Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I thought you might find interesting that the Vagabond Mini indeed
works with the Profoto D1 500 (and likely the 250 but I didn't test
with the 1000). The key is to put the D1 into Battery Mode, which is
not a well known feature - it isn't in the official manual but came
in an addendum in my D1 kit. It reads as follows:

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Battery Mode
The D1 can be set to low power mode enabling it to be supplied by a
battery inverter. By reducing the current and using the D1 in battery
mode, the Profoto BatPac can supply up to four D1 at the same time. If
the D1 are used in standard mode, the BatPac can supply max two D1 at
the same time with a limited performance

Operating Instructions
To toggle the battery mode, go to standby and press the "Model" button
for 10s. The display will toggle between "bt" (battery mode) or "--"
(normal mode). To activate this function, the generator needs to be
restarted by removing and reconnecting the mains supply

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I put my D1 500 into battery mode and my Vagabond Mini had no problem
powering up and running the single strobe. I was getting full power
recycles in less than four seconds. I haven't had a chance to run
through the full set of tests, or try a pair of D1 units into the mini
yet, but I will try to get to that in the next couple of days.

Note of course that you should never use the modeling light when plugged
into the Mini as it only supplies 120W.

I've seen a lot of questions around the various photo blogs and sites
about the D1 with the mini, including some confusion from Paul Buff
himself, so I thought it might be interesting to note that it actually
seems to work very well. I'm ecstatic!

Great info . . . I bought a D1 to test with VML and it didn't work. I was unaware of the battery mode on D1, so this solves a lot of problems. I'll make sure our staff knows about this,

Thanks

I did some more testing today.

Plugged two D1 500 heads configured in "bt" mode into a single Mini, and it worked perfectly.

I was getting about 6-8 seconds recycle with both units at full power. At power level 9 or below, I was getting recycle times in less than 5 seconds!

I popped about forty full power flashes on both D1s simultaneously but gave up trying to run down the battery, since the Mini still hadn't dropped down to 3/4 power.

With the Profoto Air Remote, I can fully manage the two heads remotely. All I can say is that my two AcuteB 600s will probably be sold as it's so much more convenient, and lighter, to bring two D1's with the built in Profoto Air, along with a couple of Mini's, onsite instead of lugging the AcuteB's out with their heavy manually controlled power packs.

I love these Vagabond Minis!!!

Thanks Paul.

The battery mode was only added with Firmware Version 1.2. If you have an older D1 running 1.1/1.0 then you'll need to get it upgraded. With a 1.1 D1 500 I was able to get one to start up with the VML but it wasn't consistent. Once it started up and fired successfully, it stayed working, but a second attempt resulted in it shutting down after one flash @ 50%. My D1 @ 1.2 worked flawlessly, even without Battery Mode enabled (though I'm sure it would help spare some additional drain on the VML).

To add a bit more info for those contemplating the VML with Profoto D1 heads, I use one VML per D1 and like them so much, I have even started using the VMLs in the studio to cut down on the cord wandering around the floor. Recycle at normal studio settings (F8 foreground, F16 to make white background) is around .5 secs or so.

The only D1 plugged into an outlet is my main light so I have the modeling light available so the background is illuminated solely by VML powered D1 500s.

As for power and recycling time, with the D1 1000 watt head on full power, recycle Time is around 5 seconds. I fired 20 groups of 10 shots at min interval with a 1min cooling period between groups and noticed no increase in recycling time.

And the only time I use the 1000 watt head on full power is outside in sunlight so my experience has been that 5secs is the WORST case scenario.

Tony

How can we upgrade profoto D1 firmware, can't find any info how to do it for my D1 air to go with VML.
Andrew Bowen, or anyone who knows how to do it, please kindly share the info.
Thank you.

The best bet would be to contact Profoto directly.