Tag Archives: diy video lights

29 Comments

Each Sony NPF style camcorder battery runs at 7.4V. By running them in series, it works at 14.8V which is the minimum power required for the 600 and 900 LED light panels at full brightness. I took two basic Sony NPF battery chargers, gutted them, and then wired them in Series to provide 14.8V DC.

IMG_1005IMG_1007
Remove two screws under the rear sticker and then pry apart case

To wire up the cases for Series, basically you take the Negative wire from one and the Positive wire from the other and connect them to the barrel plug. The other two wires (negative and positive) from each charger would be connected together.

basic-series-wiring
Sorry for poor diagram

Next I added a bit of extended wire and used my Barrel Plug (shown here) to connect directly to the LED light. The Barrel Connector is super easy to work with (no soldering), and is clearly marked with + and - for positive / negative placement. It's a very simple and cheap DIY to provide portable power for these large LED panels. If you want use heavier batteries, just make the wiring longer and mount to your light stand.

[Disclaimer] Attempt this DIY at your own risk. Using your batteries in other ways than intended may cause premature failure of your batteries, or damage.

Here's a few parts links related to this DIY:

Sony NPF Charger
find-price-button Sony NPF Style Battery Charger

sony-550sony-970
find-price-buttonSony NPF Style L Series Camcorder Batteries

5 Comments

180-LED-Work-Lamp

Halogen shop lights are used for budget video lighting all the time, so why not LED shop lights? Alan Silva picks up the 180 LED shop light from Home Depot and seems to be pretty happy with it. I guess you can't complain picking up a 180 LED light with built in rechargeable battery for under $60 bucks. This light has actually come up a few times on this blog before, but as often as I go to Home Depot myself, they were always out of stock. Not sure what the temperature is, but if it's off, hopefully someone's going to come up with the right pattern of gels for color correction. Maybe Alan will send in some samples of this light in use, as i'm curious about it's light output. Unfortunately it's not sold online, but here's a link to the description: https://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-Electrical-Tools-Accessories-Work-Lights/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xgtZbm8p/R-100655277/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Not something you'd throw on your camera, but there is several ideas that come to mind. A buddy of mine talked about shooting late night bike rides and meet-ups in the city, and was thinking about what portable lighting solution would work to help bring in some additional light. Throwing a few of these on some tall stands, i'm sure would do just fine. Since they would all be the primary source of light, white balancing would be of no issue. Designed to be used as tools, i'm sure they are durable for tossing around and hopefully with a bit moisture proof. The built in rechargeable battery keeps things pretty compact and beats dragging around a generator to the site. [Thanks Alan]

Closest thing I could find online were these:

led-shop-lights
find-price-button LED Shop Light Rechargeable Battery Work Light