AnswerID: 269837 Submitted: Saturday, Nov 03, 2007 at 08:36
Sand Man (SA)
replied:
You don't need a 240 volt surge protector in my opinion.
The source supply is 12 volts and is unlikely to "surge" to any large amount.
The standard laptop power adapter (switched mode power supply) which you would still use, will filter everything anyway and the majority of these will run successfully from a modified sine wave inverter.
Now having said that. Why use an inverter anyway. You are taking a 12 volt DC input, converting it to 240 volt AC output, then feeding this into the laptop power power adapter which converts it from 240 volts AC back to a DC voltage of whatever value required for the Laptop. (somewhere between 12 volts DC and 19 volts DC. This seems to be a waste of energy, plus you need room to contain the inverter.
Unless you have a really weird laptop, a "laptop adapter" is a much better proposition. Something like the Kerio adapter from Dick Smith's comes with a variety of different "blades" to set the output voltage to your laptop's specific voltage requirement and is very compact in size.
About the only laptop that won't allow it's internal battery to charge from the adapter is a Dell, although the laptop can still be powered successfully. The Dell has it's own proprietary method and only a Dell adapter (which I use) will charge the battery as well as power the laptop.
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FollowupID: 532740 Submitted:
Saturday, Nov 03, 2007 at 09:10
swampy66 posted:
Sand man,
could you please give a little more information about how you power the dell. ive been trying to run my laptop from my adapter (12-24v) as you mentioned above.
im using an original Dell connection and have joined positive and negative to this connection.
when i plug it in, it knows im not using a Dell 65w charger - yet the laptop still powers up and charges at 19v.
my original 240v charger is 19.5 output. the laptop is an Inspirion 6000.
i suspect this all has something to do with the centre pin.
Cheers
Swampy
FollowUp 1 of 6
FollowupID: 532752 Submitted:
Saturday, Nov 03, 2007 at 09:59
Member - Olcoolone (S.A) posted:
Go and your self a proper Targus notebook car charger, they cost about $100.00.
I agree with what sandman said and can not understand why people insist on using 12v to 240v inverter and then the 240v to 19v (or what ever your lap top runs on) factory supplied power supply.
The Targus charger we use is only about 100mm long, 15mm thick and 40mm wide and will deliver 10 amps at around 19 volts.
Regars Richard
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FollowUp 2 of 6
FollowupID: 532943 Submitted:
Sunday, Nov 04, 2007 at 11:33
Mainey (WA) posted:
I run my DELL Inspiron 6400 from my 300 Watt Cotek pure sine wave inverter without problems, that's what they are designed for.
I don't have to worry about Computer warranty problems either, as I asked that question of the DELL
technical (not sales) staff before I bought it, I was advised not to use a 12v charging system.
FollowUp 5 of 6
FollowupID: 533129 Submitted:
Monday, Nov 05, 2007 at 10:17
Sand Man (SA) posted:
Hi Swampy,
My Dell Laptop is a Model 6000 Insiron and one of the
accessories available for it was a "replacement" Auto/Air adapter. (model HP-AF065B83)
It looks the same as the standard power adapter but by replacing the 240 volt AC power cord with a cord that plugs into 12 volt, or an airplane socket, the adapter configures itself to run from those power sources.
It's the only adapter I need to use now, wherever I am. Cost was around $90 when I bought it online.
Couldn't see it on the Dell web site but maybe a call to them may give an answer as to their current availability.
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