4 laptop batteries. This is what I"m going to do when I go to China.. I already have 12 hvx batteries and 3 macbook batteries. Sure, I'll have power there but I don't want to have to rely on it.. and it's also has to go through a conversion...

Another option might be to rent a generator and bring a couple of power strips. This will also allow you the option to use some lighting, monitor, excetra..


I've used the solar power systems and they are great, but slow. That's why if you go this way and have extra stuff you'll have the time to power up the other ones while you are going..


Please hit us back though with your decisions as lots of us would love to know how it works.. The Takeon (sp) ones do look appealing too, but for the cost of getting more batteries and more laptop batteries... might be a way to consider that too


cheers
 
A Solution

A Solution

First of all I would like to thank all of you for your feedback. After agonizing over which route to follow I have come to some conclusion. I have decided to trash the laptop work flow and only bring the camera. I will be buying roughly twelve extra batteries and renting more P2 cards. In the situation I figure the less devices I have to power the better. As far as mobile power sources are concerned I don't feel like there is a good solution for my project and on a more general level. I feel the best I have seen is the Brunton solar charger and battery but even this has many downfalls. I feel that this speaks to a larger problem of battery technology development. I am hoping that the future might bring a lightweight long lasting solution but am not holding my breath. Thanks once again.
 
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