SIMPLE HISTORY:  The Black Box, Jacobs Power Packs and the "Fake Batteries" have been around in various incantations and upgrades for the past fourteen years and some of my original packs date back to the sixties with different "chemistries", battery slang for types of batteries.

There are several thousand of these packs out there. The pack came about because I had another popular brand drop dead in the middle of a Wedding. After that, I built my own.

With that said:  I have no secrets.  I am a one man company, I believe in simple, affordable, reliable, portable products.  I am semi retired, it keeps me busy, prevents boredom, and I have enough contacts in the electronics fields that allow me to purchase quantity and quality.  Since I have the longest warrantee in the business and the best price it behooves me to put quality stuff in. I hate comebacks.


$199.00 Delivered USA Via Priority Mail
Cable for your flash extra.  Most are $60.00  See Accessories

We have no distributors, no large chains of retail stores. No sales teams, rallies, parties, or "win a trip" for sales excellence, no corporate meetings, no stocks, no options, no employees, no headaches. I build limited numbers, all by my hand and a little help from a CNC machine. 

I have no advertising budget, my sales come from word of mouth and people like what I make so they tell their friends. So much for advertising budgets.  I'd rather put it in service. Service is when you need me.

Basically you are dealing direct, no markups, and from a fellow photographer who kind of learned from shooting what works and what's really ridiculous. And I can be reached by phone most of the time.  I prefer the weekdays allowing some time on the weekends to spend with life doing what photographers like to do....which is covering sports, politics, community events ... it's exciting work usually lasting about a minute after standing around all day for six hours.

The Black Boxes and Tuxedos work with regular on-camera flashes like a most Canons or Nikons and they are really outstanding with the Vivitar 283/285/285HV whether on camera, bracket, or in a dual setup for a light stand.  We have pros in the field who have captured 1500 images doing variable flash fill for outdoors sports and serve well with remote Canon and Nikon strobes where you want your recycle times as fast as the mains and for the popular three light portable setups.

BEEN THERE DONE THAT!
Working out of a Wedding Mill with bookers, shooters, album sellers, and a boss who studied under the Third Reich.  I then went on my own. I  starved like many to get started and did it part time to keep food on the table.  It was good training as I understand the game and have enough good ideas from the past, combined with the newer techniques of today and all the communication I do today with a huge base of good photographers to be of help to those starting out.   If I can't answer something I have the following of some of the best shooters and can get you an answer.  Hope these few points answers your questions...if not just send me an email with your number. Real voice, real people talking on a phone. I hate typing long responses, a little arthritis does that to you.

2009 BLACK BOX:

STANDARD FEATURES

•  It is hand built with RoHS certified wiring.
•  HD DIN connectors instead of RCA jacks
•  21 watt commercial fireproof battery
•   Heavy Duty  switches
•  3000 lb stressed rivets with backing plates
•  The Ultra Clip is standard.
•  It comes with a high capacity International charger and it usable in 90 percent of the world. There are no outlets in the Antarctic.
•  Your choice of Black, Black, or Black with no markings, this is why it's called the Black Box.
  
  
  
  

I BUILD FOR...

• WEDDING, PJ, Event, Sports and Model and shooters who need lots of shots and more convenient flash usage then with AA cells. 

• My units average over 1000-1400 shots.  Note: In the top left corner of the header you will see my "No Smoke no BS logo".  When a  manufacturer quotes either FLASH POWER or amount of shots, the logo wants to start blinking. Simply put rounded up to the nearest billion.

• Flashes even the same make and model may be different.  A lot depends on the condition, usage, how often, over-heated, age of the flash, distance you are shooting at, bounce gadgets, diffusion and that’s what effects the real numbers.  The rest is conjecture and bullshit.   Generally my packs produce more raw power, more than I or any other disciplined EXPERIENCED shooter will use  in any wedding. If you are one of those who shoots more, get the 2nd Black Box COMBO pack or team it up with a Tuxedo. That's 1600-2000 shots on hand with a two second swap. 

