When you don’t need the durability of a professional system, this DIY remote lighting system will do.
Pelican makes a great remote lighting system. Unfortunately, it’s the kind of great that comes with a “Request Quote” button instead of “Add to Cart”. It’s designed to be thrown in the back of a tank and guaranteed to work at the end of the day. [mep1811]’s system is not that system. It’s the store-in-a-Rubbermaid-tote and throw in the back of the family Honda kind of great, but it’s made from stuff you can buy anywhere.
The build is contained by a water resistant plastic box. Two sealed lead acids and a battery charger sit inside. The system is hooked together with simple car outlets — also known as the worst accidental electrical connector standard of all time. For the lights, [mep1811] simply made mounts for chinese LED spots and bought some inexpensive camera tripods. With a full charge, he says it runs for forty hours.
In the end it’s not a complicated hack, but its simplicity adds a certain amount of ruggedness, and it will definitely do the trick in a power outage.
Am I the only one that glanced at the inset photo on the right and thought, “…porn photo shoot…”
Even porn DPs generally use better lighting than this. Not that it’s not perfect for emergency lighting, but for even bad cinema you want larger light sources than this just to cut down on the harshness.
It would be nice to hack on a speed ring, but the color temp and spectrum are still going to be utter garbage.
Where in the world would you get the idea this was a video lighting system? I guess you did not click on the build link. https://badlandsexpeditions.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/remote-lighting-system-and-12vdc-power-supply/
Spoiler; there is no remote.
It’s a home brew ruggedised portable 12v power pack with inbuilt charger and a LED floodlight intended for emergency/blackout use.
It’s very nicely done.
… that can be used in *remote* locations for nearly two days of continuous operation.
Didn’t even occur to me that this could be mistaken for “remote flash” for camera set-ups. Ya, definitely was going for out in the woods kind of remote. Obvious in retrospect. Haha.
I think “portable” is the term I would have used for the summary. I too was thinking strobes or even some sort of easily adjustable constant lighting for video shooting.
Nicely done indeed and a reminder that a portable boost battery will do this nicely if with a lot less finesse.
These aren’t only by quote. If you google “pelican ______” with the part number, you can see prices at places like B&H. One of them (9460) was $1400. 6000 lumens for 7 hours. Kind of disappointing they don’t include a basic interlock system to assure the cover is open during charging.
I’m guessing the DIY system, given the runtime (40 hours) is probably not nearly as bright, but you can easily get $10-20 12-24VDC LED worklight heads which are about the same brightness per-head as, or brighter than, the Pelican system (3000 lumens.) I see some on Amazon that are a little over 2000 lumens; three of them, coupled with the two 20Ah batteries, would yield a little under 7 hours operation, so it’s probably safe to assume the pelican system has a pair of 20-25 AHr batteries.
This probably is’nt *quite* as cheap as people think it is, by the time you get done with all the pieces. Some sort of case (not necessarily waterproof), weather-resistant, locking connectors (Pelican uses locking Speakon connectors, a good choice I think), tripods, cable, charger, fuse holder, etc. I’m sure the Pelican case is otherwise nicely integrated, can survive being completely submerged, the heads are really waterproof, the whole thing will take a couple of years of abuse by a fire department, has a decent warranty, etc…but….yeeeeeesh, does it seem like they’re overcharging here, at least retail. GSA prices *can*, believe it or not, be cheaper, and agencies can of course solicit bids.
One word of caution: SLA’s aren’t actually completely sealed. They’re still typically vented in some way (usually a pressure relief valve) and if charged improperly, they *will* start to vent flammable, corrosive gas.
This might be a fun system to build up for pickup sports groups. I know there are often a lot of fields which aren’t permitted, but also aren’t lit at night. This would be a pretty sweet setup!
Nice work. Add a remote and you’re all set.
A remote would easy to add but just unplugging the cord is easy enough. The problem with using a jump pack is you are not going to get the same amperage. This is a 40 Ah battery pack. Most jump packs are about 17 Ah.
With so many 12 V sources and 12 V lighting systems out there, it barely qualifies as a hack, but it’s a nice-looking build. I would definitely join in the chorus calling for better connectors. Anderson makes some nice ones that won’t break the bank, available at the usual places, like this: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Anderson-Power-Products/6331G2/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMuP%2fQeRSdvksOanKczGCLDS
Might as well use the broadcast industry standard 4-pin XLRs for the low amperage 12v accessories.
You can buy knockoff pelican cases online to make a version that is more comparable to the commercial version.
Also surprised he went with unstable cig lighter plugs instead of the standard Andersen powerpole plugs.
Cigarette plugs are universal and the power supply can also charge cell phones and other devices. Using Anderson plugs would limit the versatility.
I have seen those cigarette plugs actually catch fire because of poor conductivity at the connection points. I doubt an LED’s draw would cause such an event though.
Careful with cheap LED stuff, some sellers are ripping you off, and some LED lights could zap the hell out of you.
This guy has a bunch of teardowns showing missing ground wires, swapped hot and neutral, and all kinds of other BS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbt2ojkXPuo
Since this is 12 V DC lighting, I don’t see the relevance of “swapped hot and neutral” or even missing grounds.
Go to Grainger, they’ll tell you how much the Pelican system costs, whew!