Computer power while boondocking?
I've got 2 6-volt house batteries in my Class A gasser. There is no factory installed inverter. I want to SAFELY run 2 laptops and a mobile hotspot while boondocking. What are my options? What would ...
Forum Discussion
We do this all the time and what you seem to have missed is that a typical laptop runs at about 60 Watts (5a @13V), and my cell/802.11 access runs at about 4 Watts (.4a @13V if your conversion is low loss). Ok, the "Hot Spot" is not a killer, but the two laptops and sometimes a printer is a lot like leaving the headlights on.
For you GC2s a couple of hours one evening is not out of the question, but much more than that is going to get dicey. I can run them all on a 200W POS inverter, but one of the laptops (or maybe the printer) does not like to run from the cheap inverter. So try out the set before you get into the woods. You may have to spring for a pure $ine inverter. Do not fall for a Modified sine inverter, they are actually a modified Square Wave output and can cause overheating and just bad news for many modern power supplies.
Matt
For you GC2s a couple of hours one evening is not out of the question, but much more than that is going to get dicey. I can run them all on a 200W POS inverter, but one of the laptops (or maybe the printer) does not like to run from the cheap inverter. So try out the set before you get into the woods. You may have to spring for a pure $ine inverter. Do not fall for a Modified sine inverter, they are actually a modified Square Wave output and can cause overheating and just bad news for many modern power supplies.
Matt
