I'm on to power inverters now.......
The dilemma - I'm finding it hard to find a car charger for my new laptop. At the back of my mind I seem to remember someone mentioning power inverters for plugging in a 3 pin plug to the DC supply?
Could some exceptionally brave person explain them to me and possiblly suggest what I need to do to make my laptop work with its 3 pin plug (sorry forgot to say - not on EHU)
Many many thanks
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You do need an invertor. Connects to the battery with crocodile clips and has 3 pin socket, and ours has USB port. Bought ours off ebay and it's been great.
I'm not got at any more, I'm sure someone knowledgeable will be along to ensure you get the right facts. I know watts came into it 😉 before buying.
We're loving time off grid.
Has your battery topped up now?
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Thanks for that.
Yes, I'm living the high life again. A few days of chasing the sun around with the solar panels and we have swung back to green.
I charge my phone, tablet and mobile broadband hub overnight and I am always amazed that solar panels let you do that with 'free energy'. I'm like a big kid, you should see me in the window seat when taking off in a plane. Powered flight - wow!
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Hi Rosie
I bought mine off Ebay for around £30, see the following,
UK-New-Modified-Sine-1500W-3000W-Peak-Wave-Auto-Power-Inverter-DC-12V-to-AC-240V
The important thing to bear in mind is the power consumption of the appliances you're using it for. As long as you don't use anything over 1500 watts then you'll be fine. (Some tech expert will come on and say differently but my system works a treat)
Toaster (750)
Vacuum (700)
Hair Dryer (1200)
Microwave (800)
As Bakers2 pointed out it should be hard wired to the battery although I also have a 600/300 watt model that plugs into the 12 socket which I use for powering the 30 watt TV.
I hope this helps.
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Sooo - I found this one on ebay -
It comes with a cigar lighter plug - so could I just plug it into my 12v socket without having to wire it to the leisure battery? My laptop has a 5 amp plug which should be OK and as long as I get a suitable hairdryer and microwave I could experience the joys again of a baked potato and what passes for a hairstyle and not necessarily in that order.
I like the idea of these gadgets
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Rosie,
I think you are going to need help with this. You can't run a 1500W inverter off your ciggy socket, it will need hardwiring with massive wires to your battery.
A 150W inverter will run off yor ciggy socket but won't power hairdryers etc...
I'm sorry, I'm dashing out but can write a bit more later if no one else does so.....
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When off grid, I charge my laptop, shaver, camera batteries, and phone up with a 150w inverter, no problem. Battery kept charged up by a 150w folding solar panel.
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I just found the 150 Watts converters on eBay. They look like usb chargers for cigarette lighters but have a 3 pin plug instead. I think I will go for that purely for my laptop - the hair and baked potato will have to wait until I learn more.
Probably OK for the car as well.
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Well done Rosie you are doing a brilliant job! I connected my inverter to the battery with croc clips but at the next caravan service I got them to do a proper job and wire it more permanently. Lidl did a small inverter for around a tenner that I use in the car occasionally.
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That's a good idea re the service. Was wondering about the logistics of connecting up direct to the battery and dangling the microwave out the window in order to plug it in!
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Onw CAN run a high wattage inverter from a cigar lighter socket as long as it is asked only to provide a low amount of power. It will draw but a small current. As these sockets seem to be protected by 5 ampere fuses they can provide 60 watts. Pass that through the losses in an inverter and its cables and you have a maximum useful power about 55 watts even from a 4kW inverter.
Fitting the inverter permanently is a sensible idea as proper cables can be run from the battery to the inverter. As close as possible as the 12 volt losses are higher than at 240 volts per length of cable. I connect my inverters through the (smaller) size of Anderson Connectors (eBay will show you) so I can easily swap batteries about.
The inverter powers some wiring seperate from the 240v EHU supplied wiring which goes to a second socket beside the microwave. Espresso machine and hair rollers can also be used on that socket, but not all at the same time!
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Whilst an inverter will do the job, it is very inefficient - convert 12v to 240v and then get the laptop power pack to convert it back to 12v.
I suggest that you research "kensington 12v laptop charger" as these are designed to do the job you require from the cigar lighter socket.
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Hi Rosie. It would be better for your battery to charge your phone, tablet and mobile broadband etc during the day when there is free energy going to waste as your battery is already fully charged. Charging overnight is drawing current from your battery which is not then being replaced until the next day. Sometimes you have no choice about charging overnight, but choose daytime if you can.
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convert 12v to 240v and then get the laptop power pack to convert it back to 12v.
Unfortunately that does not work as the typical laptop - as opposed to tablet - requires 18 or more volts to charge.
There are laptop chargers that do it straight from 12 volts but the last time I priced one I could get a decent inverter for the same money - and it would run other things as well.
