Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hi, I'll be off to an outdoors video shoot (filmed during dusk/night) and I wanted to know if I could safely use my Mini-Vagabond Lithium to power my video LED light panels (54W each).

specs are here: http://www.prophotographygear.com/cn900hs-led-video-studio-light-with-sony-v-mount-p-327.html

Thanks!

Generally, yes.

However, from what I have seen, the Watt rating of these LED panels is how much the panel consumes in DC power. What this does not account for is what the power block consumes.

Any conversion from AC to DC or DC to AC power is inherently not 100% efficient. This means in order to provide 54W of DC power from an AC source, you will need to consume more than 54W AC. Again, of the ones I see, the power draw of the charger blocks is about 90-100W AC to convert to the 54W DC. Some LED panels may have more efficient power blocks.

Additionally, the VML changes DC power to AC power, so the inverter of the VML has to use more power from the battery than it can provide from its AC outlets. This means you are wasting energy changing DC power to AC power, then wasting more changing AC power back to DC power. So while you can run these lights off the VML, it is not efficient.

The good news is the LED panel takes 14.8VDC to 15VDC power (at least that is what is shown in the photo linked to). The VML battery is a 14.8VDC power source. If you were to acquire or manufacture a cable with Anderson connectors on one end and an appropriate connector for the LED panel, you should be able to run the LED directly from the VML battery, by passing the inverter. Doing so, I would guess, would triple the run time, as well as save weight.