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John,

On Tue, 30 Jul 1996, Dunk, John wrote:

> For those of us who cant afford the sanyo nicads,

About how much do they cost, what's their amp/hr rating and what is
their size?

> I've had good luck
> with the panasonic sealed led acid batteries.These are NOT gel-cels
> (gel cels are similar to a motorcycle battery;fair capacity &
> cheap,but limited charge-cycle life).A generic equivalent is the
> Taiwan Kobe battery;12v,7.0 amp-hours,and they can be had for about
> $20 a piece.A pair of these gives you 14 Ah at 12 volts,and they'll
> fit comfortably in a housing measuring 5.25"x14".

Are these in fact the batteries that AUL uses? It's hard to tell what's
under all that red, white and blue duct tape. Certainly Arnold uses the
Shumacher charger, which is available in most Sears/Penneys type stores.

The reason, Arnold told me, he uses the 5.25" x 14" acrylic case is that
the light is almost neutrally buoyant with the lead battery. Drop (not a
good metaphor :( - the diameter to 5" and it's 4 lbs negative. That's what
I'm stuck with as a replacement for the one I broke over the weekend, as
he'd out of acrylic. What I really want is something a *lot* smaller to
travel with (see my post above about traveling by air with weight) - as
well as sturdier. I have already shattered/cracked one acrylic case with a
2' fall. NRG makes a number of batteries for video lights, all nicads and
various charging options. These are really heavy duty and the "industry"
standard for semi-commercial videographers who do weddings and such. They
have two standard connectors, a proprietary one and a cigarette lighter
type which will charge from outlets often found on boats

Until the arc lamps arrive, that are so much more efficient in light
output, I guess the real task is to find a light that will burn a 250w
lamp for about 1.5 hrs, weighs (much) less than the lead acids and doesn't
cost much more than $100. It would seem that nicads with a good charger
(computer/temp controlled) should fit that bill and allow a reasonable
battery life. Am I missing something here?

-ph

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