David writes : I've used a separate inverter plugged into the lighter socket to run my : battery chargers, works excellently. The built-in AC plugs are just an : inverter installed somewhere behind the panel. : : Anybody know what the current draw of White Lightning x1600 heads is when : the modeling lights are turned off? I've been wondering if I could run : one or even two heads without modeling lights off a 700 watt inverter (no, : my 700 watt inverter doesn't plug into the lighter socket; it needs to be : clipped directly to the battery terminals). the initial drawdown is probably huge, but that's just me guessing. I ran some studio lights from a generator set some time back and needed to do a few things to make it viable and not have it stall the small generator - the stalls occured as the current draw was so high from a dead start or after a discharge, it loaded the gen too much. I figured there was nothing or at least not much limiting the current and so I built a box with a 100 watt light bulb inside and ran the output from the gen through that to the flash, Tunring the flash unit on, the maximum power that could then flow was limited to 100 watts, or at 240 Volts, 2.4 amps :) I later added a switch and another 2 globes of 60 and 200W allowing me to have the different current limits of 4 amps or 1.2 amps loading my power supply or generator. When the flash unit is fired up, the initial load is capped at whatever current, the bulb burning brightly for the duration of time the heaviest load is on the power suppy as the flash capacitors suck the most current, then the bulb dims off as the capacitors approach full charge. no overloading UPS's or stalling generators ! :) For those using a generator, using a UPS in line as well as the current limiting bulb box is a good idea to smooth the current from the generator to stop false triggering.. karl
