Charging a laptop off an inverter.

chopit · Senior Member

Charging a laptop off an inverter.

oldbobsbus · Guru

I have no problems with the 300w one I keep in the car that plugs into the cigarette lighter and it is a modified sine wave.. smile

You are only powering a power supply that converts the 240v back to whatever you need for your lappy..

spida · Guru

Check what your laptop needs also. Not all charge with 12v only - mine is 19 (v?) Had to get a multi-charge charger!

Baz421 · Guru

oldbobsbus wrote:
I have no problems with the 300w one I keep in the car that plugs into the cigarette lighter and it is a modified sine wave..
You are only powering a power supply that converts the 240v back to whatever you need for your lappy..

Agree again here we do the same never had a problem.

rockylizard · Guru

chopit wrote:
I have read that a sine wave inverter ( As opposed to a pure sine wave inverter) will not safely run a laptop.
Can anyone advise me ? Can you have a laptop off and use a sine wave inverter to recharge the laptop battery ?
Cheers.

Gday...

I have been informed by many pooter techos (in many shops around this land) that you can CHARGE your laptop from a modified sine inverter. But you should not USE the laptop while it is connected to a modified wave inverter. You should only use a laptop connected through a pure sine inverter.

Apparently, the 'spiking' of the modified wave may (and it is not will but may) cause real problems with the HDD.

I only use my modified sine inverter via the 12V socket in the car with the laptop off when driving.

In the van I have a cord I got from Jaycar which has a built-in "surge protector" thingy which I plug directly into the 12V socket without any inverter involved. It turns the 12V into the 19V required by the pooter and 'smooths' out any 'spikes' that are likely to harm HDD. Has worked like a charm for more than a year now.

Not sure of the price but wasn't too dear.

Cheers - John

Baz421 · Guru

rockylizard wrote:
chopit wrote:
I have read that a sine wave inverter ( As opposed to a pure sine wave inverter) will not safely run a laptop.
Can anyone advise me ? Can you have a laptop off and use a sine wave inverter to recharge the laptop battery ?
Cheers.
Gday...
I have been informed by many pooter techos (in many shops around this land) that you can CHARGE your laptop from a modified sine inverter. But you should not USE the laptop while it is connected to a modified wave inverter. You should only use a laptop connected through a pure sine inverter.
Apparently, the 'spiking' of the modified wave may (and it is not will but may) cause real problems with the HDD.
I only use my modified sine inverter via the 12V socket in the car with the laptop off when driving.
In the van I have a cord I got from Jaycar which has a built-in "surge protector" thingy which I plug directly into the 12V socket without any inverter involved. It turns the 12V into the 19V required by the pooter and 'smooths' out any 'spikes' that are likely to harm HDD. Has worked like a charm for more than a year now.
Not sure of the price but wasn't too dear.
Cheers - John

Coming up to 7 years with laptop charged through 2 modified sine wave inverters,, no problems, you are only charging the battery not supplying power to CPU direct..

rockylizard · Guru

Baz421 wrote:
rockylizard wrote:
chopit wrote:
I have read that a sine wave inverter ( As opposed to a pure sine wave inverter) will not safely run a laptop.
Can anyone advise me ? Can you have a laptop off and use a sine wave inverter to recharge the laptop battery ?
Cheers.
Gday...
I have been informed by many pooter techos (in many shops around this land) that you can CHARGE your laptop from a modified sine inverter. But you should not USE the laptop while it is connected to a modified wave inverter. You should only use a laptop connected through a pure sine inverter.
Apparently, the 'spiking' of the modified wave may (and it is not will but may) cause real problems with the HDD.
I only use my modified sine inverter via the 12V socket in the car with the laptop off when driving.
In the van I have a cord I got from Jaycar which has a built-in "surge protector" thingy which I plug directly into the 12V socket without any inverter involved. It turns the 12V into the 19V required by the pooter and 'smooths' out any 'spikes' that are likely to harm HDD. Has worked like a charm for more than a year now.
Not sure of the price but wasn't too dear.
Cheers - John
Coming up to 7 years with laptop charged through 2 modified sine wave inverters,, no problems, you are only charging the battery not supplying power to CPU direct..

Gday...

Please consider this as an apology in advance Baz if it gets up your nose. cry Although, it is definitely not meant to. hmm

But please read firstly the red highlighted text and then re-read your response in highlighted blue text. If you had read what I had posted, you would not have needed to have re-stated the same advice.

