Power source for notebooks

I have an application which works on notebook for work outside, but it needs to be on for 12 hours while I use it from my vehicle. What is the best way to power my notebook? I do not want to drain the car battery by plugging the notebook into the power outlet in the car.

 

What notebook do you have? There may be extended battery options available. For example, on some of the HP laptops, you can get battery life up to 16 hours with the extended batteries.

Other than that, your best bet may be to get a cheap, low-wattage power inverter and use that with your lappy plugged in. Just take the time to start your car every once in awhile and you won't run the battery out completely.

 

You should get an inverter, charge the laptop while you're driving, and get an extra battery. You might also consider just buying a deep-cycle car battery, which is made for long-term electronics use. Many car audio buffs put deep cycle batteries in because they last longer with small current drains over a long time, rather than the standard high-current, low time performance of standard car batteries. See this

 

Another option is adding a second battery to you car. Do so with a battery isolator (Google "Battery Isolator" and I'm sure you'll come up with a billion hits). Basically you wire up your accessories to the second battery. The Isolator seperates your two batteries, so while you car is in the off position you only drain and use the second battery, the isolator acts like a one way check valve and keeps the primary car battery from draining. When you start the car the charging system charges both batteries.

 

Just a fat diode, eh? Interesting. If you do the battery isolator method above, you'd want to again use the deep cycle battery I described. Seems like the best solution aside from having multiple batteries for your laptop (which would be a pain to recharge all the time, unless you can get a charger to sit on the desk or something)