Outboard battery solution, European voltage charging?

[XLR]

Small, simple question:

does any of the Europeans know a good and small outboard battery solution,
around 12 V, like the things that Ecocharge offer for the U.S. market?
I'd like to power some small boxes like a MiniMe, and would appreciate most to have one simple solution that "fits for all".

Thought perhaps the video and film people might know.
Something like they did with their Sony MP-1 for the mixers...

Thanks in advance!
XLR

[niquest]

Hi,

check out Ambient's website:

Ambient Produkte Stromversorgung

The english language version is still under construction but the pictures speak for themselves.

Cheers

Nik

[Karl_Lohninger]

I use (lithium) NP-1 style batteries for all of my stuff that needs to be battery powered. You say 12V, but most all of the stuff that asks for 12V is pretty happy with anything between 18V to 10 or 11V. My gear is. Additionally, NP-1 form-factor batteries are also heavily used by video folks which makes it easier to find one if in a crunch. Also, all my chargers run on 110V as well as 220V........ There is a number of manufacturers out there producing simple and also quite sophisticated np-1 power distro boxes. Simplest thing though is to make one DIY style - not very difficult to do;-)

Karl Lohninger
Los Angeles, Paris, Berlin...soon Barcelona

[XLR]

Thanks, guys!
So it seems to be the best way really to use NP-1 or NP-1 style batteries.
I also thought about it because they are so common.

Karl, do You have another manufacturer than Ambient?
(To have two for comparing prices)

Thanks a lot!
XLR

[Karl_Lohninger]

For my fancy setup I'm using Hawkwoods thingies. (hawkwoods.com) They're really small and space saving and give me 4+1 individual and separately switchable outputs and a simple LED showing if the battery is charged. Hawk Woods do have all kinds of these cups, roam around on their website. This setup helps to save battery power by simply switching off unused equipment from a central point.

For less involved setups I use the simplest (cheapest) NP-1 cup available (like from markertec) and just solder together my custom harness. That saves a LOT of money and gives you the chance to make all cables the exact length you'll need them with all the different termination used for different gear.....

The lithium batteries save lots of weight compared to older makes, but be aware they don't go down gradually, with lithium it's often a question of 'minutes' that all you gear is powering down....think of some strategy to stay on the safe side...!

Karl