Portable light fixtures for a mobile?

C

Charisma

New member
I've seen a lot of you guys take your lighting rigs with you for detailing; I have a few questions...





Where do you get the power supply for them? I don't have a truck, nor a generator so I'm looking for alternatives...



Could you give me some suggestions for the lighting rigs (links, products, anything helps)



Also; post pics of your setup please.
 
If you do not have a truck or generator, the only thing I could think of is extension cords to the customers' house.



I use twin halogen lights. Pick them up from Lowes, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc.......
 
Incase a customer does not want me to use the electric I have a Power Inverter - 750Watts. It's great and plenty strong. It runs right of my work car.

I have powered my 250 HPS light, my PC, My tv, vacuum and anything else I can think of...

But to get to your question, I have two different lights. one is a standard square hologen and the other is a 70wt HPS. that is bright enough to light a city corner and to show all the imperfections that you really don't want to see :P
 
You can buy them pretty much any where.



Brick and mortar or on-line in all different sizes. Your local auto parts store should have a few, Sears has a couple in the Automotive section, most any automotive tool supplier on-line as well.



Just make sure you get one that's able to produce the power you need.



MorBiD
 
I have this one http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/rodi_1931_90982995

Maximum Continuous Power: 700 Watts

Surge Capacity (Peak Power): 1400 Watts

Maximum Efficiency: Approximately 90%

No Load Current Draw: .8 Amperes

Input Voltage Range: 10 - 14.7 VDC

Under Voltage Shutdown Activation: 10.0 Volts

Over Voltage Shutdown Activation: 14.7 Volts

Wave Form: Filtered Modified Sine Wave

Fuse: Three 30 Amp (Spade Type) outboard mounted for easy replacement

Weight: 4.25 lbs.

Length: 9.75"

Width: 6.25"

Height: 2.25"

Receptacle: 3 U-Ground, North American Standard

Pricing is between 69-99 for it.

Get it anywhere, yahoo it and see.
 
Yep those are the one's I see in all my catalogs.



Personally, if it were me I'd spring for a nice small and quiet generators like the one's Honda sells.



Yes they do cost more than the average one's you find at the Big Box Stores, but they are quiet as anything and real stingy on fuel.



Plus if your running a business you should be deducting expenses for equipment off your taxes (assuming you claim the income).



MorBiD
 
MorBid said:
Yep those are the one's I see in all my catalogs.



Personally, if it were me I'd spring for a nice small and quiet generators like the one's Honda sells.



Yes they do cost more than the average one's you find at the Big Box Stores, but they are quiet as anything and real stingy on fuel.



Plus if your running a business you should be deducting expenses for equipment off your taxes (assuming you claim the income).



MorBiD
Click to expand...



Good point; I actually forgot the latter :cool:



Shop for Honda Power Equipment



That one looks pretty appetizing.
 
$1079.95... Even $789.95 is a lot for a detailer that is starting out.

But for 69.99 even if you break two of them it's affordable.



More then enough to get the income to get the business going strong.
 
You can read up on those and find out why they are pricey, Yamaha makes model's similar and so does Kipor.



The thing is those inverters aren't a free ride, that is they need to get DC power from somewhere to convert to AC. That some where is usually your car's power supply. I'm sure once in awhile isn't gonna drain too much but I wouldn't want to run all day on that way.



For personal use sure these generators might be over kill. Just starting your business, might not be one of the first things you grab. But when you think about all of the stuff we use and the power requirements you'll soon max out one of those inverters.



Besides, you can use them for other stuff like camping (as most camp sites have strict guidelines on how much noise is allowed from Generators) and fishing trips.



MorBiD
 
Well, after seeing all the options out there now I really am liking the super quiet generators. I found a Mcculloch that seems to be pretty good (got good reviews and 2000w) I think I'm going to go that route.
 
Glad you've see you've gotten somewhere. Just remember to do a power budget (add up all the power requirements for all the stuff your going to run). Size your generator accordingly.



Say you get a 2000W generator and are running 1000w halogen's off it and then want to run a rotary or some other tool that has a 8 amp motor (8A x 120V = 960W) so you'll be pretty close to maxing out.



The thing with any generator is that you don't want to run it at the maximum specified load for very long, you'll burn up the engine.



Good Luck



MorBiD
 
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