Charging lap-top on the road

You can get yourself a smallish Inverter probably better if you get a pure sine wave or if you get the cheaper type check and make sure your laptop will run off it before you buy it They produce 240 volt from a 12 volt battery. 200 watts will run pretty well any laptop and charge your batteries too. You just need to make sure you don't flatten your battery, so a second battery is a good idea unless you only use it will driving.

I use a standard 300w inverter from JayCar. Runs off the second battery of the Patrol, but can run off the main battery as well of coarse. The inverter has been used for the Laptop, recharging batteries for GPS, camera and the PDA.

I have a 350 W modified sinewave inverter from Mr Inverters. Found it on the net, rang and had it in my hand within 48 hours. About $160 from memory. Runs the laptop great. I have it hard wired to the deep cycle battery and when driving we just plug it in.
I'm almost certain you can get a simple charger for AAAs . We have one for AAs that we bought from Woolies including 4 batteries. Don't remember the brand. It is in the 4B. I can dig it out if necessary.
We just plug it into the inverter. Do the same for phone batteries, camera batteries, etc.

You will need a small inverter and a 240v AA battery charger.

The Sinergex Pure Sine waves are still on easter special.

I keep it simple and use a 12V adaptor off the car cigarette lighter for my 19.3V Acer laptop. I have also wired a multi port outlet direct to the main car battery so it can charge everything at once without needing the keys in the ignition.

In Perth there is a business called (funnily enough) 'The 12 Volt Shop' and all you need is available straight off the shelf. This way I can use my gear in any vehicle such as a hire car. Much smaller and lighter too.

I have also standardised my battery requirements to AA size and use 2600 Ni-MH with a 12V charger. I now run my torches, radio, UHF's, cameras, reading light etc all off the one the one "bucket 'o batts".

My fluro's, water pump, iPod charger etc all run off 12V and I have waterproof outlets strategically placed around the exterior of the Cruiser which make it a breeze when you park up.

K.I.S.S. IMHO.

First up I'd like to say I'm not being rude in anyway when posting this response, but I have to ask.... Why oh why do you need a laptop while traveling? Is'nt it all about getting away for everything and EXPLORING OZ?

I use an ordinary non-modified inverter to charge my batteries but only run the laptop off the charged battery

I use a 12 volt laptop power supply which I picked up from an autopro shop. $49.95 and outputs a selectable range of voltages from 13 up to about 20 something.

We have also standardised to AA batteries and have a 4 bay NmHi/Nicad charger.

Cheers

Pete

Hi guys and gals,

I charge everything from 12 volt. Laptop, mobile phone, Camera batteries ect.
My laptop charger/power supply also has usb outlet to power usb reading light, personal fan etc. 12 volt chargers and power supplies are available for just about anything. Zap from 12 volt less lethal
Mac

We like others use an el'cheapo inverter - why, well we have a couple of cellphones, 2 digital cameras and a laptop so our inverter supplies power to all and we only need one adapter for each unit. We travel in different vehicles all the time incl camping for 4 months in Europe last year (lease car) and the inverter certainly made life easy - even if we got weird questions when it was x-rayed at various security checks on the way, quite a laugh.

Even though it is a cheapie and hardly even a modified sign wave, we have had no problems charing anything and we have also been know to use 230vac flouro lights at night - cheap and very bright when compared with the 12V ones. (use the ones that replace a normal 230 light bulb with a baynet fitting).

Stevesub

spliney,

Plenty of advice already and as you can see, there are several options to choose from.

I personally use a mixture. I started off with a Kerio adaptor for the laptop, until I traded up to a new one and found the Kerio didn't suit it. So I bought a new adaptor which takes either a 240 volt AC input, or a 12 volt DC input and runs the Laptop whilst charging its battery at the same time.

I also have a "Digitor" brand AA & AAA charger which normally runs from a 240VAC/12VDC transformer. I made up a lead that connects directly to 12VDC so I can run off the vehicle supply when travelling, without the need for the more bulky 12VDC/240VAC Inverter.

Then along comes Murphy again. I bought a new still Camera which does not run off AA batteries, but a type requiring its own charger. SO, out comes the Inverter when charging these batteries.

Over all, I try to avoid using the Inverter whilst travelling on the "road", as I have enough cables connecting the GPS/Laptop/Touchscreen without complicating things further. I use the inverter when necessary, during stopover camping at the end of the day.

So there is not really any particular solution that suits all situations and all equipment. You just need to start with what you think you need and add to it if necessary.

To start with, a 150 watt or 300 watt Inverter will power most Laptops, but you need to check if yours will need the cheaper modified sine wave, or a more expensive pure sign wave Inverter.

For the AA and AAA batteries, I can recommend the Digitor brand of charger available from Dick Smith's. This charger can easily run off the car ciggy lighter socket with the inclusion of a Ciggy Plug Extension lead. (DS Cat # P1683).
This lead comes with a fused cig. plug on one end and a DC socket/plug set at the other. One of the DC plugs (I think the 3.5mm) will fit the socket on the charger.

Hi Spliney

Check out post 32293 , many laptop's run off 14-15v charger and as such
can be directly connected to cars 12V , this is massively much more efficent ,saves use of high voltage's in the car and lesson's chance of radio interference.

Robin Miller

Not sure why this is but I had a 150w Jaycar inverter. It ran my HP laptop fine but my Dad's Dell would make the inverter shut down. Even when the laptop was turned off.
When I was touring Tasmania a screw came loose in the inverter and shorted it out. So when I got back I grabbed a 300w inverter from work. Brand new and twice the cost of the Jaycar unit but it would shut down when I plugged my HP laptop into it??? Once again even with laptop turned off.
So I kept that inverter for charging batteries and running other 240v stuff and bought myself one of those adjustable DC voltage things to run my laptop from Electus.

Both inverters were/are modified sine wave.