My setup with a few questions

[MoGas]

I was going to get a newer hand held GPS so that I could run it on a newer laptop while in the car because I have a Garmin eTrex Legend and it uses a serial port and newer laptops don't have serial ports, yadda, yadda.

I was speaking to my IT guy at the office for what to order and what I am using it for and he asked "Do you need to run a lot of programs?" I said "No, just TOPO! and some conversion programs. just really basic stuff". He reaches into a pile of old laptops, and pulls out one and says "Write a check (to our company) for 30 bucks and it's yours"

So I got a Dell PP01L Latitude C640 Laptop with a 18G hard drive, 1.8G processor, and 512Meg RAM, XP (Which is good as I'm an anti Vistite) and few extra parts and a case to hook up in my rig now.

My question is about power. Do most of you guys run AC off an inverter or do you use a DC adapter?

I can get a Garmin adapter for my hand held that has a car power adapter built in. I was wondering mainly about the laptop.



Thanks,
Dave

 

[inked33]

i personally use an inverter just for the fact that its more flexible and allows me to run other things off the inverter

 

[MoGas]

I was told some weirdness about inverters not having a clean sine wave and that laptops won't work properly off them. Isn't that what the little box on the power cord does? Clean up and stabilize the incoming power?

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Small inverter in the center console just for the smal things laptop, cell phone, and MP3. Not a lot of outside sources for 12 volt if you are not in your rig.

 

[MoGas]

Small inverter in the center console just for the smal things laptop, cell phone, and MP3. Not a lot of outside sources for 12 volt if you are not in your rig.

Something like this or could I go smaller?

 

[Grizzlybait]

The inverter you linked to should be more than ample. If you want to be sure, check the label your laptop power supply. But I highly doubt any laptop power supply is going to draw 350 watts!

I wouldn't worry about "clean power". You are correct, the laptop power supply (the little black box) is designed to filter. I've run laptops off of industrial and portable gas generators no problem. Usually you only have to worry about clean AC (ie. a nice sinusoidal 60Hz wave) when running AC motors, as non-sinusoidal power can cause heating issues in the motor. Even then, most half-decent inverters nowadays are good enough.

Also, did you know you can buy a serial <--> USB adapter?

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5859

 

[MoGas]

Then I would still have to buy a laptop.

 

[gjackson]

Inverters annoy me. Mainly because you are converting 12v dc to 120v ac then back to ~12v dc for the laptop. I much prefer a dc power brick, but it's more a sense of aesthetic and the elimination of one more failure point.

My 2c

cheers

 

[AFSOC]

Inverters annoy me. Mainly because you are converting 12v dc to 120v ac then back to ~12v dc for the laptop. I much prefer a dc power brick, but it's more a sense of aesthetic and the elimination of one more failure point.

My 2c

cheers

I agree in principal however my computer requires 19.5V.


.

 

[Cody1771]

yeah my laptop is 18v, so i use an inverter. plus i run other things off of it like my shop compresser. and from a few posts up the black box on the power cord ofyour laptop is an inverter, 120/240v to whatever your laptop requires

 

[Bullseye240]

http://www.powerstream.com/dcdc.htm


Try this.

 

[1leglance]

I run a Targus 12dvc setup that has a cig lighter plug, wall plug and airplane plug...the black box is the same.
It came with a bunch of adapters to fit all kinds of laptops. I then use the USB port on the laptop to charge celll phones, ipods and such.

This allows me to keep the factory wall plug setup at home and have a backup in the rig so if I am on trips I have 12vdc, wall and even airplane. Well worth the money.

Plus I am like graham no 12 to 120 to 15 for me.