[J____]

Does anyone have one? and the grid for it? I'm looking to order and wondering how the output is and which degree grid to get haha.

[77civic1200]

have the dish, not the grids

I need to order some more stuff, things I forgot the first time around

[J____]

i just ordered it haha
dish + grid + einstein.
gotta wait for the vagabond to be in stock =(

[77civic1200]

Ya its been out of stock for a while, not interested in the mini lithium?

jealous of the Einstein, would be nice to have for some of the sports shots

[J____]

how long's the mini lithiums last? they seem kinda weak for monos no? I got the einstein more for the color temp and recycle time, wasn't really looking at the stop motion capability of it haha.

Ur welcome to take it to use if you like when i get it :D

[77civic1200]

With the einstien at full power, 400-500 pops, recycling in about 3 seconds

[davidhtam]

Hey j,

Have you thought of DIYing your own vagabond?

I've been doing lots of reading on it the past few days and it seems that a lot of people are opting for this route.

All you need is a pure sine wave inverter, a 12v battery, charger and cables. You could build a more powerful vagabond for the same amount of money or less and not have to wait for them to get back in stock
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[77civic1200]

^small pure sine wave inverters that will work are getting hard to find. I don't remember the specifics, but a lot of people were having trouble finding ones that worked properly with strobes. Search fredmiranda.com, there was tons of info on there.

[77civic1200]

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/823184

[J____]

never thought about that... im great at DIY'ing but I've no knowledge of anything electrical... so will probably fry something and cause more delay/cost haha


stupid Einsteins went on backorder.. it doesnt even say backordered on the site.. now i'll just get a beauty dish next week with no light to put it on haha.

[davidhtam]

If I can do the wiring in my car, I can definitely handle something like this.

I'll try to source the parts and let you guys know if it works!!

:D
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[J____]

^^ group diy? :D

[davidhtam]

Sure!
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[davidhtam]

Hey Jackson,

I just ordered my shit..

Here's what I've got:

Samlex 600w continuous (1200w surge) pure sine wave inverter
12v 22Ah SLA (sealed lead acid) battery
12v 1Amp SLA battery Charger (with cables)

I ordered the Batteries and Charger from www.batterymart.com
And the inverter from www.donrowe.com

Shipped them both to TSB in point roberts to save on shipping :D
Gonna wait 'till the items come in before I get the battery cables and connectors. Also going to go to home depot to pick up a GFCI unit.

As far as i know from my research, the Vagabond II has a 300w pure sine wave inverter, and a 20ah battery. The 600w inverter i chose should give me a faster recycle time and the 22ah battery will give me a tiny bit of extra life. I could swap out the battery for a larger one any time, but I don't want this thing to weigh a ton... it would kinda defeat the purpose of portability.

I think the whole unit should weigh less than 25 pounds in the end.

[J____]

nice. Let me knw when you get ur stuff and start on the project, i'll come watch / help haha

what are you going to put all the components in? what was the total cost?

i have some shitty inverter from cdn tire that i used to plug a home stereo system into my old benz' cig lighter haha.

[davidhtam]

I wouldn't use that inverter for your strobes.

You need a pure sine wave inverter for your strobes as they convert the dc power into a "cleaner" current that is similar to your house hold power.

Total cost was $240

The inverter was 149 shipped and the battery stuff was about 90 shipped. Im gonna just go to Canadian tire and look for an affordable case

Haha sure I'll let you know when the stuff comes in.
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[davidhtam]

Oops sorry, the inverter is 159. It's on sale 'till the 4th!!
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[davidhtam]

woohoo! The stuff shipped out today.. can't wait!!

I want to order an abr800, some stands and soft boxes... been spending way too much money lately though :(

[J____]

buy the abr, get your stands/softboxes from ebay/amazon. Save you a lot of money.

light stand:
Amazon.com: LIGHT STANDS PRO HEAVY DUTY 7'6" SET OF TWO by PBL: Camera & Photo@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41hc%2B9YxcvL.@@AMEPARAM@@41hc%2B9YxcvL


or if you want, you can get this backdrop set that double as lightstands. These stands are super heavy duty that weight like 15lbs each. I can stand on it and jump up and down without it breaking. Aside from pro c-stands, I dont think you can find a heavier duty stand for that price.