Sorry, but you have only said again exactly what I had said. confuse

Cheers - John

Baz421 · Guru

rockylizard wrote:
Baz421 wrote:
rockylizard wrote:
chopit wrote:
I have read that a sine wave inverter ( As opposed to a pure sine wave inverter) will not safely run a laptop.
Can anyone advise me ? Can you have a laptop off and use a sine wave inverter to recharge the laptop battery ?
Cheers.
Gday...
I have been informed by many pooter techos (in many shops around this land) that you can CHARGE your laptop from a modified sine inverter. But you should not USE the laptop while it is connected to a modified wave inverter. You should only use a laptop connected through a pure sine inverter.
Apparently, the 'spiking' of the modified wave may (and it is not will but may) cause real problems with the HDD.
I only use my modified sine inverter via the 12V socket in the car with the laptop off when driving.
In the van I have a cord I got from Jaycar which has a built-in "surge protector" thingy which I plug directly into the 12V socket without any inverter involved. It turns the 12V into the 19V required by the pooter and 'smooths' out any 'spikes' that are likely to harm HDD. Has worked like a charm for more than a year now.
Not sure of the price but wasn't too dear.
Cheers - John
Coming up to 7 years with laptop charged through 2 modified sine wave inverters,, no problems, you are only charging the battery not supplying power to CPU direct..
Gday...
Please consider this as an apology in advance Baz if it gets up your nose. Although, it is definitely not meant to.
But please read firstly the red highlighted text and then re-read your response in highlighted blue text. If you had read what I had posted, you would not have needed to have re-stated the same advice.
Sorry, but you have only said again exactly what I had said.
Cheers - John

Ah silly me John,,, I use modified sine wave inverter and Laptop ON,,, sorry wrote too fast for my brain.

No offence here mate Cheers Baz

chopit · Senior Member

WOW. Great responses. Thanks to all.
I like the idea of the Jaycar device.
I always find nifty stuff at Jaycar.
Thanks again.

bellett65 · Newbie

I have just ordered a new battery for my old Toshiba the Granddaughter is using at school. The charger is a 19v one bu the battery is 10.8 volt. obviously the laptop is skimming some off as it charges. t would be nice to get a charger that will charge several b batteries from each brand of laptop at a time. It would mean that fan=milies woud have to have san=-me brands of puter to do it.

I am going an a hunt to see what is available as stand alone charger/\.

peter

native pepper · Senior Member

We charge our laptops direct from 12v, or through a pure sine wave inverter. Much easier using 12v, even though they are 18v systems. The 12v chargers are pretty cheap and so far have lasted us more than 2 years.

ramblegambol · Veteran Member

Does anyone have any recommendations or voltage acceptance levels for charging a Macbook pro laptop? Looking to buy a charger soon.

Sherio · Veteran Member

I had a look for this info a while back, and I think I found useful stuff on the Apple blog site - check it out. I use a pure sine wave inverter (we've got solar) to charge and run my Macbook pro with no problems

Nelly · Guru

Does anyone know anything about the inverters that are about the size of a drink can? I am not sure what size they are or anything but would they be ok to charge your computer?

oldbobsbus · Guru

Nelly wrote:
Does anyone know anything about the inverters that are about the size of a drink can? I am not sure what size they are or anything but would they be ok to charge your computer?

They would be fine Nelly.. smile just be sure they are atleast 150w and preferably 300w would do it easily..

chopit · Senior Member

I have a drink can inverter.
Waeco brand.
Rated at 150 watt.
We use it for camera & phone charging while driving.

Herb · Veteran Member

we went to jaycars and just bought a unit that looks like a multiboard that plugs into the cig lighter. $75 dollars and we charge while we use maps etc on computer. Never had problem. When we used a modified sine inverter we couldnt use at same time as would make computer open and close screens and do all sorts funny stuff. We got told a little trick, if the inverter runs an electric clock properly it will run laptop no problems.

Dougwe · Chief one feather

chopit wrote:
WOW. Great responses. Thanks to all.
I like the idea of the Jaycar device.
I always find nifty stuff at Jaycar.
Thanks again.

I too use the Jaycar device and runs and charges laptop with no problems. It comes with various fittings to suit most laptops. Just find the one that fits and start checking out this great forum while in the playground.

chopit · Senior Member

Oh, Yes..
Made a dash to Jaycar after work today.
Got myself the $75 voltage changing thingy.
2 laptops at home. Same voltage but different adapters.
Played mix N match. Labeled the fittings and it works great.
All set now.
Cheers

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Happy pooting chopit.

grahamg · Senior Member

I have a 900w pure sine wave inverter and it has trouble charging mac pro laptop which should only use about 80w max.

oldbobsbus · Guru

grahamg wrote:
I have a 900w pure sine wave inverter and it has trouble charging mac pro laptop which should only use about 80w max.

Maybe you should be looking at the way you have it set up or it is faulty Graham..

900w should handle it with ease unless :-

Your battery is low.

Your cables to it are too small.or

it is faulty..

Mr B2 · Senior Member

I have a laptop, I use it on my boat,

It runs on 110 Volts, 240 Volts, 12 volts,

It cost me a whole $4-00 for the adapter to run the lot,

Why run your laptop thru an invertor, it just uses extra power for the invertor,

Just plug it into your ciggy lighter,

I do charge the battery and run the laptop at the same time,

I do have Pure Sine Invertors, I went from 1800 Watts to 5000 Watts,

I have a lot of Navigation Gear and Auto Pilot that runs 24/7,

Modified Sine Wave wont run some electrical gear,

My Coach and Boat have indentical electrical system setups, They both work Superbly, Including the Solar setup.