This guide gives a broad overview on how to power your set, your client area or your digi cart without any additional wall power provided by a studio or location.
First things first, you already guessed it, you don’t need to rent a 7,5t transporter-generator providing 130kVA that is usually used to power entire film sets to help fire up your coffee machine. A good old Honda diesel generator isn’t needed for every production these days either.

If we are talking bigger film sets, you can’t ditch a serious 3,5-7,5t generator solution. This badboy needs to be set up and maintenance by a certified member of the grip/light department. Smaller LED film sets and some photo productions might be run on a diesel generator or power generator with battery cells.
When using a diesel generator with flash units it is recommended to use the Profoto Progas box (or similar) to protect your gear from an electronic surge. Battery cell-based solutions have the advantage of being silent when in use, therefore there is no need to place these generators on the other side of the set. (There is a noticeable noise level on some models though) The size and weight comparison to a diesel generator is another factor to consider. The biggest advantage of a diesel generator is that you can just pour in some fuel to keep it going for days. The battery cell-based generators either need to be recharged mid-production or you truly need to know the overall usage for the project beforehand to make sure you will not run out of power.
Funny enough, the most relevant number to consider here is the peak power consumption of your coffee machine when starting up. For most portable machines you need to make sure your power solution can handle a peak of around 1200-1600 Watts for a short period of time. Some suitable Power Generators would be
In this scenario the demands for power and features are certainly lower. In most cases the Wh needed to get you trough the day the most important factor to keep an eye on. One feature that is very useful that can be found generators for the latest generation is the UPS capabilities. With this the generator can also be chained between wall power and your device and will only kick in when there is a power outage. (Ever had somebody unplug your station 10 seconds after hearing the word 'wrap' ? Â This feature got you covered!)
With the introduction of the M1 Chip in Apple machines, power consumption has dropped a lot compared to previous generations.
For example: When doing office work you’ll see a MacBook Pro 16“ M1Max use 15-35 watts. When doing power-intensive tasks like rendering video files or generation previews this usage will most likely peak at around 65 watts.
Do the math yourself for your specific use-case. A basic Laptop will use 20-80 Watts depending on the task and device. Multiply this by 10 hours and you’ll now know that you’ll need 200-800 Wh per device a day. A basic screen needs between 25-60 watts. A 24“ Eizo Monitor for example will need around 25-35 watts. This will result in 250-350 Wh usage for a 10-hour day. Depending on your overall Wh consumption, all power solutions in the previous section would be a good fit. We would recommend to true check all your charging needs. A Model with around 1000 Wh will not be suitable for some.
Some high-end screens designed for film sets have a higher peak usage when starting up and prefer to be fed with a sine-wave compatible power stream. This varies greatly on the model and manufacturer of the screen. This are details manufacturers don’t include in their technical data sheets in most cases. Therefore you need to test this beforehand or get in touch with the manufacturer to make sure everything works smoothly.
Diesel is diesel. We all know where this is coming from. For some use-cases bringing one on set is just outdated.
Mobile power solutions with battery cells on the other hand could theoretically be charged with environment-friendly sourced green energy.
Manufacturing any product results in energy consumption for manufacturing and the use of several resources. Therefore make sure to get a long life span out of your products. Here we would advise to look out for power solutions with LiFePO4 Batteries that will stay ‚healthy‘ way more charge cycles than regular Li-Ion Batteries.
A quick tip to store any Lithium-based device is to keep it between 50-80% charge when not in use for a few weeks. Let’s break a big topic down to this: A 0% and 100% charge level are ‚no-goody‘ for your device.
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This guide gives a broad overview on how to power your set, your client area or your digi cart without any additional wall power provided by a studio or location.
First things first, you already guessed it, you don’t need to rent a 7,5t transporter-generator providing 130kVA that is usually used to power entire film sets to help fire up your coffee machine. A good old Honda diesel generator isn’t needed for every production these days either.

If we are talking bigger film sets, you can’t ditch a serious 3,5-7,5t generator solution. This badboy needs to be set up and maintenance by a certified member of the grip/light department. Smaller LED film sets and some photo productions might be run on a diesel generator or power generator with battery cells.
When using a diesel generator with flash units it is recommended to use the Profoto Progas box (or similar) to protect your gear from an electronic surge. Battery cell-based solutions have the advantage of being silent when in use, therefore there is no need to place these generators on the other side of the set. (There is a noticeable noise level on some models though) The size and weight comparison to a diesel generator is another factor to consider. The biggest advantage of a diesel generator is that you can just pour in some fuel to keep it going for days. The battery cell-based generators either need to be recharged mid-production or you truly need to know the overall usage for the project beforehand to make sure you will not run out of power.
Funny enough, the most relevant number to consider here is the peak power consumption of your coffee machine when starting up. For most portable machines you need to make sure your power solution can handle a peak of around 1200-1600 Watts for a short period of time. Some suitable Power Generators would be
In this scenario the demands for power and features are certainly lower. In most cases the Wh needed to get you trough the day the most important factor to keep an eye on. One feature that is very useful that can be found generators for the latest generation is the UPS capabilities. With this the generator can also be chained between wall power and your device and will only kick in when there is a power outage. (Ever had somebody unplug your station 10 seconds after hearing the word 'wrap' ? Â This feature got you covered!)
With the introduction of the M1 Chip in Apple machines, power consumption has dropped a lot compared to previous generations.
For example: When doing office work you’ll see a MacBook Pro 16“ M1Max use 15-35 watts. When doing power-intensive tasks like rendering video files or generation previews this usage will most likely peak at around 65 watts.
Do the math yourself for your specific use-case. A basic Laptop will use 20-80 Watts depending on the task and device. Multiply this by 10 hours and you’ll now know that you’ll need 200-800 Wh per device a day. A basic screen needs between 25-60 watts. A 24“ Eizo Monitor for example will need around 25-35 watts. This will result in 250-350 Wh usage for a 10-hour day. Depending on your overall Wh consumption, all power solutions in the previous section would be a good fit. We would recommend to true check all your charging needs. A Model with around 1000 Wh will not be suitable for some.
Some high-end screens designed for film sets have a higher peak usage when starting up and prefer to be fed with a sine-wave compatible power stream. This varies greatly on the model and manufacturer of the screen. This are details manufacturers don’t include in their technical data sheets in most cases. Therefore you need to test this beforehand or get in touch with the manufacturer to make sure everything works smoothly.
Diesel is diesel. We all know where this is coming from. For some use-cases bringing one on set is just outdated.
Mobile power solutions with battery cells on the other hand could theoretically be charged with environment-friendly sourced green energy.
Manufacturing any product results in energy consumption for manufacturing and the use of several resources. Therefore make sure to get a long life span out of your products. Here we would advise to look out for power solutions with LiFePO4 Batteries that will stay ‚healthy‘ way more charge cycles than regular Li-Ion Batteries.
A quick tip to store any Lithium-based device is to keep it between 50-80% charge when not in use for a few weeks. Let’s break a big topic down to this: A 0% and 100% charge level are ‚no-goody‘ for your device.
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