Laptop power for wildcampers

oldtech

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Hi there !

I've been looking on lots of websites to do with solar powered motorhomes.
Has anyone got any advice / experience with this issue ?

For people who are wild camping , long-term , with solar power ,and a couple of good quality
leisure batteries on board ... what is the best option for laptop power ?

1] Recharge / use the laptop from the 12 volt DC supply .... OR ...

2] buy a decent quality , pure sine-wave inerter and run / charge the laptop from that

... yes , I know that there is always some power loss because the inverters are not 100% efficient
.. but I keep reading about people having problems with laptops on the vehicle's 12 volt dc supply ...

Any hints / suggestions ??? .... all replies would be well appreciated !

Happy Wandering :cheers:
 
I have a 100w solar panel with two 110 batteries and plug my laptop into the 12v system with my adaptor and have never had a problem over days at a time.

Andy
 
I bought a dedicated voltage converter from Ebay germany , they had models for most makes of laptop ; it accepts 11-16volts , plugs into a ciggy lighter type socket

so I take out the laptop battery and run off the solar charged leisure battery [ constantly charging the internal battery seriously shortens it's life ]

cost ? €13
 
Charge mine via the inverter while driving.

Read on a previous thread that some laptops will run direct from the van 12v but the screen is a bit dark. I would not try it on a brand new machine but it may well be worth a try on an old one. Especially if you have a voltage regulator to smooth out current spikes.

Richard
 
have an iverter that plugs into ciggie lighter will charge lappy in an hour or whislt ur using it.
£19.99 bought it in skye a few years back.
 
We used to charge ours up on inverter while travelling as well - plus occasionally in McDs as they usually have a socket you can use. If travelling in Europe don't forget your 2 pin adapter plug.
 
I've yet to find anything which doesn't work fine with a quasi sine invertor (though never tried a microwave or washing machine). Does anyone know if modern quasi sine invertors actually cause any damage to computers/tvs.
 
I use an ASUS EEE PC together with 90W solar panel, 2 110A batteries, and a 1000W inverter. The inverter is often on over long periods powering CD, speakers and 240V lights.

ASUS EEE PC's are very power efficient.

I don't think my inverter is pure sin wave, it is quasi. No probs so far in nearly 3 years of use.
 
I have two inverters. One is 1500W pure sinewave to power the electric kettle, microwave, breadmaker and power tools.
The other is a 300W Sinewave to power computers, satellite internet, satellite TV and electric blankets and the several rechargers we carry for radios, phones, torches and similar.

It is argued that inverters are inefficient and so the dedicated 12V units should be used for laptops, but yet no-one has ever done quantitative measurements on the efficiencies of the two methods.
The dedicated units involve changing the voltage from 12v up to say 30v using what might be essentially a mini inverter, and then reducing the voltage down and regulating it to whatever is required for the computer - typically 15 to 23v. Why is this necessarily so much more efficient that it is worth damaging your computer by using an unspecified power supply with unknown characteristics. Even selecting the wrong voltage could damage the computer.

Then there is the problem of still needing a general-purpose inverter for powering all the other stuff we carry that doesn't always come with a lighter plug - mobile phone recharging, rechargeable cameras, torches, radios etc etc etc.

BTW Pure sinewave inverters are now cheap enough that it is hardly worth taking even slight risks by using non-pure sinewave inverters even though the efficiency is slightly less than the cheap "squarewave" inverters.
 
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