Charging a laptop

[Emmit]

Hi all

I've read on here in the past that charging a laptop using an inverter is inefficient. It's also been said that using a transformer to increase the voltage is the way to go.

Can someone please, using a site such as fleabay show me what I should be buying to do this task.
Thank you in advance.

 

[Guigsy]

You need to know the input voltage and wattage required for your laptop and the size of the charging connector. Most laptops use a fairly standard sized barrel connector, are 19V and need about 60w, so there are loads of cigarette lighter laptop chargers available for these from Amazon, eBay, etc. If your laptop has an odd connector or is an odd voltage, it becomes more difficult.

 

[Nasher]

Go to ebay and type in "car charger for make model laptop"

Or you can do the same on Amazon

I have used one successfully for many years

 

[Emmit]

With the greatest amount of respect, put 'cigarette lighter laptop charger' into Amazon and what you get (at least for the first umpteen) are inverters.
I would like someone to post a picture of a transformer (and not one powering the National grid)

 

[Wissel]

As above, type in model of your laptop and add "car charger".

With most laptops, a generic adjustable model with interchangeable jack plugs will do the job. With some, you'll need an official version (My Dell does).

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[scotjimland]

Google: 12v power adapter for (your make and model of laptop) ..

 

[GJH]

I've used one similar to for several different laptops over the past 12 years.

 

[Emmit]

Thanks for that. The next question (in a never ending series) is this.
My charger (mains gives a voltage of 19v and Amps @2.37.
I cannot find a cigarette light charger with this ampage.
I can have one at 2.15amps and another at 3+ amps.

Which one to go for? (or doesn't it matter.)

 

[GJH]

To be honest I've set the voltage but never bothered about the amps, assuming it pulls what it wants within the maximum output from the unit.
Never had a problem.

 

[mitzimad]

put the make and model of your computer on here someone will find it

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[Guigsy]

Thanks for that. The next question (in a never ending series) is this.
My charger (mains gives a voltage of 19v and Amps @2.37.
I cannot find a cigarette light charger with this ampage.
I can have one at 2.15amps and another at 3+ amps.

Which one to go for? (or doesn't it matter.)

A supply with a surplus of power is fine. It's when it's under powered and the laptop tries to pull too much from it that you could have an issue.

As you probably know, 19volts x 2.37Amps = 45 watts.

 

[Emmit]

Acer Aspire ES15 ES1-531- PC

Good Luck!!!

 

[Wissel]

or maybe

 

[Guigsy]

This site shows you need a 5.5 x 1.7mm barrel connector that's centre +'ve:


So this should do it:
Amazon product ASIN B071SDW4QG

 

[DavidG58]

I couldn't get a 12V option for my laptop easily, 'easily' being I bought a pack from Maplins with about 20 fittings and none of them did

But don't be too quick to dismiss the inverter option, if used wisely you can charge multiple things at one time, which is what we do and generally on the move, so the battery is effectively not affected

Whenever we move we charge anything that cant be charged via USB outlets, so both laptops and electric bike battery are the main things

Even when charging is needed while not moving or on hook up, the additional power consumption seems negligible, if you already have an inverter try it and see, my controller displays A's being consumed, from memory the 12V / 19V adaptor which will charge Bev's lap top took about 3A, the inverter takes 4A, if we were to use 2 x adaptors in theory we could be taking 6A where the inverter will still only be taking 4A

That is applying very simple logic without the electrical skills of the many wise ones on here, so please don't make any life changing decisions based on my comment

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[Emmit]

This site shows you need a 5.5 x 1.7mm barrel connector that's centre +'ve:


So this should do it:
Amazon product ASIN B071SDW4QG

How does that sit with the three pin plug at the other end.(or am I being picky)

 

[LesW]

I bought a universal adapter, the problem was finding a plug that fitted the input on my laptop.

I eventually just cut the original one off the mains charger supplied and used a multi-pin connector to use it on 12v and 230v.

 

[p-c]

Hi
Try, as an example only there must be others.
Broken Link Removed
I charge from 12v with a similar product. I agree the search was not easy.
Regards
p-c

 

[gus-lopez]

I bought what @Jaws has which is the same multi voltage one that @GJH has given you a link to.
It has adjustable voltage, ,up to 80w. & a complete set of different plug sizes. All you need to do is ensure your make of lap top is included in the set. most are.

