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09/22/2009 09:25:03 AM · #1 |
Here's a question I've been mulling in my mind. I don't know if I'm all that tempted to try it, but I thought I'd put it out there and see if it would work, or if it would actually be harmful.
I have several APC power backups around the house, mostly attached to computers so they'll stay on for brief power outages. What would be the harm in using one as power supply for AlienBees out in the field? If you kept the modeling light off, I would have to imagine that you'd get quite a few bursts out of it before the battery died.
Is the power clean enough coming out of an APC? Is there anything that would harm the lights by doing this?
Just wondering. The battery pack for the AlienBees is around $300, and the APC units are relatively inexpensive. Other than listening to the APC beep-beep-beep, it seems like this would work...? |
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09/22/2009 09:27:58 AM · #2 |
The issue lies in the whole type of electricity that it outputs...something about sine waves and what not that could totally fry your lights.
The Alien Bee vagabond is awesome and worth the investment, not to mention it is designed to work with your lights so no worry of frying them. |
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09/22/2009 09:29:59 AM · #3 |
And after a quick google check...you need one that outputs pure sine wave, and thats not all of them. Apparently the APC models that do are the following: APC UPS models that do output a Pure Sine Wave include: Smart-UPS®, Matrix-UPS®, and the Symmetra® Power Array®.
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09/22/2009 10:09:34 AM · #4 |
| Thanks... that's the kind of thing I was wondering about. I do plan to buy the vagabond as soon as the family financial chief (my wife) permits such a thing :) |
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09/22/2009 10:09:51 AM · #5 |
I would worry about overloading the UPS from an amperage perspective. My guess is that the strobes demand a large amount of amps, and these little UPs may not be able to support that demand. You should check into the power demands versus the UPS capabilities.
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09/22/2009 10:11:49 AM · #6 |
Originally posted by alanfreed:
Thanks... that's the kind of thing I was wondering about. I do plan to buy the vagabond as soon as the family financial chief (my wife) permits such a thing :) |
See I did it the smart way, I made all my big purchases before the wedding, so I was able just to threaten to call off the wedding if she gave me any guff. |
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