Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hi,

I have 3 x Einstein units with various modifiers. I also have a mini vagabond which is faulty and won't power my units anymore.

I was thinking of buying a small portable silent generator so that I can use my lights on location in place of the mini vagabond.

Can I use a generator and if so, what size would I need to power an Einstein unit?

Thanks in advance!

Einsteins and most other monolights draw peak current of about 17A each, with ultra fast recycle lights drawing up to twice this amount.

So three monolights will typically draw about 50A at 120V, which is 6000W peak. Most generators will tolerate peak current of about twice their wattage rating. So it would indicate at least a 3000W generator to power three lights. Anything less than that will probably shut the generator down during recycle.

Thanks for the feedback!

I forgot to mention that I am in Australia. We have 240V power here. Does that mean that I need to multiply 50A by 240V to get the correct peak watts?

Thanks, Allan

No. The Wattage remains the same, so if your Voltage doubles, your Amperage halves. So you would have about 25A times 240V to get to 6000W.

Ah ok, Brilliant! Thanks for the help with this!!!