Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

My V-II has a dead battery, and I don't use it much, so I was thinking of selling it. But I remembered that it can simultaneously charge and discharge, and I used it that way once for all-day shooting. I don't think the lithium packs will do that, will they?

Lately, I've been looking into generators for occasional hurricane and RV use. In that situation, generators often have enough capacity, but they choke on the current surge when a refrigerator or A/C starts up. But the V-II was made to handle surges of 1-2 seconds. So if a V-II were connected inline, I'm thinking it would would more or less pass through the steady power and supplement it with current from the battery during surges.

Does this make sense? How much surge current can the V-II handle? Would a constant 15-amp "pass-through" be a problem? Heat issues?

The lithium packs are better for photography, but the V-II seems to have some unique capabilities as an inverter.

Related question, before I try it... can the V-II's still be repaired? ;)

Yes, the Lithium Vagabonds can be charging while simultaneously powering lights.

No, the VII inverters cannot be repaired any longer.


For clarification, are you wanting to connect the VII inverter and a battery inline to the power supply from the generator? Or just the inverter?

The idea was to use it normally, I'd plug the V-II charging cord into the generator, then plug the load into the V-II. But as I check the V-II inverter specs, the maximum continuous current is 300W, so it wouldn't work for that particular use, I was thinking of continuous loads in the 1000w range.

The VII inverter will foldback (reduce Voltage) when higher than normal loads are applied. If the load is constant at higher levels, the voltage will remain reduced, and the inverter will probably overheat before too awfully long.

If the unit is running from the battery with a charge cord plugged in during use, you can run the inverter from the battery, until the battery is depleted. The generator would not kick in as supplemental power, it will only charge the battery as it is depleting, but likely not as fast as it is depleting.

You will always be limited to the output of the VII, regardless of the potential of the power source charging it.