With the greatest amount of respect, put 'cigarette lighter laptop charger' into Amazon and what you get (at least for the first umpteen) are inverters.
I would like someone to post a picture of a transformer (and not one powering the National grid)

 

[Guigsy]

How does that sit with the three pin plug at the other end.(or am I being picky)

It shows the size of the barrel onnector you need, nothing else.

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[peterc10]

Have used several laptops on 12v. Each time I just searched Amazon using "12v car charger" plus the make and model name / number of laptop and several came up. From memory paid less than £20 each time and had no problems when using them.

At present I have a Microsoft Surface Pro which uses a unique connector for charging and again picked one up from Amazon with no problems.

 

[two]

It may be more convenient to get an use an inverter (pure sine wave). The 'transformers' will be inefficient, too (but I don't know by how much), whereas an inverter is a more universal solution and can be useful for powering other things.

 

[Robin McHood]

Ok, I can't take this anymore...
Lecky 101 -
1. A transformer only works on AC (the stuff that comes out of your wall socket) it involves two or more windings interacting with each other electro magnetically. They don't work on DC (the stuff that comes from your battery)
2. Voltage Current and Watts are different things. They have a mathematical relationship but put simplistically, Voltage is the push that drives the Current through the wires and Watts is the energy (power) produced or used.
3. To change a 12v DC battery output to the 19v DC a laptop requires, you use either a DC/DC converter or you stick your 12vDC into an inverter which changes it into 220v AC then plug in your brick which changes this back down to 19vDC.
4. If a device needs 2.9 Amps of current at 19vDC to charge then anything that has an output CURRENT rated at equal or higher than that and a voltage rated at EXACTLY that will do the job.

So I can have an AC generator producing say 6000 volts with a potential generation capacity of 9 Megawatts, which plugged into your laptop would blow it to smithereens, BUT if I transform that 6KV down to 230vAC with a TRANSFORMER and you then plug your 230vAC/19vDC
brick (AC/DC CONVERTER) into that it will happily charge your laptop... Rant over....

 

[two]

In this thread, the reference to 'transformer' should have been (DC voltage) 'converter' but I stuck to the term, as used in the OP to try and avoid further confusion...

 

[Robin McHood]

In this thread, the reference to 'transformer' should have been (DC voltage) 'converter' but I stuck to the term, as used in the OP to try and avoid further confusion...

I understand completely, my rant wasn't specific to your good self but there is a tendency on MHF for posters to use electrical terms interchangeably, where they actually aren't and it would actually cause less confusion and avoid potentially dangerous situations if the correct terms and a modicum of understanding was used. The OP was obviously confused to start with and several other posters just added to that confusion. But that's just the 5 decades of electrical engineering showing through the cracks (ie I'm a grumpy old sod...)

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[peterc10]

Just for completeness not all laptops use 19v. The ones I have used in the past have ranged from 18v to 22v from memory. My present one uses 12v.

 

[GJH]

Just for completeness not all laptops use 19v. The ones I have used in the past have ranged from 18v to 22v from memory. My present one uses 12v.

It is for that reason that the units like the one I posted above have variable voltage settings.

 

[tonyidle]

But that's just the 5 decades of electrical engineering showing through the cracks (ie I'm a grumpy old sod

................... and you're absolutely correct. Drives me daft too .

 

[scotjimland]

Ok, I can't take this anymore...

also drives me nuts

I find a dark room and chill out works.. .. and don't even think of using FaceAche ..
by comparison, users on Fun are quite sensible.. to a degree

Google has much to answer for..

 

[two]

I understand completely, my rant wasn't specific to your good self but there is a tendency on MHF for posters to use electrical terms interchangeably, where they actually aren't and it would actually cause less confusion and avoid potentially dangerous situations if the correct terms and a modicum of understanding was used. The OP was obviously confused to start with and several other posters just added to that confusion. But that's just the 5 decades of electrical engineering showing through the cracks (ie I'm a grumpy old sod...)

I share your frustration. Society is happy to become sloppy in the way it communicates (spelling and grammar), let alone use the correct terms or units of measure. One day a serious consequence will arise from this...

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