Portable power on your cart

[James Davis]

Has anyone else thought about, or hooked up some kind of portable battery powered set-up that sits in your cart, for charging iphones/ipods, powering Laptop computers etc etc....and maybe even running a battery charger in a pinch.

I'm thinking something that hooks up to a decent car battery like an Optima or something similar.

Something that could maybe provide mains power for a reasonable length of time, or alternatively, something just for the laptop and iphone that runs off of v-lock batteries.... if that could be done.

I'm purchasing a cart fairly soon, and it's something i've thought about in the past, and thought about integrating into the cart somehow, has anyone else come up with a solution or created something similar to what I am imagining?

[William Demeritt]

Hey James,

 

I've never really thought of, or even wanted to build a portable power source for my entire cart. I lug enough equipment in and out of my car daily.

 

That being said, I do usually carry a 25' bright orange stinger (Home Depot type, so electric doesn't mistake it for one of theirs) and a surge protector so I can tap into house or stage power. That way, I have a way to charge my batteries on my cart should it be problematic for the chargers to sit elsewhere. Likewise, that gives my cart power to plug in an AC adapter for a laptop or iPhone charger.

 

I think Afton Grant sells d-tap to iPhone charging cables, another great way to charge iPhones on set. I personally own a couple lithium ion battery packs that I can use to recharge my iPhone 3-4 times before the pack is dead.

 

I'd be intrigued to see what you come up with, though!

[James Davis]

An expensive but very neat looking solution:

 

https://powertraveller.com/iwantsome/primatepower/solargorilla/

 

and

 

https://powertraveller.com/iwantsome/primatepower/powergorilla/

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

Has anyone else thought about, or hooked up some kind of portable battery powered set-up that sits in your cart, for charging iphones/ipods, powering Laptop computers etc etc....and maybe even running a battery charger in a pinch.

I'm thinking something that hooks up to a decent car battery like an Optima or something similar.

Something that could maybe provide mains power for a reasonable length of time, or alternatively, something just for the laptop and iphone that runs off of v-lock batteries.... if that could be done.

I'm purchasing a cart fairly soon, and it's something i've thought about in the past, and thought about integrating into the cart somehow, has anyone else come up with a solution or created something similar to what I am imagining?

 

 

I have zero desire to carry more stuff so I use what we already have. You have a ton of steadicam batteries right? Wy not use them?

[Anthony Violanto]

 

 

I have zero desire to carry more stuff so I use what we already have. You have a ton of steadicam batteries right? Wy not use them?

 

I agree. Anton Bauer has many ways to do this including a power inverter so you have AC.... Hell you can even lay their new solar panel in the sun and go green!

[James Davis]

I've seen the ones that run off of car batteries, but do they do inverters that run off of AB batteries?

If so I can probably get an adaptor to use my V-locks, that'd be ideal really, as you guys said using my existing batterys would be more appealing, but just seems more complicated.

 

I've seen these:

 

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MB441Z/A?fnode=MTY1NDEwMQ&mco=MTA4NDE2Mjc

 

and I think maybe I could fashion some kind of XLR plug end on to it, to hook up to a stand alone v-lock base, and then create an IPOD to XLR so I could maybe interchange the two across the same v-lock base, which could then also still be used to power other accessories with XLR power ports.

Do any of you guys know if that kind of Voltage is safe to go straight into the Ipod/Iphone, I know it's safe for the laptop.

Maybe Afton Grant the guy that does the D-tap to Iphone/Ipod cable?

[Alfeo Dixon SOC]

a very useful use of the sound or vtr guys carts... they have plenty of outlets and are usually close by... hell, most have an iPhone and BB plug for the nearby adults

[Patrick Blewett (Inovativ)]

Hi James,

 

We are actually working on a powered cart utilizing some amazing technology. We were hoping to unveil it at Cine Gear, unfortunately we won't meet that deadline and we will be coming out with this design sometime this summer. Keep up to date with us, this accessory is gong to be amazing. I wish I could give you more info, we're tying to keep it tight for now until we have everything in line.