Amazon.com: Heavy Duty Background Stand and Light Stand Combo 9ft x 12ft: Camera & Photo@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/3128iHGGCSL.@@AMEPARAM@@3128iHGGCSL

[davidhtam]

sweet! i will order a few from amazon.. gonna sell off a couple of my old ones that i used for my speed lights.. i don't trust them with a Bee

[davidhtam]

THEY'RE HERE!

http://youtu.be/BS4-vt8mKm4?hd=1

And it works! Gonna go to lordco/can tire to get some wire as well as a switch and find something to put this contraption in!

[J____]

nice! but looks kinda massive. seems like good recycling time.

i was thinking of getting the mini vagabond. but the recycle time at full power for an einstein seems super slow

[davidhtam]

It's actually not that big.. Probably just a smidgen bigger than a vagabond ii. The battery is the heaviest component.. It weighs like 20lbs. The inverter itself only weighs like 3lbs.. Super light. I think the 300w is smaller.. And you could always purchase a smaller battery if you're concerned about size.

There is a guy selling the exact same inverter as mine on CL for $150 and there is another one that is 350w, same brand, for $90 on CL as well. The 350w will have a slower recycle time though.
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[J____]

What's the 600w mean? Is it sufficient for the 640w einstein? Also is the battery like the vagabond where u have to keep it plugged in?
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[davidhtam]

Your strobe is rated at 640Ws (Watt seconds). Which means in 1 second, it will put out 640 Watts of power at full power. This is just the "strength" of your strobe or the amount of energy discharged from the strobe.

The inverter is rated at 600W (Watts) which is rate at which energy is put out from the inverter. Basically, the higher the wattage, the faster it will recharge your flash.

It's easier if you look at it in Joules.

Einstein = 640J (amount of power)
Inverter = 600J/s (rate of energy output)

You don't need a 600W inverter to power a 600Ws strobe... it's just the rate at which it will be charged. Hope that helps!

Not sure about what you mean about the battery needing to be plugged in... the battery obviously needs to be wired to the inverter, but it doesn't have to be constantly plugged into the wall. The only time you need to have it plugged into the wall is if you're charging it. The battery should be charged pretty much after every use and you should try not to full discharge it as that will reduce the number of cycles the battery can go through. If you're not going to be using the battery for a while, you should make sure it is fully charged before storing.

[J____]

Your strobe is rated at 640Ws (Watt seconds). Which means in 1 second, it will put out 640 Watts of power at full power. This is just the "strength" of your strobe or the amount of energy discharged from the strobe.

The inverter is rated at 600W (Watts) which is rate at which energy is put out from the inverter. Basically, the higher the wattage, the faster it will recharge your flash.

It's easier if you look at it in Joules.

Einstein = 640J (amount of power)
Inverter = 600J/s (rate of energy output)

You don't need a 600W inverter to power a 600Ws strobe... it's just the rate at which it will be charged. Hope that helps!

Not sure about what you mean about the battery needing to be plugged in... the battery obviously needs to be wired to the inverter, but it doesn't have to be constantly plugged into the wall. The only time you need to have it plugged into the wall is if you're charging it. The battery should be charged pretty much after every use and you should try not to full discharge it as that will reduce the number of cycles the battery can go through. If you're not going to be using the battery for a while, you should make sure it is fully charged before storing.

thats what i mean, it's similar to the ones that AB use right? Others are saying you need to keep the vagabond plugged in/charged during storage? Where as the lithium ones like the vaga mini you dont need to worry about the upkeep.

[J____]

anyone tried these?

Innovatronix Incorporated | Products & Services (http://www.innovatronix.com/prodindex.asp)

[moky]

there's a FS thread here on RS and the guy is selling one of those explorer packs for pretty cheap too!

[J____]

is it the 1200 series? that wont work with digital strobes like the einsteins
gotta get the xt.

[moky]

no idea lol sorry dude!
here's the guy's posting http://www.revscene.net/forums/used-photography-equipment-only/649169-explorer-1200w-portable-power-supply.html

found this on CL as well, thought you might be interested
vagabond II
http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/van/pho/2477461712.html