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4hv.org :: Forums :: General Chatting
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strange question?

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Chris Cristini
Sun Aug 02 2009, 03:18AM Print
Chris Cristini Registered Member #1749 Joined: Fri Oct 10 2008, 02:04AM
Location: Claremont New Hampshire
Posts: 497
I am making a living being a travaling mechanic and I need to buy a laptop for a program called ALLDATA it is a Hayns manual for all cars from 1966 to 2009 and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to use a back pack to hold a small motorcycle battery and an invertor for the charger would it increase the time I can use I was thinking this would be a good one. Link2 Its battery life is pretty low but its a cheap investment that would make me more money and pay for it self. smile
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Arcstarter
Sun Aug 02 2009, 03:38AM
Arcstarter Registered Member #1225 Joined: Sat Jan 12 2008, 01:24AM
Location: Beaumont, Texas, USA
Posts: 2253
Instead of the inverter, why not a small switching power supply for 12 volts to whatever voltage the laptop requires, and then hook one of the power supply connectors to that? If worse comes to worst you could build one, but I'd never trust anything i made with a laptop.
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Bored Chemist
Sun Aug 02 2009, 08:47AM
Bored Chemist Registered Member #193 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 07:04AM
Location: sheffield
Posts: 1022
I don't know a lot about lap tops. Can you get them to run from the cigarette lighter socket in a car? If so then using that to run it from a 12 volt battery might be more efficient than taking the voltage up to 110 (or 240) just to reduce it back again.
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Bjørn
Sun Aug 02 2009, 09:25AM
Bjørn Registered Member #27 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 02:20AM
Location: Hyperborea
Posts: 2058
I have a couple of laptops that works fine on far lower voltages than their external PSUs deliver. One works down to about 8.5 V. Running expensive things from a cigarette lighter socket might require a filter to get rid of any excessive noise and spikes.

If you want external batteries you can use a 12 V and a 6 V battery in series to get about the 19 V that the external PSUs tend to deliver and skip the inverter.

There are also 12 V laptop converters like this: Link2
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Renesis
Sun Aug 02 2009, 01:45PM
Renesis Registered Member #2028 Joined: Mon Mar 16 2009, 08:13PM
Location: Norway
Posts: 319
My laptop charger is rated at 18,5V 3,5A. I guess a Charge pump could be used to charge a laptop from the cigarette lighter socket.
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Chris Cristini
Sun Aug 02 2009, 01:53PM
Chris Cristini Registered Member #1749 Joined: Fri Oct 10 2008, 02:04AM
Location: Claremont New Hampshire
Posts: 497
I was also thinking I could use the inverter for other things like a fluorescent drop light.
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Bjørn
Sun Aug 02 2009, 02:23PM
Bjørn Registered Member #27 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 02:20AM
Location: Hyperborea
Posts: 2058
You could but there are 12 V ones of those too so it is not that important.
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Chris Cristini
Sun Aug 02 2009, 03:37PM
Chris Cristini Registered Member #1749 Joined: Fri Oct 10 2008, 02:04AM
Location: Claremont New Hampshire
Posts: 497
Ok im convinced no inverter but would it be a good idea to get a small smart charger for the motorcycle batt so when an outlet is present I can charge it.
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Hon1nbo
Sun Aug 02 2009, 05:12PM
Hon1nbo Registered Member #902 Joined: Sun Jul 15 2007, 08:17PM
Location: North Texas
Posts: 1040
they make external, rechargeable backup laptop batteries that work on most laptops via the charging socket - just make sure that is you use an SLA that it is spill proof, or that you don't mind the risk of it being dropped

if you have the time, and want something to supplement this, try using a solar panel/flexible strip on the backpack to help keep a charge in the battery over time, or use a method similar to shake lights that works off of your walking motion - these last two methods would not power the laptop itself, but might be enough to trickle charge the battery to some use
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Electroholic
Sun Aug 02 2009, 05:27PM
Electroholic Registered Member #191 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 02:01AM
Location: Esbjerg Denmark
Posts: 720
lenovo has an AC/DC charger that can be plugged into the cigarette lighter socket.
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