chatterdog Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Yep it is too expensive to use an english dongle abroad as stated on the thread in hints and tips earlier this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted September 2, 2008 Author Share Posted September 2, 2008 Thanks for that everyone and will give it a try tomorrow to see how it goes. Just a query on how much power a laptop uses. I've already got the inverter and inbuilt battery to go on, but how much of drain on the liesure battery are they and apart from short periods is it better to use hook up. ( I,ve been using this laptop on just the batteries for almost an hour now, and apart from a rather dim picture its working fine, so perhaps charging while on the move will suffice.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Howie Your laptop should have a 'ratings plate' on its underside and this will give the maximum current that it can take. As an example, my 15-inch Acer laptop draws 3.42 amps at 19 volts. Using a low power inverter, say a 150-watt model it would be reasonable to expect about 80% efficiency on load. The inverter output at 230 volt would then be fed to the laptop mains power unit, which probably runs at around 75-80% efficiency (mine gets quite warm) and putting everything together means that the drain on the habitation battery would be of the order of 4.75 amps (I have rounded the figures). If you take the rating plate figure and add, say 40% to it, this will give you a reasonable ‘guesstimate’ of the likely 12 volt power drain when using an inverter to power the laptop. I hope that this gives you a feel for the likely drain on your habitation (an Autosleeper term) battery. Regards ............ Michael (off to France soon). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michele Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Howie , I am glad you are getting a Dongle I know you miss me but you dont have to go to that extreme :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatterdog Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 you can check out the coverage area for a '3' dongle in the u.k. at the following address http://www.three.co.uk/personal/coverage_/coverageChecker.do Forgot I had that one for checking areas out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philman Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 When touring abroad I tend to use campsites that offer WiFi. Some sites provide it for free others make a charge. All of last week I stayed at the Obernai Municipal in France where it is free and all of this week I am staying at La Sarvaz in Switzerland where it is also free. Next week we plan to move to Lake Maggiore in Italy where a couple of sites provide it at quite a low price. The week after we plan to go to a site at Levanto in the Cinque Terre where it is also free. Phil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michele Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 You're lucky to find that your choice of sites gives Wifi for nothing enjoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted September 4, 2008 Author Share Posted September 4, 2008 spospe - 2008-09-02 9:31 PM Howie Your laptop should have a 'ratings plate' on its underside and this will give the maximum current that it can take. As an example, my 15-inch Acer laptop draws 3.42 amps at 19 volts. Using a low power inverter, say a 150-watt model it would be reasonable to expect about 80% efficiency on load. The inverter output at 230 volt would then be fed to the laptop mains power unit, which probably runs at around 75-80% efficiency (mine gets quite warm) and putting everything together means that the drain on the habitation battery would be of the order of 4.75 amps (I have rounded the figures). If you take the rating plate figure and add, say 40% to it, this will give you a reasonable ‘guesstimate’ of the likely 12 volt power drain when using an inverter to power the laptop. I hope that this gives you a feel for the likely drain on your habitation (an Autosleeper term) battery. Regards ............ Michael (off to France soon). Thank you Michael, enjoy your holiday, and my latest 'guesstimate' comes out at around £1.20 a lb. No luck outside Tesco's yesterday so i'll have another go on the weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROON Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Oh Dear, Howie can you help me please on this going back even further to basics. How do you go about being able to use a laptop for internet? Do you tell your phone provider you want to extend your home computer deal to a laptop or what. I havn't a clue about dongles and wifies so can you keep the answer simple please. Once I know that then I can go back and read all the answers to you and go to the next stage. (also, on another thread someone was asking about a hard drive in the van - do yuou need this as well as whatever else it is you are going to tell me to do?) Joy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philman Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 It's not luck, I use the ACSI DvD of campsites which lists the facilities available at each of nearly 10,000 campsites. Apart from a very good built-in Route Planner, it allows you to show which sites offer WiFi and if you have to pay or not. It also has filters to show any other facilities you want including if they accept the ACSI card, the opening and closing dates for the site, and lots of other useful information. The location of each site on the maps is positioned by gps co-ordinates which makes any site very easy to find. Phil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatterdog Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 I also use the ACSI and CC books with the same info on sites as well as the online versions. Joy you dont need to tell your phone supplier you just need to get a wirless modem which you plug into your telephone line. you can buy them at Argos,currys,pc world,staples etc they usually cost from 25.00+ depending on the model you choose. Then as long as your laptop has wirless ability once you have done the setup (setup explained in booklet with modem) you can use your laptop anywhere in the range of your modem i.e. in any room or out in the garden. I have my main comp linked to my modem by usb hardwire and use the laptop on the wireless side anywhere around the house and garden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
net-traveller Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 ROON - 2008-09-04 11:46 AM Oh Dear, Howie can you help me please on this going back even further to basics. How do you go about being able to use a laptop for internet? Do you tell your phone provider you want to extend your home computer deal to a laptop or what. I havn't a clue about dongles and wifies so can you keep the answer simple please. Once I know that then I can go back and read all the answers to you and go to the next stage. (also, on another thread someone was asking about a hard drive in the van - do yuou need this as well as whatever else it is you are going to tell me to do?) Joy A laptop is a computer just like a desktop and it doesn't make any diference to the ISP or phone company as you will only have one internet connection at any given time. All you have to do to get on-line is to install your modem software onto the laptop, plugging in the modem as requesting and then get on-line. If you are using a network it's even easier. So do you have a modem plugged into your machine with the other end plugged into the phone socket or do you have a device plugged into the phone socket only? The first is a wired modem, the other is a wireless network. Let me know and I'll give some more pointers. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROON Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Hi nettraveller.... I'm sorry I'm really thick. One wire goes into the modem and then into the main computer box, and another wire comes out of the modem and I've scrambled round following it and it goes into a box on the wall of the room I'm in .... I suppose that could be to a telephone connection but it doesn't look like the normal little square push-in connection to a telephone box ..... it isn't removable. Does that help please? Got to dash now but back tomorrow and any help you can give would be great. Thank you. Joy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
net-traveller Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Joy your description doesn't sound like a conventional dial-up ADSL modem arrangement. i'm assuming that the other end of the wire goes into a 3-pin standard electric socket which suggests that you may have some form of network, probably wired. Any modem or modem/router has to be connected to the phone line (or cable socket if you use cable services eg NTL). Either way the wall socket must be the phone/cable line. If your connection is via a BT line then the wall socket may well be an old style telephone socket which didn't have the little square jack socket, the phone was wired in and couldn't be removed without a BT engineer. The other explanation is that an ISDN internet access was installed. These were available until quite recently, the best known being BT Home Highway, and then were converted back to use standard broadband. However you should be able to setup the modem on any machine providing that you have the installation CD. Then its just a case of switching off the machine , swapping the modem to the other machine, and firing up. If you do have a wired network then it will need to be plugged into a network socket with an ethernet cable, not difficult. Can't really do more until we find out what you've got. If you had the internet installed then you'll have some paperwork somewhere. If it was a DIY with equipment from the ISP then you should have some info. there. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROON Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 Hi Net-traveller, sorry been away at parents for couple of days laying stone in garden... thank you for your reply. I am sending an email to Virgin to find out exactly what I have installed so I can tell you and hopefully you can help. thank you. Joy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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