Laptop use

MartianTom

Guest
Hi folks,

I'm a complete newbie, having bought my first MH last week - a 1995 Fiat Ci Sirio, one previous owner, mint condition, 38,000 miles only!

One of my main reasons for getting it is to drive off at weekends and wildcamp around Kent - one, maybe two overnights - to get away from distractions (neighbours, internet, TV, etc) to write. So I shall be looking for a cheap laptop that has nothing more on it that an OS and Word - no internet, DVD drive, games or anything!

Hopefully it'll have good battery life (I'll get a spare anyway) and I'll be looking at something that's around 60w power consumption.

My question - which I'm sure has been asked countless times! - is: Can I run it on the leisure battery, and if so how long can I expect to get from that? If I use the fridge (may not), I'll be running it on gas as I gather it will consume only around 0.02 kg/hr. I also have some battery-operated LED lamps which I can use at night, saving further use of the battery. Other than that, on the gas side it'll just be the hob (no oven), the heater and the boiler (oop... and that throws up a further dumb question... is the boiler on MHs powered by gas, electricity or both? Sorry... the manual isn't clear on this.)

The MH has an inverter, installed by the previous owner. There is one standard 3-pin plug socket, plus two 12v sockets and a cigar lighter socket.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot. :wave:
 
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Look Up: smart_parts_uk on Ebay.

I bought a charger for my laptop that runs from the 12v cigarette lighter, more efficient than using an inverter.

Very helpful people, let them know what your laptop is and they'll sort for you.

Has worked well for the past 5 months, used at least twice per week.
 
Hi Tom and welcome to the forum.

The most efficient way to use a laptop is to use a dedicated laptop adaptor. Maplin sells them. They are powered from a 12 volt socket and have several output voltages to suit the laptop. I think it ranges from about 16 volts to 22 volts. You just set the voltage of your laptop. It is suitable for most laptops but not all, so check before you buy one.

You will have a gas heater and it may have a fan fitted. These use a little power but are not really heavy users of 12 volt power unless it is freezing outside.

Your fridge will run on 230 volts (mains power if you are hooked up), gas and 12 volts (but normally only when the engine is running). Set it to 12 volts when travelling and switch to gas when parked, unless on hookup.

How long you will last with 12 volt power depends on the size and age of your battery. If it is an old one, it might be in poor nick. If you need to get a new one, see if you can either get a bigger one or double up and fit 2 batteries. That is much better for wilding.

Enjoy your van and safe travelling.
 
Thanks for your advice, friends.

I popped into a local shop today that sells recon laptops. They've got a Dell I'll probably go for. I asked the chap about the adaptors, but he said it would be better to use the inverter as the bus has got one. Hm. I said that conflicted with what I'd been told by seasoned MHers, so he then said to try each way and see. It's certainly my impression that the inverter would be a bigger drain on the battery.

Do I understand this correctly... I can plug in the charger to the 12v and still use the laptop? (sorry if that's a daft question!) The Dell I've seen is rated at 65w. Only using Word, am I likely to get hours of use of the leisure battery if I keep other consumption to a minimum? It's a reasonably new battery in good condition.
 
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"try each way and see"

This is very good advice. You will only really know if you do try it. My suspicion is that the laptop will last for hours and hours using the 12volt laptop convertor but there are a lot of variables.

As far as using the inverter is concerned it will get warm when it is doing the conversion from 12v to 240v and the laptop normal mains power supply will also get warm. Heat is wasted power. The 12 volt to 19 or so volts convertor will also get warm but at least it is only one thing to get warm and waste power.

Have fun writing

IanM
 
Your laptop should have a pretty long battery life. When ours needs recharging we use a power converter - it plugs into the cigarette lighter but has a traditional 3-pin socket at the other end. We charge the laptop from that while we are on the move.
 
I have a dell laptop and have only briefly used it through an inverter to check emails etc.



PLEASE DO NOT BUY A DELL INSPIRON 1525 SECOND HAND , this is the model that I have and the first I had broke at the hinge, it got lost in the post to get it repaired under guarantee. The replacement has been repaired 3 times on the guarantee it is a design fault that dell do not recognise, there are loads of them on ebay for spares, all of them say the plastic around the hinge is broken and screws 'might' be missing. As far as I know other models arent affected, but I know of three other 1525 that friends have owned and all break on the left hand hinge.
 
Thanks again, folks. I'm going to go with the 12v converter.

There are two laptops at this shop - both second user. A Toshiba Portege M100, which is very basic, but is only £99. The one I think I'll go for, though, is a Dell Latitude D630 at £199. Smart Parts UK have got the converter for that.

I'm a writer with attention-deficit... oh, look... pigeons! :eek: Seriously, it's always a problem with stuff like internet, phones, games, etc. This way, there's only one thing I can do - apart from make tea and sleep!
 
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