Running a Toughbook CF52 on board

[webcraft]

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This laptop requiress an input of 15.6V and 8A - or at least that is what it says on the back. I can't find any DC-DC adapter or DC-AC inverter which will provide this much current, and in any event I can't see our single domestic battery surviving the onslaught.

(The only dedicated Panasonic DC-DC adapters Ihave seen are £150 and out of stock anyway . . .)

What would the consequence be of using an inverter or adapter which provided the correct voltage but fewer amps? Would it still be possible to charge the machine but not to run it? (An inverter would probably be more useful generally for charging smaller devices).

All advice gratefully received but please don't make it too technical as electricity and black magic are pretty indistinguishable to me.

- W

 

[elton]

I would put an ammeter in series with the power lead (next to the laptop power socket) and measure the current it uses under a variety of conditions (laptop on/off, laptop battery depleted/almost full, screen brightness high/low). 8A does seem very high. My little Asus uses much less than an Amp.

 

[webcraft]

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Thanks Elton. What would the possible consequences be of using an inverter with a smaller max current to charge the laptop battery with the laptop switched off? The plan is to only run the inverter to charge things when the engine is running.

- W

 

[Fr J Hackett]

My experience of overloading a cheap inverter was that it performed but made a lot of noise from poorly isolated power transistors (I think) the inverter eventually gave up the struggle, but there was no harm done to the kit on the receiving end.

 

[David52]

Hi There,

The toughbook CF52 should only draw a max of 100w whilst operating. So 8 Amps does seem extraordinarily high.

On a recent long trip I ran a pair of Toughbooks CF25 for 3 months in 5 without rest. I used a purpose built panasonic car charger (25 quid new on ebay, but not always available) and a 150 watt car laptop charger from maplin - this is one of those multi voltage, multi output adapter things (35 quid)

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=223723&C=SO&U=strat15

I think that is the link.

This unit is hardwired and mounted behind our chart table and has been happily charging all sorts of laptops for 2 years. Check there is an adapter plug that will fit your panasonic in the pack (I think they're all the same round outer with pin centre) and you're away.

Hope that helps,

Greyish Beard

Check there