pappawheely
Autonomous4X4
My laptop charges at 19.5 volts. Is there any way to charge it from a 12 volt system without an inverter? I ordered a car charger on amazon once and it almost started a fire on the seat in my truck. ?
charging laptop with solar
- Thread starter pappawheely
- Start date
jonyjoe101
Adventurer
You can use a boost converter, it will easily boost your 12 volts to 19 volts. And they cost about 6 dollars for the smaller 6 amp ones, a larger 20 amp for larger laptops will run you about 20 dollars. They got heat sinks on them but you can also add a small fan to keep them cool. You need a plug for your laptop to put on the boost output. You can find the boost converters on ebay, some have US shippers so you get them right away.
picture of 6 amp boost
I use both boost and buck converters to charge lithium batteries/lead acid batteries. They are extremely useful here are some of the buck converters i built. The chargers/power supplies you build with these converters are as good as what you find in the store. Boost increases the voltage, buck decreases the voltage. Basically all you need is an input and output and a multimeter to initially dial in the output voltage you want. On mine that I built I use a LED 10 amp volt/amp meter (cost about 4 dollars), it lets you see the volts and amps being used by the device your powering/charging, it's not needed but I find them useful.
picture of 6 amp boost
I use both boost and buck converters to charge lithium batteries/lead acid batteries. They are extremely useful here are some of the buck converters i built. The chargers/power supplies you build with these converters are as good as what you find in the store. Boost increases the voltage, buck decreases the voltage. Basically all you need is an input and output and a multimeter to initially dial in the output voltage you want. On mine that I built I use a LED 10 amp volt/amp meter (cost about 4 dollars), it lets you see the volts and amps being used by the device your powering/charging, it's not needed but I find them useful.
pappawheely
Autonomous4X4
Thanks to both of you. Very helpful. Now I need a cord with the right pin diameter.
rayra
Expedition Leader
Looks like there's some sort of inner pin / voltage sensor connect to tell the laptop what is coming in, related to the charging rate. Something to check into.
www.techspot.com
I've just been using a 300W cig plug inverter, it's not the sexiest solution, but it works. My HP laptop's input spec is 19.5V @ 2.31A
Smart pin voltage-to-capacity correlation for laptop power supplies
The "smart" pin (center pin) on laptop power supply connectors is used for the purpose of the computer being able to determine the amperage (or wattage, if you prefer) of the 18.5 volt power supply that is plugged in to it, so it does not exceed it's capacity, especially when the computer is...
www.techspot.com
I've just been using a 300W cig plug inverter, it's not the sexiest solution, but it works. My HP laptop's input spec is 19.5V @ 2.31A