Charging a Laptop

I bought a little 150W inverter for exactly this reason. No need to buy dedicated chargers and I can use it to recharge my power tools if needed. I could have got a 12v high power USB-C adapter (MacBook Pro) but decided the flexibility of having a little inverter was better.
 
GHA said:
Check the DC power plug to see if it has 3 pins, if so google would be a far better place to inquire for a 12dc charger than aging grumpy sailors on a web forum :)
Though my HP envy works fine.
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I much rather have a chat with some human beings (well, I assume most on here are... the RussianBots took over the Lounge/CurrentAffairs place)
 
what I don't understand, though, is why the Solar Panel comes with a series of plugs (output), plus USB ports if I can't use it to recharge a laptop...
 
Are you aware that most "Laptops" can run direct of 12V ? Just don't start engine when connected !

The problem is that it has not enough voltage to charge the battery or to run accessories such as CD drives etc.
The computer will draw on the battery to supply power for CD's ... extras till it basically is discharged.
Many despite manufacturers warnings can have batterys removed to not need that extra voltage and then 12v works fine. In fact with a number of computers, I have taped over the contacts but put pack back in so computer is balanced.

I've done this with IBM Thankpads ... Acer ... ASUS ... Lenovo ..... Toshiba ....

Why does it work ? The computers themselves - the boards run at 5V or 3.3V ... so the charger you plug in is doing more charging than running the boards. The boards have to reduce the voltage to meet boards much lower voltage needs.

So if its an old machine - why not try it ?
 
Buck Turgidson said:
I bought a little 150W inverter for exactly this reason. No need to buy dedicated chargers and I can use it to recharge my power tools if needed. I could have got a 12v high power USB-C adapter (MacBook Pro) but decided the flexibility of having a little inverter was better.
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I also just use my invertor for all the different devices we have and guests have - too many different plugs and voltages to try to run them off 12v direct. And DC-DC chargers are the same as invertor to DC to laptop.
 
"And DC-DC chargers are the same as invertor to DC to laptop. "

So you say that a 12V to 18V DC-DC unit is same as a 12V to 240V invertor to your usual computer power supply ?

mmmmmmm don't think so ...

Just imagine those losses in each step ...
 
TiggerToo said:
what I don't understand, though, is why the Solar Panel comes with a series of plugs (output), plus USB ports if I can't use it to recharge a laptop...
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Looks like you are mixing your terminology up, which is bound to cause confusion.

Solar panels have connections to go to the controller. Some controllers have USB sockets on them. If your laptops can be charged from a USB socket, then you can plug them into the controller.

It sounds like you might have a "briefcase" portable kit, with built in controller, if so, and it has USB sockets, you can use those, again, if the laptop can be charged by USB.
 
Refueler said:
Hi Paul ... just a question ... laptop charged by USB ? Surely USB is 5V regardless of whether its mini .. micro or C type ?

I can see a Tablet or phone charged ....
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Not USB-C PD. PD stands for power delivery, can be up to 20v. The charger & device talk to decide what voltage the charger puts out, can go up to 100W. no communication then the charger defaults to the old 5v.
What is USB Power Delivery and how does USB PD work?
Little point asking Paul, sounds like he'd never heard of it.
 
GHA said:
Not USB-C PD. PD stands for power delivery, can be up to 20v. The charger & device talk to decide what voltage the charger puts out, can go up to 100W. no communication then the charger defaults to the old 5v.
What is USB Power Delivery and how does USB PD work?
Little point asking Paul, sounds like he'd never heard of it.
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Interesting .. only seen C with my new Samsung and my 3D scanner ... and of course then its 5V ... but can take the high amps.
 
GHA said:
Not USB-C PD. PD stands for power delivery, can be up to 20v. The charger & device talk to decide what voltage the charger puts out, can go up to 100W. no communication then the charger defaults to the old 5v.
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Wrong, it's 48V and 240W.

Little point asking Paul, sounds like he'd never heard of it.
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How would you know what i have or have not heard of ?
 
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PaulRainbow said:
USB PD can still be 5V. If the Samsung you refer to above is a new phone or tablet it'll be USB PD.
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Yep - I know that .. was just surprised at the high voltage levels possible. Never heard that before. All I heard was that C could take a higher amp rate.

Thread drift : Not so long ago - a RC Radio company had to stop fitting charger boards in the TX's because they chose C and of course the boards didn't have adequate cooling ....
When they created an offshoot brand - they re-introduced the charger boards but set lower limit amps in the boards FW.
 
Refueler said:
Yep - I know that .. was just surprised at the high voltage levels possible. Never heard that before. All I heard was that C could take a higher amp rate.
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It's been around for a while now, i had a Samsung tablet 3 or 4 years ago that came with a charger that could charge at three different voltages, still got the charger, along with several others.
 
PaulRainbow said:
How would you know what i have or have not heard of ?
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You're previous post #16 dead giveaway.

"Tablets & phones are generally going over to USB-C PD where the charger & device talk to see what voltage goes in. "

"I'm aware of USB C, my phone, tablet and Pi are all powered by USB C. "

"Wrong, it's 48V and 240W.". Name any charger of device available today which can do that? You can't, the updated spec was only just published the other day, no one has made anything yet.
Try googling a bit harder.
 
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