powering laptops on the move

Pete

square wave 400w inverter

Cheers Baz

Hi Pete,

A 12v (car) lead works as efficiently as being plugged into the 240v power lead. I bought mine from Dick Smiths for around $70 a year or more ago - has variable voltage settings to suit different brands. My laptop is an Asus and I use it plugged into the 12v outlet on the van or car.

Cheers Heather

Hi Pete

500W Modified sine wave inverter.

Honda EU2.0 when in the caravan.

I try to charge the laptop while I drive so it is ready to use when I stop.

Regards

Derek

Dick Smith - auto/air adaptor. in the latest catalogue its priced at $49

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.filereader?4b8dc292041dbc6e2742c0a87e0106ea+EN/catalogs/CTG1000010

Brett

We ensured we had a laptop which runs of 14.4v , which means it can be used with a straight connection to the cars 12v supply.

This is both the most efficent and radio noise free way.

Cheap-ish inverter does the trick.

I run mine from a 300 modified sine wave inverter along with camera chargers, battery chargers, phone chargers...etc etc. I don't leave home without it.

We've tried both and the auto/air type of 12v power supply from the likes of Dick Smith/Jaycar is the most efficient, no converting 12v to 240 then back to 18 volt or whatever the laptop requires. Check that your laptop can be both charged and powered by the chosen power supply at purchase. Generic brands are cheaper than manufacturers specific ones.
I went a step further and bought a Kensington 33197 120w power supply which powers and charges from either 12v or any AC voltage from 110v to 240v so is good for travelling overseas as well.
Works well and means you can just have the one unit to run/charge the laptop from anything, plus it is far smaller than the 240v half brick supplied by Toshiba.

Pete,

All the solutions given above work for those people using them, but it really depends on your laptop as to what is most suitable.

Some laptops will NOT run on a square wave 12 volt/240 volt Inverter and you would need to use a more expensive pure sign wave inverter if going with this solution.

A 12 volt adaptor will, in most cases work well and is the most effective and compact solution in most cases.

The Kerio Auto/Air Adaptor available from Dick Smiths is one of the best units. It comes with a variety of tips and voltage adjusting blades to suit most computers.
It simply plugs into the vehicle's cigarette socket then increases the voltage to that required by the Laptop. The box will show what brands are supported. These are very good and I can recommend them, although I can't use mine with my current laptop.
It is a Dell and this brand is unique in the way it is "wired".
Unless you use a Dell brand adaptor, or a suitable sine wave inverter, you cannot charge the laptops battery even though you can power the laptop itself.

So, depending on the Laptop you have, the chances are the Kerio will give you what you require. Just be aware of the "problems" as identified.


Bill.

thanks everyone, i just went down to DSE and brought one of those auto air adaptors and got home only to find it doesn't fit my computer. not many they don't fit but mine is one of them. so will see what jay cars got or go the inverter. thanks again.
Pete