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Open Roads Forum  >  Class B - Camping Van Conversions

 > Can you charge laptop with standard inverter ?

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JoeRT04

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Posted: 10/10/11 10:54am Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

No problems here. We always charge our laptops, iPhones, and iPad2 on the inverter.


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1775

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Posted: 10/10/11 03:52pm Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

We have run and charged the pc laptop on a plug in the dash inverter. The inverter gets very hot, even with its built in fan running. We have been able to find a universal 12 volt power/charger unit for our laptop. It works well and converts from 12 volts to the smaller amount of DC required by the laptop. It comes with plugs and settings to match most manufacturers' laptops. Just plug into the dash or 12 volt power source and plug into the computer after initial setup of the plug and the voltage/amperage.


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Posted: 10/10/11 06:02pm Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

It is an IBM type

1775

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Posted: 10/10/11 09:58pm Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

Take a look at this-

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0357121

My Roadtrek

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Posted: 10/10/11 10:54pm Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

Check out IGO, they have everything you need to charge a laptop, netbook, IPAD, cell phone, etc. from a 12 volt auto plug. All you do is buy what ever tip is needed for your electronic devices. Radio Shack carries them.

http://www.igo.com/mobile-devices/car-ch........dQbvOmxSvX2hwq5v6dyl%0AiDmiSkJwUw%3D%3D#

http://www.igo.com/laptops/laptop-travel-charger-slim/invt/ps001342007/

* This post was edited 10/10/11 11:12pm by My Roadtrek *

2oldman

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Posted: 10/10/11 11:33pm Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

1775 wrote:

We have run and charged the pc laptop on a plug in the dash inverter. The inverter gets very hot,
That was my experience too.

wraun

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Posted: 04/12/12 07:29am Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

I know most people say that you should only plug your computer in to a pure sine wave inverter because sensitive electronics are susceptible to dirty power. This is true BUT if you are charging your laptop, how are you exposing your computer to dirty power? As far as I can see, you are only exposing the battery to dirty power. This will very likely shorten the life of the battery (which isn't cheap) but those batteries don't last all that long anyway.
I wouldn't plug my desktop into a msw inverter but I have charged four different laptops using a 75 watt msw inverter, since 2008 (three pc's and one mac). No ill effects on the computers but the batteries failed on two of them, in that I had to be plugged in all the time or the batteries would die. The computers still worked though. The new ones (a pc and a mac) are still going strong after one year.

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Posted: 04/12/12 01:08pm Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

I picked up a DC power supply for our Acer Aspire One Netbook at a ham radio flea market for $5.00. It converts 12 VDC to 19 VDC. I've never seen a schematic, but I suspect there's a DC to AC conversion (to raise the voltage) and then back to DC.

In the past, I used a MSW inverter to charge the netbook and before that a laptop, and have concluded that the "not pure AC" from the inverter shortened the computer's battery life quite significantly.


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smkettner

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Posted: 04/12/12 01:26pm Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

I found the brick would run a bit hot with MSW. I do like the DC/DC converter.


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NewsW

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Posted: 04/12/12 03:00pm Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

The standard adapters should work fine with square or sine wave.

However, there is a wattage issue.

Car power sockets are in theory good to 15 amps (some 20), do the math.

In theory, that is 12V (nominal) X 15 amp, for 240 watts.

Cheap inverters are often 50 percent or less efficient.

Maximum power out then is around 120 watt.

Quite often, car alternators cannot even spare 240 watt on a continuous basis, so batteries are stressed.

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