wagoo
23rd September 2012, 08:57 AM
We live in the country, in a small cabin off the electricity grid on petrol/lpg generated 12 volt power. My deep cycle bank of batteries are getting old and don't charge higher than about 12.2 volts. That's ok because my LED cabin lights run quite happily on much lower voltage and my own MSI brand laptop will run through the PowerTechPlus DC adaptor when batteries run down to around 11 volts.
The problem is my daughters Apple Mac laptop that we had to purchase through her school. there is no Power Tech Plus adaptor plug to suit this laptop, and I haven't been able to find any other brand of DC to DC adaptor to suit it from electronic shops such as Jaycar or computer specialists either.
So we have to power her Mac via a 150watt invertor.Aside from being power hungry, the invertor cuts out when battery voltage drops to about 12.1 volts, so I have to power it with a small 12 volt car battery that needs to be charged daily after each nights use (she's on it from 4.30 to around 11.00 pm each school day). This is manageable on school days because I charge the battery in the car I take her to School in (about 60km round trip). What is difficult to cope with is the current 2 week School term holidays. The lazy good for nothing teenage sod:) hardly leaves her room and spends most of the day and night on her laptop. I struggle to keep her supplied with batteries during these periods so I really need to find a solution to 'losing' the invertor and powering her Mac through a DC adaptor.The Macs power requirement is 16.5 volts.
Bill.
The problem is my daughters Apple Mac laptop that we had to purchase through her school. there is no Power Tech Plus adaptor plug to suit this laptop, and I haven't been able to find any other brand of DC to DC adaptor to suit it from electronic shops such as Jaycar or computer specialists either.
So we have to power her Mac via a 150watt invertor.Aside from being power hungry, the invertor cuts out when battery voltage drops to about 12.1 volts, so I have to power it with a small 12 volt car battery that needs to be charged daily after each nights use (she's on it from 4.30 to around 11.00 pm each school day). This is manageable on school days because I charge the battery in the car I take her to School in (about 60km round trip). What is difficult to cope with is the current 2 week School term holidays. The lazy good for nothing teenage sod:) hardly leaves her room and spends most of the day and night on her laptop. I struggle to keep her supplied with batteries during these periods so I really need to find a solution to 'losing' the invertor and powering her Mac through a DC adaptor.The Macs power requirement is 16.5 volts.
Bill.