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100w Laptop 12volt Adaptor

alan_fincher

By alan_fincher
in Boat Equipment

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alan_fincher Veteran II

alan_fincher

Posted
Posted

I've just grabbed one of these, which should run most standard laptops, and at £15 (half usual price) seems a good deal.

 

It also has a USB power outlet.

 

Two caveats:

 

1) Some "thirsty" laptops may need more than a 100watt adaptor, (although most will be fine).

 

2) "Funny" makes like Dell that detect they are not connected to a Dell branded power supply may well not both run and charge at the same time - true with most of these "generic" power supplies, unfortunately.

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Machpoint005 Veteran II

Machpoint005

Posted
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It's a good little device - I've used one in the car for about a year now (on and off, anyway) and it removes anxiety about battery life when uploading large chunks of data on site.

 

I don't take a laptop anywhere near the boat, though - I might be tempted to do some w*rk. I do appreciate that liveaboards may have a different philosophy.

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jonathanA Experienced

jonathanA

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I don't take a laptop anywhere near the boat, though - I might be tempted to do some w*rk.

 

swmbo even eyes the crapberry suspiciously - I'd need a waterproof laptop as it would be chucked in t'cut if I even thought about work....

 

although I'm working on her to allow working from home to include working from the boat...

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Starcoaster Veteran

Starcoaster

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hmm, tempted but unsure.

I have a Samsung laptop (not a particularly rare brand or model either) and have twice now fallen foul of buying multi- tip 'fits the vast majority of laptops 12v chargers and then finding none of the tips fit.

I think I'm going to have to pony up for one specific to my model only, at the associated premium cost.

Bummer.

Edited by Starcoaster
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alan_fincher Veteran II

alan_fincher

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Hmm, tempted but unsure.

I have a Samsung laptop (not a particularly rare brand or model either) and have twice now fallen foul of buying multi- tip 'fits the vast majority of laptops 12v chargers and then finding none of the tips fit.

I think I'm going to have to pony up for one specific to my model only, at the associated premium cost.

Bummer.

This one comes with more tips than I've ever seen before, although that's no guarantee it will mate to a particular model.

 

Do you have the spec of yours (outside diameter, inside diameter and diameter of central pin [if present!]) and I'll see if it matches any of those supplied.

 

Or you could try asking a question on the Maplin web-site ......

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Jamesb4uk Engager

Jamesb4uk

Posted
Posted

Hmm, tempted but unsure.

I have a Samsung laptop (not a particularly rare brand or model either) and have twice now fallen foul of buying multi- tip 'fits the vast majority of laptops 12v chargers and then finding none of the tips fit.

I think I'm going to have to pony up for one specific to my model only, at the associated premium cost.

Bummer.

 

 

Which Samsung is it? i might be able to point you in a good place to get one.

 

James

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dmr Veteran II

dmr

Posted
Posted

Hmm, tempted but unsure.

I have a Samsung laptop (not a particularly rare brand or model either) and have twice now fallen foul of buying multi- tip 'fits the vast majority of laptops 12v chargers and then finding none of the tips fit.

I think I'm going to have to pony up for one specific to my model only, at the associated premium cost.

Bummer.

 

You are correct, The Samsung connector is very similar to one of the set supplied with most power supplies, but not close enough!

A bloke in Hong Kong sells the Samsung connector on eBay for about £3, and they arrive quite quickly. You will need to cut the power supply lead and solder on this new connector. If you not able to do this yourself don't worry; you are such a star on this forum I am sure lots of passing boaters will offer to help!

 

..........Dave

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jonathanA Experienced

jonathanA

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I tend to prefer the cheap maplin 200 or 300watt inverters then you can power any laptop or anything else for that matter.... (up to the rating of the inverter for the pedants)

 

but alan was alerting us to the £15 device of course.

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blackrose Veteran II

blackrose

Posted
Posted (edited)

I tend to prefer the cheap maplin 200 or 300watt inverters then you can power any laptop or anything else for that matter.... (up to the rating of the inverter for the pedants)

 

but alan was alerting us to the £15 device of course.

 

For those who haven't followed the previous laptop/power discussions, what's wrong with using a bigger inverter to power a laptop if you happen to have one on your boat? Will my 1800w semi-sinewave inverter use more battery power than a smaller inverter or a DC adaptor?

