How Do I Rechartge my LapTop my Ipad and my Phone when not in a Marina

[Sandgrounder]

I have a Westerly 33 which has shore power so charging these things is easy when in a marina. I also have 1 x 1 charging point which offers 1 x 1w usb plus 1 x 2.1w usb. The boat has a decent electrical set up so charging when at anchor should be no problem but how do I charge e.g a LapTop which is designed to charge from 240v via a transformer?

 

[sarabande]

Use a 12v DC car laptop charger into a cigarett lighter socket (they are normally rated for 15A)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/laptop-car...8&page=1&rh=n:560798,k:laptop in car chargers

 

[Uricanejack]

I have a little cigarette lighter USB thingy which works quite well with the smaller gadgets like phones and tablets.

 

[mjcoon]

I have a Westerly 33 which has shore power so charging these things is easy when in a marina. I also have 1 x 1 charging point which offers 1 x 1w usb plus 1 x 2.1w usb. The boat has a decent electrical set up so charging when at anchor should be no problem but how do I charge e.g a LapTop which is designed to charge from 240v via a transformer?

You mean 1A and 2.1A. Watts would be a bit feeble!

What is the laptop charging input actually rated at?

Mike.

 

[Tranona]

The most economical way for a laptop is through a 12v charger pack which as already suggested can work from a lighter socket if the fuse is high enough rated, or hard wired into the domestic panel. an alternative, and worth having anyway is a smallish inverter - I have a 350w - then you have 240v to use the normal charger. This takes a bit more out of the 12v battery as you lose something going up to 240v but fine for occasional use.

 

[Flica]

I run my two ThinkPads for months, on solid-state transformers, working off a 12v "lighter" socket.
The charger for the one with twin batteries is rated @ 150 watts - I've had it for 10 years.
I use a contract mobile cellular data USB receiver for internet access and ignore fruitless searches for wi-fi.
On 4G download is as fast (or faster) as fibre-optic - Son 1 gets 135Mpbs on his Elisa cellular, compared to my BT fibre which achieves 51 on BT fibre-optic.

Here is an address for those who can't use a search engine https://www.laptopchargerfactory.co.uk/

 

[BelleSerene]

Ditto for an Apple MacBook: although Apple won't sell you one, I keep one of these on board to run my MacBook off 12V.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400263626331 or search eBay for 'MacBook 12v charger'

 

[PhillM]

For my phone and iPad I have a power bank. Here is a link to one on Amazon (I'm not an affiliate). I Can get about three days worth of recharges from this one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Cell-Pho...1&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=iPad+power+bank&psc=1

I doubt you could recharge a laptop from it though.

I do have on board a 240v - 12v adapter. I guess I could "step up" the 12v to 240 and plug in my laptop into that as you would a normal socket. Probably wasteful, but I guess it could work.

 

[colind3782]

Laptops usually actually charge at 12v - 19v DC. With a suitable cigarette lighter adapter you can charge from the 12v system. The "240v" charger is a transformer to take it down to the appropriate input voltage. For instance, my Acer laptop on board charges at 19v DC and I have a multi voltage adapter to plug in if I don't have shore power.

 

[fergie_mac66]

12 to 240 v pure sine wave inverter of sutable wattage . 350W to 500W with a four decent batteries and a good charging system . Ours is a 1000w with a very low standby of a few milliamps , We only switch on when needrd tho.

 

[DJE]

I've have a couple of laptop 12V power adaptors from this firm.

http://www.power4laptops.co.uk/

For charging phones and tablets on board I use a socket like this.

http://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/12v-24v-recessed-twin-usb-power-socket-5v-21a.html

I used to have a small inverter but it used far too much battery power and doubled as a cabin heater!

 

[Heckler]

I have a Westerly 33 which has shore power so charging these things is easy when in a marina. I also have 1 x 1 charging point which offers 1 x 1w usb plus 1 x 2.1w usb. The boat has a decent electrical set up so charging when at anchor should be no problem but how do I charge e.g a LapTop which is designed to charge from 240v via a transformer?

I have put cigar lighter sockets all around the boat so use Lidl multi point, usb and cigar things to plug in to them. For my rather old laptop I have a 12v to 19v cigar lighter socket plug thing that plugs in to one of the cigar lighter sockets. I also have an ex BT work van500 watt invertor that gives a clean supply that will charge it normally. It will run the tv, cd player and a 60watt light comfortably with no noticeable effect on my 440 amp battery bank.
Stu

 

[jdc]

Anther vote for a small inverter which generates mains from 12V DC. You don't really need a fancy inverter as all lap-top power supply 'bricks' for laptops and mobiles are switching devices these days so there's no need for sine wave, and probably not for 50 or 60Hz. And 99.9% (you best check yours) are able to accept anywhere from 100V to 250V so 'mains' can be 110V or 230V.

On my boat I've built-in a 300W 110V inverter for this function. 110V because it's safer and because nobody then tries to use it for power-tools or toasters which it's not powerful enough to supply.
See
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B071HGJ2KP?psc=1
or even
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boost-Powe...&qid=1499686266&sr=8-3&keywords=110V+inverter

 

[Stemar]

For the phones tablets and the like, I've got something like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Charg...096257?hash=item489f599fc1:g:cTIAAOSw6n5XvkID

For the lappy, I'd used a matching cigar lighter socket with the appropriate 12v adaptor for your lappy.

 

[TQA]

PWR+ are the goto guys for 12 v DC power supplies that output 19 v. Mine has just expired after 6 years of daily service. Waiting for a new one.

 

[LiftyK]

Laptop manufacturers supply 12V power supplies for use in cars and boats. I had an HP power supply that I used for many years. Try the accessories web page for your laptop manufacturer.

 

[Woodlouse]

Always used a little 300w inverter for charging laptops. For all other devices I'm fitting USB ports to the boat where the old cigarette lighter plugs were.

 

[Iliade]

I used an inverter to power my old laptop charger, but the current draw was heavy. Buying a cheap dedicated laptop car charger (in itself a very small inverter) as mentioned earlier in the thread saved a lot of amps.

I don't think that cheap inverters and switch-mode chargers are that compatible - I seem to recall accidentally reading something of the sort when I threw the manual for my inverter away as I unpackaged it.

 

[marktrigg]

+1 for http://www.power4laptops.co.uk

Albeit for in my van (also previous experience of inverters 'killing' my battery) ... have asked the same question as the op.
First chose a slightly smaller notebook-type pc.
Then bought a cigar-socket charger (from the above firm) for that model, which has functioned as hoped.
Use cigar-socket-to-lightning & usb-to-lightning cables for charging iPad & iPhone.
Charge small power-cells, when engine running or when on solar, for portable (phone & pad) top-up later.

(No connection with above firm, other than as customer, etc., etc.).

 

[Martin&Rene]

Maplins do a variety of chargers that work from both 240v and 12v and give you a variety of voltages for laptops and phones. Whilst they come with many different outlet plugs, you need to check the one you buy has the ones you need.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/c/batteries-and-power/power-supplies/laptop-power-supplies