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Powering Laptops in your Car

Submitted: Wednesday, Mar 01, 2006 at 12:52

Groove

I Know this topic has been covered a number of times so I thought forumites might be interested in this special that is on at Jaycar Electronics at the moment.

3.5A @ 15, 16, 18, 19 or 20 volts selecatable regulated
or
2.9A at 22 or 24 volts
$49.95

OR
6A @ 15, 16, 18, 19 or 20 volts selecatable regulated
or
5A at 22 or 24 volts
$69.95

Plugs to suite a number of laptops.

No Affiliation with Jaycar here also cant vouch for the quality as I havnt used them but seems a reasonable price.

Cheers
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AnswerID: 157869   Submitted: Wednesday, Mar 01, 2006 at 15:46

Gerhardp1 replied:

For that money you can buy a 150W inverter which will run the laptop and also be useful for other things, like charging your handheld UHF radio, etc.

The 12V step up adapter is only any good for the one purpose.

But it's good to see options are available at a reasonable price.
Reply 1 of 4
FollowupID: 412234   Submitted: Wednesday, Mar 01, 2006 at 18:51

ellmcg posted:

Do inverters really come that cheap??? I'd just assumed they were out of my price range and hadn't looked any closer...

Or is the difference in the wattage, and hence how many devices they can support?
FollowUp 1 of 2
FollowupID: 412362   Submitted: Thursday, Mar 02, 2006 at 08:09

Gerhardp1 posted:

Yes, they start at about $59 for 150W. That's what I paid for mine.
FollowUp 2 of 2
AnswerID: 157908   Submitted: Wednesday, Mar 01, 2006 at 19:13

michael42 replied:

I have used the Jaycar product with a couple of laptops. No problems with it at all. I prefer not to have 240v floating around inside the car, although I use an inverter in the tub (Hilux dualcab) for charging other items.

Cheers,

Michael
Reply 2 of 4
AnswerID: 157935   Submitted: Wednesday, Mar 01, 2006 at 20:23

Member - Norm C (QLD) replied:

Do a Google search for Mr Inverters. I just got a 350 W inverter for about $140. They have smaller ones for cheaper. Advantage of an inverter is we also charge the camera batteries, phone batteries and a few other thinks with it.

I guess it depends if you ever expect to need 240V for anything else.
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Reply 3 of 4
FollowupID: 412273   Submitted: Wednesday, Mar 01, 2006 at 20:51

timglobal posted:

An alternative, though possibly over-priced is the Kingston unit (no affiliation, etc but a replacement for the lock that SYD security took off me would be nice). It does 110-240v or 12v to 12v outputting to a variety of "nipples" for equipment including Macs (not latest mag-link) - can power much from Powerbook and other links fit into almost every charger I have. Also works as air adaptor for those who take the plane a bit too.

Hope this helps.

T
FollowUp 1 of 1
AnswerID: 158230   Submitted: Thursday, Mar 02, 2006 at 22:08

arthurking83 replied:

What's th the laptop you're powering?
If it's a desknote like device (desktop CPU @ 3.2Gig) or similar, then go with the 6A@20V, as the battery is almost certainly a higher drain item to keep up with the CPU (??)

Check what your laptop needs as the charging requirement, and then get the most appropriate!
Although the extra 2.5A of juice at the lower voltages may come in handy!

People always talk of using an inverter to power a laptop from the car, and while this can be handy if you alredy have the inverter, One would always assume tha a native low power transformer would be MORE EFFICIENT at tranforming 12volts into 19 or 20 volts!!

Why would you want to waste the power of your car battery to convert 12v into 240v to power/charge a 20v laptop? (doesn't make sense) and wastes more battery power than need be!
(but then again, I can spend 12 hours a night at the keyboard, so every last drop of those 12 volts counts!! ;-)

cheers.
Reply 4 of 4
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