Edited by blackrose
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jonathanA Experienced

jonathanA

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Posted

For those who haven't followed the previous laptop/power discussions, what's wrong with using a bigger inverter to power a laptop if you happen to have one on your boat? Will my 1800w semi-sinewave inverter use more battery power than a smaller inverter or a DC adaptor?

 

Thats the argument - yes. Basically inverters are not 100% efficient, so you lose something in converting from 12 to 240v. Also there is a minimum or standby current that that inverters take when they are switched on even if nothing is plugged in. the argument goes that a smaller inverter will have a smaller standby and smaller losses than a big one. The second argument is that your 1800W job needs nice juicy cables to feed it, whereas the little jobbies can be plugged into a 12v socket/cigarette type socket as they are smaller.

 

So possibly if the only thing your powering is the laptop charger then maybe a smaller unit might use less power than your bigger one, but as soon as you start using something else the usually better efficency of the larger units counts. As these things are so dependent on the make /type of inverter its all a bit of a generalisation and i think the real issue boils down to whether you already have a permanently wired inverter or just need to be able to run something off an existing 12v supply at the other end of the boat from the batteries..

 

Jon

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Cosmic Community Regular

Cosmic

Posted
Posted

I've just grabbed one of these, which should run most standard laptops, and at £15 (half usual price) seems a good deal.

 

It also has a USB power outlet.

 

Two caveats:

 

1) Some "thirsty" laptops may need more than a 100watt adaptor, (although most will be fine).

 

2) "Funny" makes like Dell that detect they are not connected to a Dell branded power supply may well not both run and charge at the same time - true with most of these "generic" power supplies, unfortunately.

If you click on "related items" on that page, there's a 120W version that's also £15

 

I've found that the IBM Thinkpad series of laptops also have power sockets that don't match any of the adapters.

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Starcoaster Veteran

Starcoaster

Posted
Posted

I don't fecking believe it. This charger (the third one I have bought to try and get a fit) that specifically stated it is good for the laptop model I have (among others) is again, not the right connector for my laptop.

I am losing my sense of humour now. :angry:

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smileypete Veteran II

smileypete

Posted
Posted (edited)

I don't fecking believe it. This charger (the third one I have bought to try and get a fit) that specifically stated it is good for the laptop model I have (among others) is again, not the right connector for my laptop.

I am losing my sense of humour now. :angry:

 

:( Got a linky to the one you bought?

 

I think this'll do:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110885002627

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

Edited by smileypete
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matty40s Veteran II

matty40s

Posted
Posted

OH! That looks like the right thingy actually! But how do you wire it in or attach it to the charger, or it is an additional head for a universal transformer that clips in? I'm not following what is meant by 'push on' plug.

 

how did I know you had a SamSmug ;):huh:

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smileypete Veteran II

smileypete

Posted
Posted (edited)

OH! That looks like the right thingy actually! But how do you wire it in or attach it to the charger, or it is an additional head for a universal transformer that clips in? I'm not following what is meant by 'push on' plug.

It's just an adapter, so into it you plug a 5.5x2.1mm power plug which is pretty bog standard and nearly always included in the set of tips that come with a univeral laptop adapter.

 

Edit: If it still won't go in, this set of power tips has the next size up:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270972665615

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

Edited by smileypete
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Davidss Collaborator

Davidss

Posted
Posted

Oof. I have got this one where all of the detachable heads have two pins coming out the back to fit them into the unit, and this one which is all one bit with no detachable parts.

 

Can't see how that little nozzle thing would fit either?

"That little nozzle thing" does not fit either of your power supplies directly.

Concentrate on the power supply with detachable heads and two pins.

Select the detachable head that will plug into the back of "that little nozzle thing", then fit the detachable head to the power unit.

It's wise to get the polarity correct, although the PC is 'probably' protected if you get it the wrong way round.

Look for some way of gluing the two adapters to the power lead so it all becomes a fixed plug 'permanently' attached to the lead

 

HTH

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smileypete Veteran II

smileypete

Posted
Posted (edited)

Oof. I have got this one where all of the detachable heads have two pins coming out the back to fit them into the unit, and this one which is all one bit with no detachable parts.

 

Can't see how that little nozzle thing would fit either?

Looks like the first one will do, the blue tip should fit into the back of the adapter.

 

Another way of doing it is to cut the output lead off the mains adapter and use one of these to connect it to the universal laptop adapter.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/220988314414

 

Might be better than having a big adapter sticking out of the laptop that could get knocked. But it needs a meter to check the polarity is OK.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

Edited by smileypete
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