A Florida ham radio operator makes a great little power booster for
laptops. He builds it to your specific requirements. It it makes no
noise and is much more eficent than even a small portable inverter. I
and many cruisers have using this thing for years and love it. Here's
the link: http://user.gru.net/n4uau/kits/Volta...e/apvb-kit.htm

What I have is a NOTEWORTHY SmartCord auto adaptor Model NW802L.

Spec:

Input 11 to 16 vdc, .4 watts Max
Output 15 vdc @ .30 watts.

It does a great job of powering both the laptop and docking station, however
it takes a long time to charge the battery at the same time, if it happens
to be low..

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

Have a look at www.ramlowdesign.com/products/a4f.htm ... thats a full
computer system that runs of anything between 8 and 42 volts. for any
questions go to the contacts there and contact us.

Regards,

Alexander



"Bob Owen" wrote in message
...
Does any know which laptops run off 12 volt and therefore do not need an
inverter I think the old Toshiba one did
Cheers Bob

Thanks Steve
"Steve" wrote in message
...
What I have is a NOTEWORTHY SmartCord auto adaptor Model NW802L.

Spec:

Input 11 to 16 vdc, .4 watts Max
Output 15 vdc @ .30 watts.

It does a great job of powering both the laptop and docking station,
however
it takes a long time to charge the battery at the same time, if it happens
to be low..

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

I have an old Toshiba Satellite notebook that runs fine direct from 12vdc.
Few if any of the newer notebooks will do that, as their voltage
requirements are much higher. Someone suggested the higher voltage was
mainly a battery charging requirement and that by removing battery some
notebooks will run off 12vdc. My new one didn't. And it draws lots of
current too, by comparison to old notebook -- more than most pocket
inverters can handle.
Len

--
Eliminate "ns" for email address.

"Len Krauss" wrote in message
...
I have an old Toshiba Satellite notebook that runs fine direct from 12vdc.
Few if any of the newer notebooks will do that, as their voltage
requirements are much higher. Someone suggested the higher voltage was
mainly a battery charging requirement and that by removing battery some
notebooks will run off 12vdc. My new one didn't. And it draws lots of
current too, by comparison to old notebook -- more than most pocket
inverters can handle.
Len

--
Eliminate "ns" for email address.

The manufacturers wouldn't supply 16 volt power units if the modern laptops
would run on 12 volts. Since most batteries are only 10.8 volts, the power
requirements are all to do with the laptop, not the battery as has been
suggested. Can't understand why so many boat owners won't invest in an
inverter, it can't be the expense, and these voltage step-up units are more
expensive than inverters, mainly due to lack of demand I guess. My laptop
runs happily on my small 180-watt inverter, using it's own power unit for
step-down. The last laptop I got to run on 12 volts was an ancient Tosh,
which ran Dos 3.2 only, not much bloody use in a modern navigation
envirnment!

--
Remove "nospam" from return address.

Dennis,
Agree completely, and that's the way I run my late model notebook on board.
The limitations of old iron and old software weren't worth messing with, so
I did make the trade-off to use more juice. And I upped the amp-hours on the
latest set of boat batteries I installed just to play it safe.
Len


--
Eliminate "ns" for email address.
"Dennis Pogson" wrote in message
...
"Len Krauss" wrote in message
...
I have an old Toshiba Satellite notebook that runs fine direct from
12vdc.
Few if any of the newer notebooks will do that, as their voltage
requirements are much higher. Someone suggested the higher voltage was
mainly a battery charging requirement and that by removing battery some
notebooks will run off 12vdc. My new one didn't. And it draws lots of
current too, by comparison to old notebook -- more than most pocket
inverters can handle.
Len

--
Eliminate "ns" for email address.

The manufacturers wouldn't supply 16 volt power units if the modern
laptops
would run on 12 volts. Since most batteries are only 10.8 volts, the power
requirements are all to do with the laptop, not the battery as has been
suggested. Can't understand why so many boat owners won't invest in an
inverter, it can't be the expense, and these voltage step-up units are
more
expensive than inverters, mainly due to lack of demand I guess. My laptop
runs happily on my small 180-watt inverter, using it's own power unit for
step-down. The last laptop I got to run on 12 volts was an ancient Tosh,
which ran Dos 3.2 only, not much bloody use in a modern navigation
envirnment!

--
Remove "nospam" from return address.

Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote
I have never had trouble getting a 12-V charger for any laptop. I have
used NEC, IBM, and Toshiba.

I have a recent vintage Hewlett-Pacard Pavilion ZE series laptop with
an HP supplied 90 watt AC wall wart. I wanted to run off 12v DC so
called HP support and asked about an "airline adapter" (computer
geek-speak for a 12v power convertor). He said they don't make one
for the Pavilion series and recommended I not use an aftermarket
convertor, because none of them are rated for 90 watts, and typically
12v power sources aren't rated for 8 amps continuous on planes, etc.

He said the Pavilion's are power hungry workstation substitutes and
not meant to use 12v, and that I should get an invertor of the proper
size if I really had to run off 12v.

Oh well . . .

"Can't understand why so many boat owners won't invest in an
inverter, it can't be the expense, and these voltage step-up units are
more
expensive than inverters..."

Most of us that are using laptop computers on boats are using them in
conjunction with an HF radio (ham or marine SSB) to receive weather
fax images, and to send a receive e-mail. Most inverters make noise
on at least some of these HF frequencies when converting AC to DC.
Also battery power on sailboats is precious and even the small
inverters are not very efficient. A small power booster like the one
made by the ham radio operator, Sam Ulbing (N4UAU), are very efficient
and quite. Perfect for this application.

I guess I'm spoiled, as the sailboat I crew on has a 2000-watt inverter
located well away from any other radios and equipment, with eight 240-volt
AC outlets at convenient locations around the boat. No HF or SSB radio, just
VHF.

It would seem that what you use to power a laptop or PC is dependant on your
total electronics setup and it's a question of "horses for courses".

--
Remove "nospam" from return address.
"Mark Reichow" wrote in message
om...
"Can't understand why so many boat owners won't invest in an
inverter, it can't be the expense, and these voltage step-up units are
more
expensive than inverters..."

Most of us that are using laptop computers on boats are using them in
conjunction with an HF radio (ham or marine SSB) to receive weather
fax images, and to send a receive e-mail. Most inverters make noise
on at least some of these HF frequencies when converting AC to DC.
Also battery power on sailboats is precious and even the small
inverters are not very efficient. A small power booster like the one
made by the ham radio operator, Sam Ulbing (N4UAU), are very efficient
and quite. Perfect for this application.