Charging Notebook in Vehicle...?

[loyukfai]

Is it okay to charge a notebook in a vehicle overnight...? Will it run down the battery making the car un-startable the next day...?

Cheers.

[jronald]

What is the adapter fused at? I might be able to point you in the right direction.

Ron

[jronald]

Here is the start of the answer:

Reserve capacity minutes (RCM), also referred to as reserve capacity (RC), is a battery's ability to sustain a minimum stated electrical load; it is defined as the time (in minutes) that a lead-acid battery at 80 °F (27 °C) will continuously deliver 25 amperes before its voltage drops below 10.5 volts.

How long will your battery last?
Batteries are rated in "amp-hours". Your basic car battery has about 100 amp-hours on a full charge. (You want to get marine "deep cycle" batteries, which are designed to run appliances and then get recharged.)
Stuff you find for cars or boats run on 12 volts, directly off your battery. Their power needs will be rated in either Watts or Amps. 12 Watts = 1 Amp. (For a 12 volt system, that is.)
So, your basic car battery has about 1200 Watt-hours on a full charge.
If something uses 1 Amp, your car battery can run it for 100 hours. If something uses 2.3 Amps, your car battery can run it for 100/2.3 = 43.47 hours. If something uses 20 Watts, your car battery can run it for 1200/20 = 60 hours.
Sometimes devices are rated in mA. Those are milliamps. 1000 milliamps is 1 Amp. 600 milliAmps is 0.6 Amps.



Ron

[bill bolton]

Is it okay to charge a notebook in a vehicle overnight...?

As long as the vehicle battery is in good condition and close to full charge, you shouldn't have any problem.

Cheers,

bill B.

[loyukfai]

Thanks! I think I got what I wanted to know, at least for now.

Cheers.

[killer]

The biggest problem with charging a notebook in a vehicle overnight is that some b*gger will probably nick the notebook. Some cars have lighter sockets in the boot (trunk?) so you can keep the notebook out of sight.

[rkawakami]

<snip>.... in the boot (trunk?)

Correct. Bonnet (Britsh English) = Hood (US English)

[killer]

Bonnet & Boot = Hood & Trunk. Elephants have their trunk at the front. So do Porsche cars. Does that make a Porsche an elephant? I don't think so.

Language can be fun. I understand that here cars (like ships and boats) were considered ladies and wore a bonnet on top and boots lower down. I wonder where hood and trunk featured in the attire of anyone in America? This is a good chance for language scholars to explain the origins of hood and trunk.

Please don't get me wrong ... this is a genuine question and not extracting the urine from anyone.

[bill bolton]

I rented a Nissen mid-size car from Avis at LAX recently, and was looking for the trunk release inside the car... finally found it labelled as Hold release

Aye aye captain!

Bill B.

[Navck]

Turn all your AC and other car accessories off or you'll have a vehicle that can't crank in the morning.

[topmahof]

i was standing beside my car wearing swimming trunks when a large tree fell down and the trunk of it hit the trunk of my car which opened and a large trunk full of clothes popped out.

[killer]

i was standing beside my car wearing swimming trunks when a large tree fell down and the trunk of it hit the trunk of my car which opened and a large trunk full of clothes popped out.

Good job there were no elephants around and you weren't on a trunk road making a trunk call on your phone.

[ibmfreak]

I am using a DC 12v to AC 220v (150W) inverter to power up laptop. Is it possible that the laptop can be damaged some how? under-voltage, over-voltage etc?

[RealBlackStuff]

The hood is just about as complicated:

Code: Select all

Definition of HOOD
1   a (1) : a flexible covering for the head and neck 
      (2) : a protective covering for the head and face 
    b : a covering for a hawk's head and eyes 
    c : a covering for a horse's head; also : blinder

2   a : an ornamental scarf worn over an academic gown that indicates by its color the wearer's college or university 
    b : a color marking or crest on the head of an animal or an expansion of the head that suggests a hood

3   a : something resembling a hood in form or use 
    b : a cover for parts of mechanisms; specifically : the movable metal covering over the engine of an automobile 
    c chiefly British : a top cover over the passenger section of a vehicle usually designed to be folded back 
    d : an enclosure or canopy provided with a draft for carrying off fumes, sprays, smokes, or dusts 
    e : a covering for an opening (as a companion hatch) on a boat 

In other words: it's all a big cover-up!

[dsvochak]

Or an unsavory character: “Hood—a hoodlum, goon, strong-armer, thug”

[killer]

... like Robin Hood.

Snakes can also have a hood ... for example, the hooded cobra.

Now look up bonnet. Is it any clearer?

[rkawakami]

I am using a DC 12v to AC 220v (150W) inverter to power up laptop. Is it possible that the laptop can be damaged some how? under-voltage, over-voltage etc?

Getting back OT for a couple of seconds after this semantical lesson... There shouldn't be any problem operating a laptop in this manner. As long as the inverter is doing its job in converting the car's 12VDC into 220VAC and you are using an AC adapter that is rated to accept an AC input of 220V, then all is well. Genuine IBM/Lenovo adapters are dual-voltage (110VAC - 220VAC) capable and will provide a steady DC voltage for the laptop.

[loyukfai]

Something came up my mind... Do motorbikes have 12V power as well...?

Cheers.

[jronald]

Yes sort of.
If its of "good" size, it will have an alternator and yes a full 12 volts.

When you say Motorbike, Im thinking Minibike/Moped. Thats a different story.

Ron

[killer]

T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) rode a motorbike. It was a Brough Superior. Link here to the great machine: http://www.broughsuperiorclub.com/pages ... brough.htm

[JeffDeWitt]

Bonnet & Boot = Hood & Trunk. Elephants have their trunk at the front. So do Porsche cars. Does that make a Porsche an elephant? I don't think so.

Language can be fun. I understand that here cars (like ships and boats) were considered ladies and wore a bonnet on top and boots lower down. I wonder where hood and trunk featured in the attire of anyone in America? This is a good chance for language scholars to explain the origins of hood and trunk.

Please don't get me wrong ... this is a genuine question and not extracting the urine from anyone.

If you look at OLD cars, like from the 20's and 30's some of them had an actual removable trunk on the back of the car for storage. I'm sure that's where the term trunk came from.