Batteries for DIT cart

[Jeremy Ball]

I am looking for a portable power supply for my Mac Pro DIT cart. I read that deep cycle marine batteries are the way to go.

What would you recommend for location situations where you need a Mac Pro but do not have power? How long should I expect the power to last?

What is everyone using for their carts?

 

[Victor Lazaro]

I am no DIT but I would go with something like this:
http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=165

Gives you regulated power,sure protection and battery power suply. All in one. Plus you don't need to switch off when going from outlet to battery, it's automatic.

[edit] the server grade ones will give you a few hours of survival, but I wold still try to get a stinger from the gaffers. I have a small one on my computer at home. Saved me a couple of times during power failures.

 

[Brian Merlen]

I have used a gas generator before, its nice since its easy to find fuel, but you need good venting and it gets hot... No idea on battery ran set ups...I also have used a converter in a car before to run stuff...

 

[David W. Jones]

I was going to suggest a Honda EU1000 inverter generator.

 

[joe hedge]

I am looking for a portable power supply for my Mac Pro DIT cart. I read that deep cycle marine batteries are the way to go.

What would you recommend for location situations where you need a Mac Pro but do not have power? How long should I expect the power to last?

What is everyone using for their carts?

What situations do you expect to be in where no one has AC, but you need a MacPro DIT cart?

 

[Jeff Brown]

Many - to name but one - Cinema ads on Epic shooting athletes all over Europe ambient light Doco/SLR style / in fields (Ireland) / Mountain Roadside (Majorca and Portugal) / Carpark of a private health club (Manchester - filiming footballers but limited access ). Lots of data and a very tight edit turnaround.

Or basically any job with multiple unit moves - it pays to be self sufficent.

I can recommend the EU20i (2KW) if you're planning on dump drives/ monitors RAIDS / UPS etc if you want a bit of overhead as it's best not to run Gennys at close to full capacity all the time.

 

[Costelloe Michael]

I'll definitely second Jeff's solution, we use these all the time.

I also love the way the a field in Ireland, half way up a mountainside and Manchester all share the same status!

 

[Jeff Brown]

Yep rain or shine it's all just zeros and ones

 

[Steve Sherrick]

One of the issues is the load that a Mac Pro draws. There are several battery solutions available that will power your cart for a little while but to get extended time, you need a lot of juice and some ingenuity to get it set up in a way that is practical.

If you also have broadcast monitor, external hard drives, etc. it's going to suck up the juice even more. So, you need to add up your total draw and see how much your system requires. I have been exploring options as well and will post anything I discover.

 

[Jeremy Ball]

I've been thinking about a generator but wanted something that was quiet. I live in the US so I do not think the EU20i will work for me (I could be mistaken). Any recommendations on a quiet generator?

Does anyone use deep cycle marine batteries? They seem like a solution. Any one have experience with them?

Thanks

 

[Steve Sherrick]

Xantrex is an option but keep in mind that your full cart will probably run on it for an hour or so.

 

[joe hedge]

Hard to figure the thinking behind this thread...

Even if you can run a MacPro DIT cart for an hour or so on batteries, what do you do on-set once your battery is dead and you have no AC?

 

[Pawel Achtel]

I use electric scooter heavy duty NiMeHy batteries. They are not as heavy as deep cycle lead acid batteries, they last much longer (about 5000 cycles) and provide plenty of power.

 

[Tony Lorentzen]

I have a couple of 110 Ah marine batteries set up in my van. They're connected to a charger/inverter from Studer, which means I can connect it to land power (when available) or run off of the van's generator if need be. The batteries should provide me with enough power to run my Mac Pro, monitor and a my disk array for at least 3 hours - but if I'm a pinch I can always start the van up. What I like about the Studer is that it switches over between land-power and the batteries in milliseconds without interruption - so everything keeps running when the gaffer shuts off the genny ;-) As a side bonus it also smooths out the power coming in, which for those big gennys, can be real nasty to sensitive electronics.

 

[Jeremy Ball]

Hard to figure the thinking behind this thread...

Even if you can run a MacPro DIT cart for an hour or so on batteries, what do you do on-set once your battery is dead and you have no AC?

There are situations where you have no access to power or need to be self sufficient. I admit it is not ideal to run off of battery alone but there are situations that call for it.

I will end up getting a small generator but wanted to investigate battery options for when using a generator on set would be prohibitive because of audio.

 

[paul engstrom]

The eu2000i generator is a very quiet Honda Genny with clean power that you can run your DIT cart from. It works in the US.

The eu1000i is probably enough and is very compact.