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If you just want to power a laptop and charge phones etc. I use one of these been running my laptop been quite well for the last couple of years.
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Although I am always cautious of buying and using anything to do with mains or 12v that comes direct from China.
Maplin do an equivalent :https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/ring-automotive-mp60-12v-modified-sinewave-45w-inverter-a88uk
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Not wanting to sound rude but your electric will not be free unless you were given your solar panel, i am interested in how long it will be before you get a return on your investment never looked into having one fitted and it would be interesting to know.
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Dreamer1 this thread may offer you so idea
Our motorhome had a solar panel on when we purchased but it's only since reading the thread how to survive with ehu have we really appreciated it's worth. Just a decade 😲. But no articles in very layman's terms we just thought it was great at keeping the alarm battery and engine battery topped up.
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Dreamer, The fitting of a 135w panel, an extra 110ah battery and a 2000w PSW inverter in 2013 was the best thing I have ever done in my caravanning life! As Boff says, it all depends on how you look at it. I quite agree with him that the payback is immediate from the point of view of freedom from the umbilical cord. Purely in monetary terms though, every night I spend away approximately £8 - £10 is saved give or take. So I guess the first 85 nights were payback. Don't forget this was 4 years ago- prices have fallen well since then. I now camp at a third of the price I used to and am no worse off comfortwise A Safefill cylinder has also added positively to the experience. Again, around £150 for a cylinder isn't cheap but then you realise that you will save many many times that with cheaper gas for the lifetime of the cylinder which, looked after, will be decades. As others have said, seek out the non EHU threads - happy reading- I think if you approach it in a positive way and not in a unbelieving and mocking way you will get a lot out of it. Many of us now are turning to non EHU and finding not is it possible but extremely satisfying and so so much cheaper. Good luck.
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To answer the question re power inverters , I had mine professionally hard wired into the 12v system and protected by a fuse. It has been a good decision! It ensures all 240 v sockets can be used normally. It is important to remember that the condition of your battery/s is vital. A poor battery will not be able to store much Solar power and therefore, will not be able to give much power for very long. Particularly through an inverter as the inverter itself needs power to run. Solar Panels and Batteries go together like Horses and Carts- Keep both in first class condition.
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It ensures all 240 v sockets can be used normally.
Is that wise, or did you get a very big inverter? We manage to occasionally trip out a 16A supply with our "normal" activities - even though they seem to actually go off at around 18 to 19 amperes.
That's why I have used dedicated "Inverter" sockets, which allows them to also be used on low EHU power sites at the same time as the mains ones.
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Even if correctly sized the cheaper "modified sine-wave" inverters might not power a computer mains adapter.
You might need a "pure sine-wave" as opposed to a "modified sine-wave" one to work; I have had over the years some computer adapters that do work with the modified type and others that do not.
if you could check your computer's adaptor by using somebody else's inverter it might help buy wisely.
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There are many 12v laptop chargers available. They plug into a cig lighter socket and usually come with a number of adapters for the laptop plug end, you just have to set the voltage output to be the same as on the mains charger label.
Just put "12V laptop charger" into your search engine or look on ebay or Amazon.
If you have a local Maplin electronics store they may be able to help.
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Just wondering - has anyone used an inkjet printer off grid? They do seem to be low wattage - allegedly.
I may be drowning in a sea of leads and plugs here at Chez Rosie!
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My Hewlet Packard F4580 works fine from my small inverter.
Are you setting up a mobile office now?
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Just tried it with the bigger inverter and it works it as well, except that this one has a fan which can be annoying.
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Do you know I am beginning to think I am! Part of my downsizing was to simplify things and have a slimmed down system for my writing and photography. However I am getting bogged down in this new laptop with its "let's reinstall every app you uninstall" attitude (Windows 10 - grrr!). So am investigating Linux Mint OS. And now I've fallen in love with Drones
Sorry I am rambling away here............
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Drones! Hmmm. Next thing you will be needing is a ladder.
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Our ancient laptop simply sulked and stopped working around 4 years ago, when it couldn't cope with Windows XP updates, never mind 10! But here I am using it, unmodified physically, quite happy on Linux Ubuntu, where you get lots of very useful applications thrown in; it's faster than ever it was on Windows, and only very rarely freezes, when we ask it to do to many things at once. No need for anti-virus things either to slow it down. I'm truly not a computer geek, so if I can install it, any reasonably awake person can! And, I think like Mint, it's free. Never tried Mint - we were advised the Ubuntu was more practical and nearer to what a Windows user might expect, so went with that. I'll be interested to hear what you end up with.
Drones - is this the buzzy flying sort or the more musical bagpipe sort?
I've got some lovely ones of the latter sort on a reproduction set of 16th century pipes - deep, quiet, and very soothing! No electricity, EHU or otherwise, needed....2
