Powering Your Laptops in the field...

I have not had the time to read your entire article, but it looks awesome.

Not sure if it's been discussed yet but keep an eye on your charger atop your battery. Those batteries emit a gas which can affect the charger. Kinda like putting it outside down at the beach. It will start getting liitle rust spots on the metal parts 1st. Use a good quality electrical cleaner and spray it off once in awhile. You could spray it with a product called Boshield T9. SP? It leaves a very small protective film on it. It's made for the marine environment.

I gotta read all this later, looks awesome. I love electrical stuff like this. My friends call my vehicle a power grid on wheels.

Now that I think more about it, if that's a gel, or AGM type battery your gases are decreased ten fold.

 

Gel types are usually sealed. Which means they produce no gas at all.

 

Absolutely untrue; gel-cells are still a lead-acid battery. They are spill-proof, but they are NOT hermetically sealed; they just have a little rubber valve to allow those gases to escape. There are a lot less of those gases, but they are still there.

mnem
Gaseous emissions.

 

What about something like this for powering a netbook or ultraportable. Brunton Sustain + PowerFilm 30W foldable + female cigarette adapter?

 

I would think that if you follow the basic principles here... You'll be okay. But you need a regulator as posted in the PDF.

 

I'd make sure it's getting between 15 and 16 volts if you have an internal battery, but if not, a little lower (say 14 volts) would be ok.

I don't know how well regulated the factory AC adaptors are, but the Lind DC to DC converters are very well regulated and designed for rugged use.

I think all TB's will work on external power only, but of course it means that if the external power fails, the machine stops as there is no backup supply.

One advantage of no internal battery is a significant weight reduction which is important for non-vehicle use if a TB is going with you in a backpack.

I use Odyssey AGM batteries in my Saab cars and if there was a way to get a battery like that which is small (AGM batteries are signficantly heavier than standard car batteries of the same physical size) it would be a good external power source when run through something like a Lind DC to DC converter. I wouldn't risk running a TB on a non-regulated power source for very long.

The smallest Odyssey battery is the PC310 which weighs 2.7 kg. Not a lot on it's own but combine that with the weight of a Lind unit, TB itself, cabling and solar panels + regulator to charge the external battery when able, it's a fair bit of kit to carry.

Craig.