Using the car battery to power a flatscreen monitor for field preview? [Archive]

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SenorKaffee

2007 July 5th, 08:41

Seeing that my HV20 camera charger came with a cigarette lighter adapter I had a strange idea for preview of shots out in the field.

I could take my home 23" PC flatscreen with me on location and use the car battery as a power supply. Flatscreens don´t need as much energy as CRTs, maybe there is a way to use such an adapter for them, too - or at least the car battery.

Any ideas how to do that?

white_2kgt

2007 July 5th, 09:38

What you are looking for is an 'inverter'.

http://www.google.com/search?q=inverter&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

I would not suggest using just 'any' car battery. You will want to use a deep cycle battery. I have an Optima Yellow Top that I'll use for similar reasons. Also get a decent battery charger, low amp will work fine if you can wait a day to recharge it. You cannot use your car to really 'recharge' a dead battery.

Since the canon power is less than or right around 12vs you can get away w/ a smaller adapter but LCD monitors take 110v as input so you need to 'invert' the 12v DC to 110 AC.

SenorKaffee

2007 July 5th, 10:19

Ah, I see, I think it´s called "Wechselrichter" here. Ebay sells some at 20-40€.
Any idea how long a normal car battery can power something like a flatscreen?

white_2kgt

2007 July 5th, 10:26

Ah, I see, I think it´s called "Wechselrichter" here. Ebay sells some at 20-40€.
Any idea how long a normal car battery can power something like a flatscreen?

Totally depends on the power req of the LCD and the battery you pick. I wouldn't be surprised if you get a few hrs out of a good one. Remember if you keep charging/discharging the battery you NEED to get a Deep Cycle battery. That is what they are designed for, yes they are more expensive than a regular car battery but they are also sealed (no spilling acid) and will last a pretty long time. I've had mine for 7yrs now, still takes a charge and still runs high draw elec motors when I need it to.

SenorKaffee

2007 July 5th, 16:07

There are also 12v power stations that are less bulky than a car battery and work with inverters - what do you think about those?

white_2kgt

2007 July 5th, 22:18

I actually have one of those that has an inverter built into it. It was about the same price as my batt + inverter but only puts out like 150 watts where my inverter will do close to 600. However, 150 should be enough to run an LCD. It's almost as heavy as my deep cycle battery though, but it does come w/ a handle :). It won't last as long as my deep cycle either, a ROUGH guess would be 70% the capacity.

If you don't have a battery charger, battery or inverter the all in one unit might be the way to go, less stuff to buy/maintain. You can also jump start your car w/ it if needed :).

SenorKaffee

2007 July 6th, 03:20

I think something like this would be great:
http://cgi.ebay.de/DIGITALER-STROMERZEUGER-INVERTER-GENERATOR-950-W-230V_W0QQitemZ250139021037QQihZ015QQcategoryZ33082 QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It comes with a 3 liter gas tank thank can do about 5 hours at 750W and is supposed to be quiet, whatever that means in the field. But it has an "off" switch I could use after setting focus for the scene, and for preview I need headphones anyway. ;)

Tom

2007 July 7th, 20:00

An inverter will work just fine to power an LCD like that. no problem. Pick up a 175watt or 300watt inverter at radio shack and you're good to go.

Erik Bien

2007 July 7th, 20:10

SK,

I can't read German, but it looks as if the noise "range" for that unit is 68-88db, quite a difference since the decibel scale is logarithmic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decibel_scale)!

"Busy traffic" is 70db, while by the time you get to 90db, the equivalent is "Niagra Falls!"

Actually, I'm a bit disappointed, since I thought I remembered Germany as having strict 'noise pollution' laws; I thought you might've finally discovered the truly whisper-quiet portable putt-putt generator of every indie gaffer's dreams ...

africanmarty

2007 July 8th, 00:05

i power mine with a 300 watt inveter and it runs fine, i use a motorbike batt. but i included some pics of it hooked up to my car batter to the inverter to the LCD power supply to the lcd monitor.

http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/7/18800025474.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=5916490)

http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/7/18800025484.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=5916489)

http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/7/18800025545.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=5916491)

http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/7/18800025564.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=5916492)

zephyrnoid

2007 July 9th, 21:57

LOL! I just use a Bescor 12V NIMH pack with a Cig socket NMH-54 http://www.bescor.com/catalog.php?page=02#
. just clips onto your belt and lasts for HOURS of On & Shooting time.

Tom

2007 July 9th, 23:28

africanmarty

2007 July 10th, 08:35

heh-heh. i don't think you need to do all of that. a simple inverter off your ciggy lighter ought to power that stuff.

what if you want to go where a car would be unavaliable... thats why i use a 12v motorcycle batt that u can use anywhere anytime and is very portable, i only powered it of the car batt so people see how easy it is to run of a battery using an inverter.

africanmarty

2007 July 10th, 08:37

LOL! I just use a Bescor 12V NIMH pack with a Cig socket NMH-54 http://www.bescor.com/catalog.php?page=02#
. just clips onto your belt and lasts for HOURS of On & Shooting time.

very cool didnt know they existed :)