For a long time I was strictly a “natural” light photographer, maybe 1% of the time I ever added flash to a photo.  My excuse was that I did not agree with manipulating a photographs natural environment but the reality was that I was just intimidated and did not know how to use them properly.  Well I finally decided to take on this intimidation a while back and I have been using artificial light to give my photos a bit more pop while out climbing, skiing or photographing weddings.  The set-up consists of two Alien Bees 800 Flash Heads, two self made battery packs, a Nikon SB-800 & SB-28. All said and done I still enjoy more than anything else a perfect naturally lit photograph, but the creativity & freedom that flashes allow is pretty addicting.

Now typically when you carry flashes it involves hauling one or two 17+ pound battery packs, a couple of stands and the flash heads; which when out touring, hiking or climbing is just too much to lug around all day.  After looking around for a little while and about a month of trouble shooting I ran across a few instructions by fellow outdoor photographers about how to make your own lighter weight battery pack.  Since I am just a guy that likes to take photos and has absolutely no techie, electrical skills it was a bit daunting to think about cutting wires, buying connectors, finding the right amp fuse, crimping and all the rest!  As it turns out it really isn’t all that bad, but it took a few mistakes and bad purchases to finally figure it out.  So since someone else’s blog advice helped me figure this out, I figure I should return the favor to anyone out there that might also be looking down this road and also add a few things that I wished I had known in advance.

What you need:

1.  12V 10Ah NiMH Battery Pack found HERE make sure you use the cord labeled “Discharge” to connect with the sine wave converter and the “Charge” is obviously the part you connect to the charger.

2.  AIMS Power 180 watt PURE Sine Power Inverter found HERE you must take off the top part of the inverter and locate which cable is the +positive one, see example below taken from Tim Kemple’s blog about this.

3.  The CORRECT charger for this battery found HERE

4. Anderson Powerpole Connectors, easy to use, easy to take apart and connect over and over again, oh and durable.  Found HERE. A great accessory to buy with the connectors are some small two prong plastic pieces that hold the male/female ends together when you know you do not want them to fall apart but can be removed when you want to take the converter and battery apart, found HERE.  You might also want to buy some extra contacts since it took me a couple or ten failed tries to get the crimps right at first…found HERE

5.  Also in order to prevent disaster a fuse holder with powerpoles will protect you from those random power surges.  Found HERE.  You will want to replace the 15amp fuse that comes with it for a set of 25amp fuses…the 15amp causes the flashes to flicker and keeps the correct amount of power from getting to the flashes (that is my un-educated photographer guess).

6.  And to put it all together, the most crucial tool that I did not have at first and did not know I needed which then caused me to drop one to many four letter bombs, wasted time and extreme frustration (just ask my wife) is a crimping tool made for the powerpole connectors!  Found HERE.  Don’t forget your wire cutters too.

7.  A nice case to throw all of this into that will be fairly water resistant, padded and durable…I found this and it fits perfect…almost too perfect.

This setup is pretty proprietary for the Alien Bees 800 flash heads if you jump up in power you will need to get a more powerful battery and converter and vice versa if you step down in power.  After researching these flash heads and this battery pack gives is the most bang for your buck and is easily replaceable if something happens without breaking your entire bank account.  All said and done a DIY battery back costs $240 and the AB80o flash is $280.  A few accessories that are pretty essential would be a good durable light-stand like the Avenger 630B (11 feet tall) or a compact light-stand is the Manfrotto Nano (6 feet tall).  It is still a chunk of change but considering that you could get 4 lights for the price of one “Professional Flash” at $2500 puts it all into perspective.  Not to mention the flash and battery weigh in at just under 8 pounds compared to most flash/battery setups weighing in at over 17-20 pounds and is a 1/3 of the size.  While camping & climbing last week I used this flash setup for 6 consecutive days without charging it and in order to over power the sun the flash was at 3/4 or full power nearly the entire time (make sure the modeling lamp is turned off, this will drain the battery ASAP).  I took 500+ photos with the flash/battery setup and by the time my week was over I went home to give the battery a full drain and there was still about 100 full power flashes left.  AND as a bonus it can also double as a power source for your laptop if you need to use it in the field!