• The Black Box is just that, a stealthy black box filled with more power than the average shooter can shoot in a long session. No battery or financially draining complex electronics or extras. We use one really big reliable quality brand heavy duty battery. 

• While the other guy is carefully scrutinizing his fuel gauge waiting for all the lights to work and scared to death they won't come on, you are capturing images. 

• Speed kills. I do not gear toward those who are impressed with speed. You can easily get faster units, measured in voltage and costs.  My pack will keep up with the others. Full pops slow any strobe down. An accelerated pack will recycle faster but will give you far less shots. using internal NiMH and a accelerated pack will eventually damage the flash.  A flash can only operate at max for a while before there is trade off. You trade off your money for a new one.  With the rash of burnt units out there from too frequent a shooting and finally the unit overheats, you pay for the speed twice.

COMPETITION:
Since our packs gained in popularity we have seen a rise in the amount of similar packs and products offered by others and frankly we welcome them for sooner or later one of them will come up with a semi-decent idea and I will of course make it better, alas so far that has not happened.

For example we do not:

• Use cigarette lighter cables, hair dryer coiled cables, and LORD...help me please CAT 5 computer cable, nor bags or Velcro to keep things together especially for mounting heavy really oversized batteries.

• Our Real Perfection Brackets hold more and cost a fourth of the competition "L" style brackets, offer a balanced approach and are stronger. made of STEEL, not plastic, not bent aluminum, not overseas junk.

• Most important of all our products are all RoHS acceptable for overseas shipping and use and our prices are better!  Lots better.We now have chargers for shipments to the U.K. most Euro countries, and Australia, New Zealand  and other worldly locations that legally have to be RoHS registered for overseas shipment and work on most Euro systems.
  

• Some of the homebrews were designs I gave out thirty something years ago...we got a lot better since then.... A huge part of this site is for teaching and learning which is part of what we do and what we want others to learn all about especially those starting in the business.  And sometimes that takes a lot of patience.  I personally take every call and answer your questions. We have literally a lifetime warrantee. NO ONE ELSE DOES....
  
  

FORREST GUMP THEOLOGY - Simple Truth

SPEED DOES KILL:

• The biggest question we get is how fast. Speed is pushed by many battery manufacturers because they feel it's the selling edge.  "More speed is better". 

• In reality speed has a price. You are pushing limitations whether behind the wheel or with over-clocking a computer which is altering the current to the CPU. Usually a reduction in life cycles, higher costs, maintenance and battery life.

• In photography we call it "blowing the sh-t" out of your camera or flash and then crying to the manufacturer to repair it..

• Here's a clue: Other than warrantee , he won't.   So if you choose accelerated units like Turbo's or basically anyone promising ACCELERATED SPEED, you might be using a port on the strobe not designed for what it is about to receive.  It works sometimes at a price. 

• Look at used strobes with yellow clear plastic.  Only older Vivitar's and Metz's had a warm coat plastic.  If you see a newer model with  yellow and a sticky feel, it is from overheating.  That's a strobe with severe old age problems. Pass on it and buy a new one.

• We love our friends at other companies and so I understand some have a need for their products. BUT I do not. It's called bottom line. When the cost of the burnt out gear exceeds the profit of the Wedding or other event, any accountant will tell you, you screwed up. Many newbie's I get to work with get trapped by this since they it's because they aren't in control, panic sets in, they shoot hundreds of worthless shots and get befuddled.  

• Speed is attained by accelerating the 8 volt to 12 volt battery clusters in their pack and using a fly back transformer or use another capacitor larger than yours externally. They then reroute and use the AC port direct to the capacitor. This results in faster shooting and two anomalies.  I was going to say anemones because you might as well pitch the flash in the Pacific.
  
  Canon: Usually a toasted strobe, those nasty trace burns really become apparent to the repair guy.
  Nikon: The yellowing of the flashtube and in some cases melting the plastic.
  
  The small but powerful strobes such as the SB-800 and the Canon 580EX and EXII are basically pushing the electronics to the hilt and the accelerated packs push them over the cliff.  Just shooting too quick can do the same.

