Inverter (1 Viewer)

[Norman Jones]

We've had a Ring 300w inverter for years and it seems OK for charging laptop etc.
Nothin's blown up yet!!!
Was thinking we should invest in a new pure sine wave one.
Is it worth it? and if so any recommendations.

Norm

 

[Lenny HB]

Depends on what you are running from it.

 

[peterc10]

If all you are using it for is charging the laptop then it would be better to get a 12V adaptor for your laptop and use a 12V socket. At the moment you are wasting energy by taking 12V DC and changing it to 230V AC and then changing that back to low voltage (usually about 19V) DC again to use in the laptop. Instead just get something that changes 12V DC into 19V DC (or whatever your laptop uses), which will be much more efficient. Just go onto Amazon and use the search terms "12V adaptor" plus the name and model name or number of your laptop.

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[Norman Jones]

Just found a very small stamp on my Mac Book pro that says" Rated 20.3v 3amp", didn't know I could do it off 12v.

 

[peterc10]

Just found a very small stamp on my Mac Book pro that says" Rated 20.3v 3amp", didn't know I could do it off 12v.

A quick search using "12V mac book pro" finds plenty You just need to know exactly what mac book pro model you have!

 

[Richard n Ann]

The thing is if you get a dedicated charger for the laptop, that's all it's good for. Buy a nice inverter and you can use it for anything. Ours charges:
Electric toothbrushes
Vacuum cleaner.
Radio.
AA batteries.

And it will also run the 18" tv

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[peterc10]

The thing is if you get a dedicated charger for the laptop, that's all it's good for. Buy a nice inverter and you can use it for anything. Ours charges:
Electric toothbrushes
Vacuum cleaner.
Radio.
AA batteries.

And it will also run the 18" tv

And all of those we run off the 12V as well, including the 19" TV. Except the electric toothbrush which we use AA batteries for, mind you those batteries are rechargeable off the 12V too!

 

[Norman Jones]

But which one is nice? Our old one that isn't a pure sine wave seems to do all that!!

 

[Lenny HB]

The thing is if you get a dedicated charger for the laptop, that's all it's good for. Buy a nice inverter and you can use it for anything. Ours charges:
Electric toothbrushes
Vacuum cleaner.
Radio.
AA batteries.

And it will also run the 18" tv

But not as efficient far better to have everything you can running from 12v then only use the inverter occasionally for essentials.

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[peterc10]

But which one is nice? Our old one that isn't a pure sine wave seems to do all that!!

Allegedly you need pure a sine wave inverter for electric toothbrushes. I don't know because I have never tried, but other funsters have reported that their toothbrush charger failed on their modified sine wave inverter. .

We do have an inverter but it is only used to run my wife's hairdryer, and that needs a lot more than 300W! Now if I could just find somebody who makes a decent gas hair dryer ...............

 

[Norman Jones]

Interesting, just found this on an apple site:

Mollyfromtexas wrote:



Is there a car charger for the MacBook Pro?



Not exactly.



There is the Apple Airline Adpater that takes the 15v DV airline and maintains a previously fully charged Macbook battery, but doesn't charge the battery as it doesn't have enough power like the Magsafe powerbrick adpater does.



One can use the Airline adpater in a vehicle with 12v, it does the same as above, helps prolong the battery but to a slightly lesser extent as it's only 12v instead of 15v.



12v to 110v adapters (thus to use the supplied Magsafe adapter) doesn't work and only can result in frying out your vehicles electrical system in most cases as their cables are not designed to handle that much power draw on the 12v side, just to run the car and a few gizmos like a cigarrette lighter.



If one notices the cable on their vehicles battery, it's very thick, designed to carry a lot of electrons. That is not the case when it get to the 12v cigarrate adapter, it gets very thin. Pulling too many elecrons through a thin wire makes it overheat, it should trip the car's breaker first, but sometimes just a heavy load but not enough for the breaker to jump, will significantly wear out the thin wires and cause vehicle electrical problems.



Using the Airline Adpater in a 12v or using the 12v DC to 110v AC adpater is not approved by Apple and can likely void your warranty if discovered as user inflicted abuse.

 

[Norman Jones]

Brenda uses one of those gas powered curler thingies that no man understands. Me...towel!

