Lightning Season is here

[Harold in CR]

 Now, we are getting severe lightning storms and I am needing to get away from the Power Company, for many reasons. I constantly need to unplug the UPS, Phone line, TV cord, and portable phone, every time we are outside the house. These storms come out of nowhere in minutes, USUALLY following the Lightning strikes.

 I recently bought 8KW of electric car battery and will use that as 12V supply for lighting and hopefully Laptop power.  Getting wind and hydro chargers built, slowly but surely.

 I found 1 thread here, but, being completely incompetent with electronics, I would appreciate some assistance. I have found circuit boards on ebay, but still don't know anything about using one. Seems they have different voltage boards listed.

 All I want is a way to run the 10.8 V nominal battery from a 12-14V battery.

 The Laptop battery alone only runs the Laptop for 1 hour, so, is getting near replacement stage.

 Is there a device that a dummy can purchase, that you simply connect to the input jack on the laptop to do what I need ?

 Thanks to all that might help me through this situation.

[DamonHD]

Unless I'm missing something here, can't you use a commodity in-car laptop power supply to power your laptop from your 12V nominal battery supply?  (Many have adjustable output voltage for example.)

I have done that satisfactorily in the past.

http://www.earth.org.uk/low-power-laptop.html

Rgds

Damon

[Harold in CR]

 Thanks Damon
 Unfortunately, that information is over my head. I did copy-paste one item from there and search ebay. Is this what you think will work for me ??

 http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-100W-Universal-AC-DC-To-DC-Car-Charger-Power-Supply-For-Laptop-PC-/121367291765?pt=Laptop_Adapters_Chargers&hash=item1c420de775

[DamonHD]

That sort of thing, yes, providing that it has a suitable selectable output voltage (and plug) for your laptop's power input, and has at least a high enough power rating.

V must be *correct* and W must be *higher* than your laptop requires.

I also wouldn't trust something from eBay with a laptop that I care about: I'd buy local retail bricks-and-mortar store or somewhere like Amazon.  YMMV of course.

Rgds

Damon

[Harold in CR]

 OK. Gives me something to have my Son look for in Florida. Nothing like that exists where I am.

 The one I showed on Ebay, does list the Toshiba satellite laptop I have.

 Thanks again, Damon

[Mary B]

wind and solar are not lightning proof either. Anything with a wire can take damage from a near miss. I have lightning surge suppressors on both ends of the line coming in from my solar panels. Sure it is buried 2 feet but it can still pick up a nasty surge from a near miss. Had some really severe lightning last week along with 6.5 inches of rain in 24 hours. Having lightning protection helps with a bit of peace of mind. Won't help in a direct hit but it is better than nothing

[DamonHD]

Harold: I'm on the wrong side of the Atlantic to do product picking for you!  Maybe someone else can help out from FL in FL?  B^|>

Rgds

Damon

[Harold in CR]

 No problem, Damon. I sent that ebay link info to my son, so he can check around locally. Might be difficult to find anything NOT made in China, though.  Thanks

[Bruce S]

Harold;
That looks very similar to the one I have for my Netbook, works like a charm !
When plugged into my cig-lighter it gets pretty darn hot ! Actually hotter than I like.
For your computer, look at the current AC adapter, normally it has a wattage if not take the voltage output then multiply that by the Amps output. That'll give you the wattage.
IF it is more than 80% of the 100watt unit your are looking at you'll need to find a higher wattage one.
BTW: The one I have; the connectors are fairly flimsy ;-(, so buyer beware.
Best of Luck.
Bruce S

[Harold in CR]

 Thanks for the info, Bruce.