Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I bought from powerwerx.com folks a C2P-5 this is a 5ft cord with the anderson plugs on one end and a cig lighter on the other. I was hoping that I could run my mini vag 2 this way when the lith battery was used up. However the Eisenstein comes on but then powers off. I'm sure it is because I don't have enough power from the power port in the car it is a 12v 120w. So my question is if I left the battery on the mini and plugged it into the car would it charge at all? Or should I get something that would let me take power straight from the car battery. This all a just in case the battery on the Vaga Mini 2 is used up during a shoot.

Thanks for any help.

The VML lithium battery requires a staged, current controlled voltage of 16.8 V to charge it. Don't mess with just plugging Lithium batteries into a straight voltage source. Ours won't blow up, but some will, and none will charge properly.

The better option is to use a $20 12VDC to 120VAC inverter (Walmart, etc) and plug your VML charger into it. This was mentioned in another thread.

Thanks for the quick response I wish I had seen that other thread as the $20 on the CP2-5 would have paid for the converter you mention thanks again for the great products you make!

The inverter should run small load from the cigarette lighter, in the manner you are describing. However, larger loads, like flash units, the voltage drop incurred from the battery throught the wires, through the fuse and through the contacts can be low enough to shut of the inverter. Or, the load required could blow the fuse in the car. If you needed to run the inverter from the car battery, a short run of Anderson to battery clamp fitted wire connected directly to the battery would be required. You should then be able to run the flash units from the inverter in that case.

Since you already have what you have, you should be able to run the inverter from the 12VDC source with the CP2-5 cord. You can then plug the VMC3A (VML charger) into the inverter, then charge the battery alone. The CP2-5 and inverter would act as a surrogate "$20 Wal-Mart cigarette lighter adapter", providing AC power. Then the VMC3A will convert the AC power to the appropriate DC power, and shut off when charging is complete.

why won't the charger adapter (Part Number: VCA) I got for my old V1 and 2 not work on the mini to charge it?

I repeat:

The VML lithium battery requires a staged, current controlled voltage of 16.8 V to charge it. Don't mess with just plugging Lithium batteries into a straight voltage source. Ours won't blow up, but some will, and none will charge properly.

The better option is to use a $20 12VDC to 120VAC inverter (Walmart, etc) and plug your VML charger into it. This was mentioned in another thread.

While the VCA is similar to the part from WalMart referenced above, it is only a 60W adapter. The charger for the VML exceeds that draw. You would need closer to 90-100W.