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[peterc10]

Brenda uses one of those gas powered curler thingies that no man understands. Me...towel!

No good for my wife. She tells me she wants straight not curly.

As for me a quick polish does it .......

 

[peterc10]

Interesting, just found this on an apple site:

Mollyfromtexas wrote:



Is there a car charger for the MacBook Pro?



Not exactly.



There is the Apple Airline Adpater that takes the 15v DV airline and maintains a previously fully charged Macbook battery, but doesn't charge the battery as it doesn't have enough power like the Magsafe powerbrick adpater does.



One can use the Airline adpater in a vehicle with 12v, it does the same as above, helps prolong the battery but to a slightly lesser extent as it's only 12v instead of 15v.



12v to 110v adapters (thus to use the supplied Magsafe adapter) doesn't work and only can result in frying out your vehicles electrical system in most cases as their cables are not designed to handle that much power draw on the 12v side, just to run the car and a few gizmos like a cigarrette lighter.



If one notices the cable on their vehicles battery, it's very thick, designed to carry a lot of electrons. That is not the case when it get to the 12v cigarrate adapter, it gets very thin. Pulling too many elecrons through a thin wire makes it overheat, it should trip the car's breaker first, but sometimes just a heavy load but not enough for the breaker to jump, will significantly wear out the thin wires and cause vehicle electrical problems.



Using the Airline Adpater in a 12v or using the 12v DC to 110v AC adpater is not approved by Apple and can likely void your warranty if discovered as user inflicted abuse.

This is what really winds me up with Apple. They are a closed garden and if they don't do it nobody else can. Same with my wife's ipad and iphone. But surprise surprise we have been using 12v chargers for them for the last 3 years without any problems at all. Its's not bloody rocket science.

 

[hilldweller]

But which one is nice? Our old one that isn't a pure sine wave seems to do all that!!

So why spend money ?

"If it works don't fix it"

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[Louis]

Gas hair dryer

Allegedly you need pure a sine wave inverter for electric toothbrushes. I don't know because I have never tried, but other funsters have reported that their toothbrush charger failed on their modified sine wave inverter. .

We do have an inverter but it is only used to run my wife's hairdryer, and that needs a lot more than 300W! Now if I could just find somebody who makes a decent gas hair dryer ...............

Screwfix! Search under plumbing

 

[autorouter]

There is the Apple Airline Adpater that takes the 15v DV airline and maintains a previously fully charged Macbook battery, but doesn't charge the battery as it doesn't have enough power like the Magsafe powerbrick adpater does.



One can use the Airline adpater in a vehicle with 12v, it does the same as above, helps prolong the battery but to a slightly lesser extent as it's only 12v instead of 15v.



12v to 110v adapters (thus to use the supplied Magsafe adapter) doesn't work and only can result in frying out your vehicles electrical system in most cases as their cables are not designed to handle that much power draw on the 12v side, just to run the car and a few gizmos like a cigarrette lighter.



If one notices the cable on their vehicles battery, it's very thick, designed to carry a lot of electrons. That is not the case when it get to the 12v cigarrate adapter, it gets very thin. Pulling too many elecrons through a thin wire makes it overheat, it should trip the car's breaker first, but sometimes just a heavy load but not enough for the breaker to jump, will significantly wear out the thin wires and cause vehicle electrical problems.



Using the Airline Adpater in a 12v or using the 12v DC to 110v AC adpater is not approved by Apple and can likely void your warranty if discovered as user inflicted abuse.

I don't know about the Apple environment, but this seems very ill-informed to me. It is easy to convert 12v to 15V DC, 110V AC, 240V AC or whatever voltage you want. And heavy currents will not wear out wires. At very high current densities in silicon chips you can get 'electromigration', but at in ordinary wires that won't happen.

 

[peterc10]

Gas hair dryer

Screwfix! Search under plumbing

Got one but she refuses to use it ...... says it crisps up her hair too much .........

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[two]

No.
I'd only look for a new one if the old one ceased to satisfy its purpose.
Save your pennies.

 

[Bart]

If it ain't broken then don't fix it

 

[Norman Jones]

Thank you for your words of wisdom.
Now I've got to think of something else to buy her for Christmas !!
How about 10 litres of Ad Blu?

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