 

Patrick Blewett (Inovativ)

[James Davis]

Cool, sounds really interesting, with regards to the whole powering your macbook/macbook pro thing, I mentioned it to one of the guys I work with today, and he said, oh yeah somebody already makes one of those, turns out all I had to do was ask!

 

http://www.creativevideo.co.uk/index.php?t=product/hawk-woods_vl-mac

 

= instant v-lock powered macbook pro!

 

Apparently Anton Bauer just brought out their own version as well, for all you gold-mount battery owners:

 

http://www.antonbauer.com/Products/QRC-MBPA

 

but you need the airline power adaptor to go with it, which is an extra £30.

[Salil Sundresh]

For 5v USB devices I carry 1 or 2 of these in my tool bag, some rechargeable AA batteries and spare $1 iPod sync cables. I also carry some other common phone cables like mini usb, etc. Phones are really the only thing that I ever find people needing to charge when there isn't power. Laptops have batteries for a reason and most steadicam ops I know have more than enough batteries. If your batteries are old or aren't high enough capacity, then maybe consider upgrading your batteries as opposed to finding another battery to charge a battery?

 

I'm in the process of outfitting one of my carts with 5v LED lighting and hot swap. I'd like to be able to run my lights off batteries (d-tap or AA) and then once the electrical department gets me power, have the batteries start charging again. If anyone has any ideas, would love to hear. I realize I could use 120v lights and a UPS battery back up but that seems awfully inefficient and less safe.

Edited July 27, 2011 by Salil Sundresh

[David M. Aronson]

I'm not cool enough for a cart (yet), but I have a 5 of these that I use all the time. I took the compressors out of 3 of them so they're lighter, and I keep one in my car in case of an emergency. I've used them with LED and Fluorescent lights with no problems and with the right LEDs, they last all day.

[Mark Karavite]

On the last digital show I did, my 1st AC had a tiny Y power block made. Everytime the sled sat on the cart, he plugged in shore power off a block battery that lived on the bottom shelf of my cart. It saved my DIonic HC's for when we were shooting, but kept the camera up. It worked great, and I've used it for Alexa & RED jobs.

 

I have a 4 pin to cigarette plug that I charge my iPhone with on the cart, right off the block battery 4 pin 12v outlet, or an Anton Bauer brick to 4 pin adapter. I can't say I've ever had enough down time on set to kill the battery on my MacBook Air. I imagine that would be a pretty slow B Cam day.

 

I hate having my cart plugged in. It becomes a major pain every time it moves. We always charge batteries somewhere off the cart.

[richard bellon]

hey all

 

power to the cart...

i think would be to much of a mission to warrant it.

 

when i was an ac i thought about it even tried it but in the end it was too complicated.

the easiest was to just have power run to my van and set up a charging station.

 

i charged steadi batteries, camera batteries, phones and laptops.

i also had a inverter and 3 12v batteries in-case but more of a hassle than ever needed.

 

i carry enough batteries to run the whole day without having to worry about charging (1 less thing to worry about)

when using Alexa i have the 2nd Ac swap the on-boards or have a brick handy to plug in so i never have to power down.

for shooting i run camera off sled.

i use 2x 160w which gives me a runtime of aprrox 3 and quarter hrs.

but combining onboards and these i usually run for 8-9 hrs before changing my batteries.

 

as for charging phones and stuff, i generally leave my phone in my car :blink:

but in an emergency plug it into the vt cart or in the van where everything else is being charged.

 

My Friend who is a sound recordist runs his whole set up on marine deep cell batteries which i beleive can power his whole cart for 4 days.

[RonBaldwin]

you can always pick up a battery booster/jumper almost anywhere and just make/have made/buy the cables you need. They are cheap and last a long time.

 

or...you can get really sexy and get one of these:

http://www.goalzero.com/shop/p/64/Extreme-350-Adventure-Kit/1:3/

[Jess Haas SOC]

I just carry AB plates and adapters for XLR and cigarette lighter plugs. Lets me charge phones, etc....

 

~Jess