MandyAndy Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Which would be best to use our 200W inverter from leisure batteries or use a car type charger from Maplins for charging our Laptop when not on HU. We found last weekend charging from the single battery we have it took quite a bit out. Going to Newark this weekend to investigate new batteries and prices for matching pair of 100's Many thanks, Mandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 The best way to re-charge the laptop battery will be while the engine is running, or when on hook-up, because that way you will not deplete leisure battery charge.Since a car charger, which you don't presently have, will draw its power from the battery when the engine isn't running, in just the same way the inverter does, the amount of 12V current taken to re-charge the laptop will be approximately equal, possibly with a very small advantage to the car charger due to slightly better efficiency. However, I doubt that advantage would be sufficient to make the car charger a worthwhile investment. So, why not use the inverter while the engine is running? I assume there would be sufficient power available from the alternator to feed this, although the leisure battery would, presumably, take longer to re-charge as a consequence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Looking at it simply (with no electrical qualifications!) ... It seems to me that each "box" the electricity has to go through, and each change you make to it, will cost you something in efficiency, since no man-made device is 100% efficient. So rather than an inverter (which pushes your 12v up to 230v & turns it into AC) and then a mains charger (which brings it back down - typically to about 19v - and back to DC again) it should be much more efficient to use one charger which will do everything at once. So that'll be your Maplins one. I got mine from somewhere else, but I'm sure theirs will be fine. Others with more expertise may have a different view - if so, listen to them rather than me! :-D PS (in edit) Crossed in the post with Brian! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Dwight Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 I have used a Maplins car charger for Lap Top, it worked fine it was invaluable for running the Lap Top using Autoroute. Also used it for charging mobiles etc. A friend has used his travelling to Spain and back using Autoroute no problems with charging everything. The only problem I have now is that the new LapTop is a Dell and Maplins dont have a charger with the right size plug. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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