You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
My van has a cigarette socket. I need to charge two different phones and a laptop on a weeks camping holiday.
Do the inverters that plug into the socket and have a normal uk plug at the other end work OK?
Anyone know what the likely wattage I'll need is,and will it drain the battery if I use it when I'm not running the engine?
Any recommendations?
I use a Kensington magsafe car charger on a regular basis, and if the phone needs charging use the USB sockets off the laptop. The kensington does come with an assortment of adaptors for other connections as well.
Would doubt it would have a huge impact on battery drain, but to make sure just turn the car over each day and leave it running for a bit ? Longest I've left it plugged in as around 4 hours to charge up portable flash units and car started fine afterwards. It does have a protection circuit whereby if the Car battery falls below a certain level it shuts off.
Thanks for that.
Anyone know what the likely wattage I'll need is
This should be marked on your appliances.
All it says is DC 19v and 3.9A.
I wasn't very good at physics.
There will be a little power loss through the transformer and rectifier (the block on you laptop cable that changes 240 v AC to 19 v Dc) but it should be minimal.
power = volts x amps
19 * 3.9 = 74.1 watts
for reference just in-case you look at bigger inverters
1 kw = 1000 watts
I expect that is peak use when you laptop is running away doing lotts of task with a bright screen e.t.c so if you are only charging it (so switched off) I expect it would use less.
I've yet to find anything that the kensington didn't charge / run (obviously not space heaters / toasters !) I use it for a variety of camera a equipment, lighting gear and the laptop(s).
Other advantage being you can use it inflight, and will actually charge your battery (previously I used the magflight, which powered throughout but also drained the battery, so when you reached the destination you had a dead laptop !)
EDIT - It actually does away with the transformer / rectifier so suffers a lot less loss than typical inverters.
[url= http://eu.kensington.com/kensington/en/gb/p/538/K38033EU/auto-air+laptop+power+adapter.aspx ]Non Apple (magsafe) version[/url]
W = V x A 🙂
N.B.
Some items are fussy when used with inverters, some need a true sine wave (more expensive) others a square wave will do. I do not know where laptops stand, but being as they ultimately take a dc supply I guess they should be ok on either. But do check this out!
v x a = watts
it is not as simple as poster above suggests now sit down whilst I bore you
the cut out will cut out after the point at which you will be able to start your car IME at about 11 volt ish iirc.
An alternator is rubbish for charging a battery it responds to loads increase the load it increases the power outage. After a few minutes the alternator is trickle charging you battery [ as little as 6-10 amps. Running the engine is not a hugely effective way of charging unless you want to run it for a few hours. better to charge stuff when you are actually driving.
Your vehicle battery is built for cranking amps - dropping loads of power to start the car and not for deep cycle discharge - running it to flat then recharging
Basically get a second battery or do it very carefully and take some jump leads
EDIT: It will charge fine [less efficiently] with any inverter IME.
they run at about 90% efficiency.
So assume you are draining circa 10 amps a charge from your battery which may only be say 80-100 amps. as you use it more you drain it faster [ volts decrease so ampage increases].
[i]Would doubt it would have a huge impact on battery drain, but to make sure just turn the car over each day and leave it running for a bit [/i]
I wouldn't do this if I were you. At idle the alternator will not be recharging the car/vehicle main battery sufficiently.
If you're vehicle's main battery is in a good state AND if you don't go mad recharging eveyrthing under the sun during your week camping.
Then you should be fine.
If in doubt though, then take your motor for a spin during the week with as few electrical systems switched on as possible.
Then at higher engine speeds (higher than idle) the surplus generated by the alternator should go to recharging the main battery.
Enjoy your hols.
🙂
Superb. I feel empowered as it were.
Portable solar panel for charging such things? I think Silva do them.
Best option for laptops is a DC-DC convertor ([url= http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120686410164 ]eg click[/url]). Turning it to 240v AC and back to DC is crazy. They are only £10-£20. You can also get a 4 way cigarette lighter adapter so you can run your other chargers at the same time ([url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-WAY-MULTI-SOCKET-SPLITTER-CAR-CHARGER-PLUG-USB-12-24V-/150556467157?pt=UK_MobilePhones_MobilePhoneAccessories_MobilePhoneChargers&hash=item230ddd5fd5 ]or this[/url]). We just had a couple of months in Oz in a van and charging wasn't really and issue. The only tricky thing was cameras but they usually stayed charged long enough between staying in civilisation, or a sneaky top up while in the pub or tourist info office.
i got a Belkin 300 watt inverter off Amazon. it was about £15.
i plug an extension lead into it then the kids can charge their laptops, ds, phones etc .
i couldn't comment on how much it drains the battery though, i have no idea. but it does work very well.