In-car power for a laptop

[DazJW]

I'm looking for a way to charge/power an Acer Aspire 5100 laptop in my car.
If I stick "Acer Aspire 5100 car charger" into Google it gives a fair few results but they're all from unknown brands and suppliers (which I expected given the age of the laptop).

Does any one have any recommendations for where to buy something like this? Somewhere along the lines of 7dayshop who sell unbranded/self-branded cheap stuff but bother to check that it's decent stuff rather than any old tat.
I'm also considering a spare battery so anywhere good for those would be useful too.

 

[arad85]

You want a car DC to DC convertor. Something like: http://www.maplin.co.uk/120w-laptop-car-adaptor-44736 (first sensible google hit) would work well and would enable you to change brands but still have the charger available (different tips provided).

No recommendation on the replacement battery tho...

 

[Gremlin]

You could try Maplins, got mine from there ages ago, it's a multi one so you can use on different laptops

 

[DazJW]

Cheers, do all-in-ones have any issues considering different laptops have slightly different chargers with respect to voltage, wattage and current?

I'd need one with a longer cable than that though as I'd want to be able to use it sat on the parcel shelf and I don't think that one would quite reach the accessory socket comfortably.

I'll have a look through the Maplins site, I'm not sure how I forgot about them!

 

[arad85]

I linked to the Maplins one

The universal ones you can set the output voltage and as long as the power is OK (120W is quite a lot for a laptop) you'll be fine...

 

[Davec223]

You want a car DC to DC convertor. Something like: http://www.maplin.co.uk/120w-laptop-car-adaptor-44736 (first sensible google hit) would work well and would enable you to change brands but still have the charger available (different tips provided).

No recommendation on the replacement battery tho...

this is the one that my work supplies us with, works well, I have run HP IBM and samsung on it all no issues.

 

[DazJW]

I linked to the Maplins one

I know I just thought it was worth looking at any other options they might have had

The mains charger is only 65W so 120W is plenty, it's 19V which is one of the options listed and it has the centre-positive polarity like that the one you linked provides. I think the connector is one of the ones that are listed too (it looks like it measures up but I can't really check 0.5mm accurately) so it's looking like a good product choice.

The charger is marked as 3.42A while the battery itself is 3.2A - am I right in thinking that while the Maplin unit is 6A at the 19V I want that will be fine because the laptop will only draw what it needs to charge/run depending on what it is doing at the time or can it go pop?

 

[gblades]

I would get a mains inverter. Not as efficient but you can use your normal mains charger and power other stuff aswell.

 

[DazJW]

I would get a mains inverter. Not as efficient but you can use your normal mains charger and power other stuff aswell.

I had a look at them but they seemed more complicated to buy and there were lots of stories of them going pop and blowing fuses in the car which I don't want to happen. I don't have anything else to plug in anyway as I've always got plenty of camera batteries charged up and I already have a phone charger.

 

[arad85]

The charger is marked as 3.42A while the battery itself is 3.2A - am I right in thinking that while the Maplin unit is 6A at the 19V I want that will be fine because the laptop will only draw what it needs to charge/run depending on what it is doing at the time?

Yup.

An inverter is way more expensive than a DC->DC convertor. That Maplin one is a great price (paid £25 for my 120W non-Maplin one 2 years ago).

 

[DazJW]

Right I've ordered one of those, thanks for the help.

I think for the battery I might just get a second hand genuine one off eBay at some point, there are some sellers that guarantee an hour of life out of the battery and that's more than I'm getting out of the current battery with the LCD/processor down and wifi switched off so even if they're being a bit optimistic it should be around the same life.

Edit: In case anyone finds this thread I wanted to clarify that the Maplin product discussed (http://www.maplin.co.uk/120w-laptop-car-adaptor-44736) doesn't have a tip to fit the Acer Aspire 5100. It has one that looks like the right tip but is the wrong size and one that is the right size but the wrong kind of tip.