Yes, that is an option.

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 21:54:03 -0500, "Garland Gray II"
wrote:

My laptop has a 10.8 v battery, and it calls for 15 v input from the
battery
charger.
Would 12 v plus (or better when the engine is running) from my boat charge
this battery sufficiently ?
Or do I need to shell out $80 for a dc charger/transformer ?

I don't do either. I power the laptop brick with 120 AC from a $30
inverter.

Thanks Larry. Is this caveat a separate issue from my charging issue ?
Regarding the charging, I would certainly observe polarity. But it would
receive from a fixed GPS thru a serial port.


"Larry" wrote in message
...
"Garland Gray II" wrote in
news:ar_wf.6507$CV.5866@dukeread03:

Would 12 v plus (or better when the engine is running) from my boat
charge this battery sufficiently ?


It's fine....BUT.....some laptops are positive ground, which might make a
hefty spark when plugged into neg ground other equipment like serial
ports.

Ohmmeter from ground on the serial connector and audio connectors to the
charger wires and let's see if the wrong side of the battery is grounded
before we hook 'em up, oK?

------------------------

another little black jumping spider has invaded my computer shack. Silly
fool has been chasing the red dot from my laser level all over the
ceiling for over an hour...(c; He caught it twice. I think he thought
it was pretty bright. He seemed "stunned"....(c;

Garland Gray II wrote:

snip
My laptop has a 10.8 v battery, and it calls for 15 v input from the battery
charger.
Would 12 v plus (or better when the engine is running) from my boat charge
this battery sufficiently ?
Or do I need to shell out $80 for a dc charger/transformer ?

Depending on how the inverter in the laptop is designed it may do
nothing because it is below the specified input.

But if you look on eBay you can find OEM and accessory laptop DC-DC
adapters at better prices.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)

wrote:
afpy wrote:
Thank You very much for your advice.I have been considering Dell's
Inspiron 6000 to do the job ,but having two laptops would be much
better choise for different tasks.I would look for a car computer.
What do you think about marinized computers? Are they'll do the job
of car comp. or better?Or worse?
Thanx
Apfy

I think one of the factors you have to be aware of is how well the
screen shows up in daylight.. a while back I talked to Dell about
there lap tops... basically their message was that any would do that
had a TFT screen and that the 6000 series did not have that required
screen... good luck.. Greg

Use an inverter, it's the easiest and cheapest option. The DC-DC converters
are very poor at handling voltage spikes from an alternator. A customer of
mine blew a Thinkpad system board last year by starting his engine from cold
with the laptop connected.

Dennis.

"Garland Gray II" wrote in news:x6%wf.6522$CV.6302
@dukeread03:

Thanks Larry. Is this caveat a separate issue from my charging issue ?
Regarding the charging, I would certainly observe polarity. But it would
receive from a fixed GPS thru a serial port.



AS long as the GPS, a negative ground device is not hooked to a positive
ground computer, it'll be fine. This all is a throwback to Japanese
engineers. Cars in Japan used to all be POSITIVE ground, and so was their
electronics! They also drive on the wrong side of the road, except to our
UK friends...(c;

Well now... I hadn't really considered that there was an inverter in my
laptop.
So if I'm running it off the inverter now, the current would be going from
dc to ac to dc back to ac ??

"Jack Erbes" wrote in message
...
Garland Gray II wrote:

snip
My laptop has a 10.8 v battery, and it calls for 15 v input from the
battery charger.
Would 12 v plus (or better when the engine is running) from my boat
charge this battery sufficiently ?
Or do I need to shell out $80 for a dc charger/transformer ?

Depending on how the inverter in the laptop is designed it may do nothing
because it is below the specified input.

But if you look on eBay you can find OEM and accessory laptop DC-DC
adapters at better prices.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)

The Brits used to build cars w/ positive ground too. Up into the sixties.
We used to have some US built logging equipment, late sixties some of which
was positive ground.
Used to drive me crazy, guys would jump start "hot to hot, man" without ever
looking to see what hot was.

"Larry" wrote in message
...
"Garland Gray II" wrote in news:x6%wf.6522$CV.6302
@dukeread03:

Thanks Larry. Is this caveat a separate issue from my charging issue ?
Regarding the charging, I would certainly observe polarity. But it would
receive from a fixed GPS thru a serial port.



AS long as the GPS, a negative ground device is not hooked to a positive
ground computer, it'll be fine. This all is a throwback to Japanese
engineers. Cars in Japan used to all be POSITIVE ground, and so was their
electronics! They also drive on the wrong side of the road, except to our
UK friends...(c;

Uh Larry, how can I determine whether it is negative ground?
I've looked around on it and the battery. I tried to test the battery
contacts w/ my multimeter, but the probes were too fat, and I wasn't sure
I'd be more than guessing which was the ground contact anyway.
I called Toshiba support, and he couldn't answer that kind of question.

"Larry" wrote in message
...
"Garland Gray II" wrote in news:x6%wf.6522$CV.6302
@dukeread03:

Thanks Larry. Is this caveat a separate issue from my charging issue ?
Regarding the charging, I would certainly observe polarity. But it would
receive from a fixed GPS thru a serial port.



AS long as the GPS, a negative ground device is not hooked to a positive
ground computer, it'll be fine. This all is a throwback to Japanese
engineers. Cars in Japan used to all be POSITIVE ground, and so was their
electronics! They also drive on the wrong side of the road, except to our
UK friends...(c;

"Garland Gray II" wrote in message
news:Zchxf.6624$CV.5318@dukeread03...
Uh Larry, how can I determine whether it is negative ground?
I've looked around on it and the battery. I tried to test the battery
contacts w/ my multimeter, but the probes were too fat, and I wasn't sure
I'd be more than guessing which was the ground contact anyway.
I called Toshiba support, and he couldn't answer that kind of question.

Look at your AC adapter for the laptop. The two that I have tell the input
and output voltages and show the polarity of the connect to the computer.

Leanne

Garland Gray II wrote:

Uh Larry, how can I determine whether it is negative ground?

Look at the battery. One of the two major cables from the two posts
will go to a ground like the engine block or the frame. On current cars
is is the negative (-) post.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)