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Help on choosing an inverter

Started by Matt W, April 21, 2018, 01:13:18 PM

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Matt W

Hi there.
I'm nearing the end of my camper conversion.

I'm trying to get information on how many watts inverter to get to charge my laptop.
the laptops power supply is a bit of a beast! On the back of the supply it says...
The inverter will not be used to power anything else but the laptop.

Input 4.4v
Output 19.5v - 16.5a
Energy consumption - 347 wh
It's listed as a 330w charger online.

I was thinking 600w?

Any help would be great.
Thanks
Matt  8)

Camper_Dan

Greetings & Welcome!

The specs you listed seem odd to me, was there a typo?

Normally the input would be 110(USA) or 220(UK) volts AC.

What's the brand and model of your laptop?  Can you get a car cord for it?  A car cord would be much more energy efficient than an inverter.

If the 19.5v and 16.5a is any where near correct, that is a HUGE draw.  I would try to get a more energy efficient one myself.  Mine charges in under an hour while I'm using it, and is then good for 7-8 hours of use before needing a recharge.  I don't remember what amps mine uses, but I got the car cord, and since it will fully charge within an hour, the draw isn't too bad.  If the charging characteristics of yours is similar, a car cord should work.

I charge my house battery mainly while driving, and whenever convenient try to charge most of my electronics at the same time. (Off the house battery, while it's charging, and off the dash ciggy plug as well, with a 1 to 4 outlet adapter.  This gives me 4 outlets each on the dash, and on my house battery, and this routine works very well for me.

If your laptop's battery is good, and you can get by with a single hours charge every day or two, you should be okay, but if your battery is weak or dead, and it requires more charging time, or the hours per charge are low, you could be in trouble.

Hope this helps,

Cheers!
Smiles are extremely contagious,
Pass them on!!!

Matt W

#2
Hi dan. yeah Typo.. 240v input.
IT is a big power supply as it's a monster high end laptop. Asus Rog gaming laptop. It's got about a 2-3 hour battery life and I use it to do high end 3d game art for my clients.
I can't do anything about the power supply/ charger.
I don't think a car cord is possible for it.

I've also asked and heard back from Halfords and a separate electrical supplier. They said a 500w inverter would do the job. But 700w + would be best.

Thanks for the help. Much appreciated.

Matt W

I'm contacting ASUS regarding your suggestion about car cord. So Thanks for that mate.
Matt :)

Camper_Dan

Greetings!

I agree with the 700 watt inverter.  The problem lies in the fact that it will be drawing about 60 amps per hour to run it.  How many hours per day do you need to keep this beast plugged in?  Providing that we don't want to discharge our batteries below 50%, that means you'll need 120ah worth of batteries for each hour you need to be plugged  in.  Then you need to be able to fully recharge those batteries before you can plug it in again.

Is there a reason you really need this beast?  I really think either a generator or shore power will be the best way to run that thing, because you're talking about a huge battery bank, and huge recharging problems, in a small space.  A generator would be smaller is size and much less weight than such a battery bank would require, and would offer better opportunities as well, then you could run a single house battery that could be charged while driving, or by the generator when you're running your laptop.

Cheers!
Smiles are extremely contagious,
Pass them on!!!

Matt W

Hello mate.
Thought I would give an update regarding my laptop and inverter dilemma!

So, I got a 700w inverter, wired it to my leisure batteries.
I tested it out first on a usb charging plug, to charge my phone. It Worked fine.
Then I tried a house bedside lamp. No probs.

Then I plugged an anti power surge plugboard in then my laptop power supply. The plugboard turned off and no power to laptop power supply.
That didn't work then!

You're right, probably need a generator of some sort.
Any ideas what would do the job!

Camper_Dan

Greetings!

Is your inverter a pure sine wave one?  Looks like I forgot to mention how important it is to make sure that inverters or generators are pure sine wave for many electronics.  Some electronics are more sensitive than others.

Personally I like the inverter generators, they are usually smaller in size and quieter.  Honda's and Yamaha's come highly recommended, but they're also high priced.  The 2000 watt ones seem popular.  I just bought a cheapy 3500 watt inverter generator  I found on sale for $99 and then added an extra $17 super quiet muffler to it.  It may or may not last as long as one of the name brands, but I figure for the price, so far I am way ahead of the game.

I attempted to look up a car cord for a Asus Rog, but discovered there were many different models of Rogs, so I wass unable to continue the search.  Hopefully customer service will have a quick and painless solution for you.

I think I'm still leaning towards the inverter generator option, because it would take up less room and be much lighter than a huge battery bank.

Cheers!
Smiles are extremely contagious,
Pass them on!!!

vseprosto90211

Personally, I'm a fan of inverter generators, because they're smaller and quieter than gas generators, but, not so long I found a Westinghouse 4500 Watts inverter and dual-fuel generator (works on propane and gasoline). I've never met such gens before, found it quite versatile. It is lightweight and compact, quiet and easy to move around. I could say, that I'm really pleased with its performance. 

VanWithMan

Hi,
I may be a little late to the game here but I use a DC-DC converter. It takes 12V in and has a 12 different laptop plugs that give you 12V-19V for the laptop power. It's only 90W so draws 6A from my battery and is definitely the most efficient way of charging a laptop.