Can I run my laptop off a car battery

s_b

Notmyrealname wrote: »

OK, seeing as everyone has done a merry dance around the issue...

The answer you want is YES YOU CAN using the adapter you posted as long as it supplies the correct voltage and at least the current your laptop needs.

You can run it for many several hours on the car battery just fine as long as the car battery is in a good state of charge. If you only do short journeys in the car you may want to go for a long run first or keep the engine running.

depending on the car
many modern cars only have batteries fitted that are only just up to the job and if OP does as you say, can run the real risk of putting their cars into sleep mode which would mean calling a third party out to carefully wake it back up or blow the bsi if they get it wrong

lemontart

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/7402852.htm?CMPID=GS001&_$ja=kw:{keyword}|cgn:pla||7402852|tsid:11677|cn:pla||7402852|mt:{MatchType}|crid:14542145259#pdpFullProductInformation

could always go for one of these they are great for so many other things to

sorry about link but here is a another version

http://www.maplin.co.uk/portable-power-pack-225153?c=froogle&u=225153&t=module

Notmyrealname

s_b wrote: »

depending on the car
many modern cars only have batteries fitted that are only just up to the job

Forgotten more than you'll ever know about auto electrics....

Even a Nissan Micra battery will run a laptop on one of those for several hours with enough juice left to start the car. If you can leave park lights on on a car overnight and it'll start the following morning, you can run a laptop off one of those adapters quite safely for several hours.

fred7777

s_b wrote: »

can run the real risk of putting their cars into sleep mode which would mean calling a third party out to carefully wake it back up or blow the bsi if they get it wrong

Depends on the car. Peugeots go into sleep mode 20 minutes after the engine has switched off if any electrical items are running (including 12v socket). Turning the engine on brings the car out of sleep mode but the time you have before it goes back to sleep depends on how long the engine runs for.

Having said that there should be no problems powering a 12v socket from crocodile clips on the car battery.

I used to do this when camping and run lights, TV and laptop in the evening and my Peugeot 406 always started fine in the morning but I tried to run an electric cool box once for an afternoon in a Vauxhall Astra and needed jump leads to start the car!

spud17

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Forgotten more than you'll ever know about auto electrics....

Even a Nissan Micra battery will run a laptop on one of those for several hours with enough juice left to start the car. If you can leave park lights on on a car overnight and it'll start the following morning, you can run a laptop off one of those adapters quite safely for several hours.

Yeah, I always smile when someone worries if I leave my vehicle side lights on for 5 mins.
It's a Transit tipper with 2x 80Ah batteries.

rmg1

Can you power a small house with that?

LadyMorticia

R.E. The laptop battery not being very good. Have you tried adjusting the power settings on the laptop? Some laptops don't automatically turn to lower power when the AC is unplugged, so fiddling about even just the brightness of the screen when it's on battery could make one hell of a difference.

spud17

rmg1 wrote: »

Can you power a small house with that?

Don't be silly, a medium sized house perhaps.

cyanmorgan

You can; a dog house perhaps. LOL (he doesn't if it's a mans house)