• Here is another problem we see all the time. The strobe still needs to be powered for the LCD screen or power to the camera for messaging.  These units still require the use of four AA cells to make the unit work, so now you have two battery sources to consider.  A pack and AA cells. Both creating heat ( NiMH cap at 130 F) in that little space.  One of those AA cells goes bad and you are dead in the water.

• With accelerated packs you have bypassed some of the mechanisms. I truly believe based on size measurements and a little research both Nikon and Canon have pushed their best selling units to the end of the power curve.  "Sort of tweaked to the nines".  The max amount of power attainable from four AA cells in a standard flash. I am very reluctant as stated to try to push it further with acceleration. 
  Warrantee wise the way Nikon and Canon look at it, anything else plugged into this external port voids their responsibility. If you make a volcano out of your strobe, it's your headache. After Warranty time runs out you are on your own.  The use of anything other than their specific brand especially through the AC input on the Nikon SB-800, the Canon 550-580 series and the METZ 54 series is easily detected on a repair bench. Just look for burn "traces" at the in port. 

• The AC port...Everybody who makes battery packs would love to use this port, me included, it's neater, but remember I said it comes at a price.  Again that's a direct AC input. If it does blow or spark they know where to look. That's why the warning about any product other than theirs. So if you happen to torch your strobe by an accelerated speed product, with an accelerated trigger finger, overheat the strobe... this happens every day, the manufacturers can tell in a heartbeat what zonked the strobe.  You can't hide burn traces in a specific location.  As one person stated; "the fastest strobes can recycle in 0.8 and other promises 1.3 seconds". That's fast, very fast. BUT. If they blow, that speed is reduced to slow, very slow, like eternity...

ANOTHER DUMB FEATURE: THE BLOW UP THE CAMERA FEATURE:

• This is my favorite. Listen to the moron who tells you it's Ok to run both your camera and your flash from the same battery pack.. after all you read it on a forum, it has to be true. Right. 

• Lets get sane here. A: The moron who suggested it to you or doing it will not have to pay if you destroy your Nikon D3. You will, however find out Nikon will charge YOU for blowing it up:  

• THINK! You have a whopping 330 volts from a capacitor coming out of a wire less than 18 gauge going to a capacitor pulling or sucking it in right next to a line going with 12 volts to your  $4000.00 camera.  

• And you expect cheap third world (I don't care if it says USA, it came in from Mexico and originated in China to bypass and use the NAFTA,  aka SHAFTA back door) electronics to protect that resource,  you are nuts.  Think even Nikon has a water shield available for the hot shoe to camera base on the SB-900 to prevent plain batteries from backing down and destroying the motherboard by wet short.   What in the name of heaven or  hell ( I have a few Goth fans) do you think 330 volts might do.

• Value your money and the products you buy by not listening to some of the really incorrect rumors and gossip, misconceptions an sometimes downright stupid things I read on websites and forums. There are some good ones, some really great photographers who want to share ideas and help the newer shooters. Most of the really great pros are either making money SHOOTING, TEACHING, DOING in the INDUSTRY, and aren't playing "Dear Abby"  on a forum.  

 

 ADDED VALUE - Better Parts, Philosophy and Components

• We do not use cardboard covered vinyl in our cases because they absorb moisture.

• NOTE: Each pack can power two strobes with the second port into an umbrella or soft box or two strobes floor mounted for backgrounds illumination of large churches or areas displaced at 10 degree angles. See the Jacobs Perfection Light Bracket.
  

• Our cases are made in Denmark because they are a better polycarbonate product than any made in China.

• We do not use cheap findings like metal belt clips and miniscule shoulder strap assemblies. I use the ULTRA Clip.COM  I have had competitive packs just slip off my belt because they lie flat on your waistline when you sit down.  Cheap clips bend, and lose shape.

• No stitches that come loose, nor painted on logos, nor barrel connectors.

• Superior charging of the SLA, No days off. My packs stay on the charger indefinitely. My chargers are intelligent and do the thinking for me and make my batteries last. Up to seven years. And are always at the same temperature, same 100% and peaked ready to go to work in a moment as long as you follow instructions.

