The issue of inverters is a tricky one. It depends on matching the inverter and the power pack. I have three inverters. A 300 Watt true sine wave, a 1000 Watt modified sine wave, 12 Volt, and a 1500 Watt modified sine wave, 24 volt. I have a Norman Norlite 400 WS monolight that works great with the 300 Watt inverter. It draws enough current that it sends the inverter into alarm. When the inverter quits howling, I know that the monolight is ready to shoot. I use a wheelchair battery for this inverter and the setup is pretty convenient. I have enough power to use the modeling light. I also have a Norman ML600 monolight. 600 WS maximum adjustable down five stops in one tenth stop increments. Neither the 300 Watt nor the 1000 Watt inverters will power this monolight. It trips the circuit breaker the moment you turn it on, modeling light or not. The 1500 Watt inverter will run this one, but it uses two huge trolling motor batteries. I have never tried to use an inverter on a pack and head. Many power packs are set up to use voltage triplers or quadruplers in their power supplies for fast recharging. Without using a ballast resistor, the inrush current is usually too much for most inverters. 15 Amps at 120 Volts is 1800 Watts. Most household circuit breakers will allow a considerably higher (like several hundred percent) inrush current. Only after you fire the pack several times do you start to see problems. Most inverters are only rated for about 50% over maximum current for inrush. True sine wave inverters will normally work for any type of light, providing the current capacity is enough. Modified sine wave inverters will only work properly with lights that use switching power supplies. They won't charge lights with voltage triplers to full power. Computers use switching power supplies and most computer uninterruptible power supplies are modified sine wave. A UPS probably isn't a good choice to try to power a strobe.
So the answer ultimately turns out to be "It Depends." I think that the Vagabond is robustly designed and might operate other lights, but I would be inclined to use one with the lights that it was designed for.
Bill
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