• Two things make no sense to me. Man's fascination with blinking lights and LEDS. I don't use BLINKING lights to indicate when the unit is running low. Why, because they don't really work, that's why. In a nutshell, they draw power, they require a lot of electronics that can fail, they raise the price, take up room, have to be calibrated to the battery and retain heat in the battery pack. They are not considered accurate. Did you know that 99.9 percent of cars that ran out of gas had a working fuel gauge?

• THINK: Do you remember when cars in the late sixties to seventies had nice gauges on them replaced with IDIOT LIGHTS. WHY: Because in most cases idiot lights on Sealed Lead Acid batteries and others are not even a true idiot light. They are LEDS reading from comparators. The Sealed Lead Acid battery has a flat power curve , basically they remain the same till exhausted. They run straight and then they nose dive.  To you this means more consistent time between flashes. The comparators "compare VOLTAGE" guessing how much is left. So if the voltage stays the same for 3/4 of the life of the battery what is the use of having an inaccurate gauge.

BETTER BATTERIES and CHARGERS

• We use  SEALED LEAD ACID batteries and a much improved, actually a full one amp variable rate charger with safety controls built in.  It lasts longer, no maintenance, no calibration, sit at 100% indefinitely. It's less expensive per amp hour, bigger capacities, less chance of leaking and the charging circuit is not located in the battery.  No heat transfer or buildup.

• We chose basic lead acid battery technology has been around the longest of the chemistries. It starts your car in the morning.  Many different charge methods have been used. We use the best. OUR CHARGER is a regulated two stage charger.  These don't let the voltage climb higher than the trickle charge voltage, so they can be also be used to maintain a battery.  And they are fast and accurate.

• Our chargers have circuitry that is set for the maximum allowable charge voltage, but has a current limit to control the initial absorption current and it produces a very nice charge.  The upside is, this type of charger can both charge at a reasonable rate and maintain the battery at full charge without damage. You take care of it, it takes care of you.  Because our battery is larger it weighs more. Would you rather carry twenty five AA cells, four Bantams, four of the Dogs or two Quantum ones instead.  I

SPECIFICATIONS

POWER:   Sealed lead Acids. 21 FULL WATTS, highest in it's class. Our batteries are rated five years. Batteries are covered under the warrantee for one year and pro-rated for five years if kept on the charger. 6.4 Volts at peak.

WEIGHT: Box and battery about 2.7 LBS

SIZE:  4" x 6" x 2"STANDARD:  

SHOULDER RINGS:  Standard Dual  Zytel 3/16 "D "rings with HD 3/16" Clamps and Heavy Duty 1/8 rivets with backing plates front and rear.

CLIP: Industry Recognized HD Ultra Clip or 764 by THE CLIP.COM Brand.

PORTS: One DIN TYPE Heavy Duty Port and One Hex HD RCA "Q" Jack - STANDARD, OPTIONS AVAILABLE

CHARGER: Heavy Duty INTERNATIONAL Dual Stage charger allows maximum five hour charge and second stage in standby mode keeps battery at 100% capacity at 100% of the time.  110-240 50-60 MGRTZ  

Very important…these chargers I use, especially the the standard charger, are considered “Intelligent Chargers”.  They are the forty to 100 dollar option charged by the other guys. They differ from simple idiot box “wall warts”  that are usually furnished with most high end packs.  They constantly test the status of the battery.  With that said, when the battery is not in use and we are speaking of the Black Box; it can and should be stored on the CHARGER!  It will not overcharge and will keep the battery topped automatically.  Under NO circumstances leave the depleted battery in that state.  Or, you will wind up sending it to me to re-power it.  Simple rule…If it’s not busy shooting it should be on the charger.  This is what allows the unit to last five to seven years.  It is designed to work this way. the Tuxedo of smaller capacity charges in an hour or so and should be charged after use and then tweaked say once a week.

CABLES: You can use most "M" Quantum cables: You can make all of your cables but I caution against it.  Please see the page entitled Flash Cables on your left.