Guest Harko Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Hi, I am looking for some experience and advice on powering/charging various electronic gadets while on a 3 month trip. I have been reading the various posts on the Powerlet VFR steering head kit and will most likely use this to power various devices in my tank bag. From here the plan is to get the short Cigarette plug adaptor and lead that into the tank bag. This will plug into a small 100W inverter which has a standard north American power outlet as well as a USB plug in. The plan is to charge cell phone and blackberry from the USB port and charge the laptop and camera batteries using the normal power outlet. Has anyone got any experience with this kind of setup and any advice on do's and don'ts in using this? Alternately - any suggestions on how to do this better? My main thinking here is that in someways it makes no sense to go from 12V back up to 110V to bring it back to 19V for the laptop, etc. Thanks Balders Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer hondalover Posted May 17, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted May 17, 2009 My concern would be of the heat the inverter puts out. And with going from 12 volts to 110 volts and back to 19 volts, you are going from DC to AC and then back to DC again. I'm not sure if there is another way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer FotoMoto Posted May 17, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted May 17, 2009 Unless you are camping, you can charge the camera/laptop in the hotel every night and skip the inverter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Unless you are camping, you can charge the camera/laptop in the hotel every night and skip the inverter. Yeah - the camping bit is exactly the issue. We will end up in hotels some nights, and I guess powered sites some nights - but expect to be away from electricity on a regular basis. Thanks for picking up on this - had forgotten to mention it in my post. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer FotoMoto Posted May 17, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted May 17, 2009 Well, opps, I missed the 3 month part! :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Unless you are camping, you can charge the camera/laptop in the hotel every night and skip the inverter. Yeah - the camping bit is exactly the issue. We will end up in hotels some nights, and I guess powered sites some nights - but expect to be away from electricity on a regular basis. Thanks for picking up on this - had forgotten to mention it in my post. Cheers I don't have experience with Powerlet specifically. I do however use a 100w power inverter in my truck when I travel. I recharge camera and laptop through the inverter and the cell phone directly off the 12v supply. With a 13y/o girl traveling with me, I am constantly recharging one or more of the three. :laugh:. There haven't been any problems with any of the devices as a result of this charging regimen. Sounds like an interesting trip. Hope it goes well for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer YoshiHNS Posted May 17, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted May 17, 2009 I ran a 75W inverter off of my 4th gen to charge my camera. No problems whatsoever. No heat or anything. Now, powering a laptop is a lot different. Depending on the power requirements of the laptop, you may not even be able to do it. I know my one laptop needed such high amperage that I couldn't even charge it cause I couldn't get an inverter that had high enough I've solved the whole laptop deal by getting a laptop with a 10hr battery life. Takes less than an amp at most to charge it while its on. Someone on here made a case that actually had a second battery which he powers his laptop/cell/other things off of. POWER CASE PART LIST Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Maddog Hoek Posted May 17, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted May 17, 2009 What's the amp draw on the laptop charger. At 100w you'll get less than an amp at 110volts. Just make sure you have enough and be careful if you get caught in sudden rain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer keithbob Posted May 17, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted May 17, 2009 Alternately - any suggestions on how to do this better? My main thinking here is that in someways it makes no sense to go from 12V back up to 110V to bring it back to 19V for the laptop, etc. Thanks Balders On our research boats at work, we use a system that connects directly to our 12V battery systems and steps it up to 20V, plugging directly into our laptops. It's made by Targus - here is an example: http://www.targus.com/us/product_details.asp?sku=APD45USZ I had to look a bit to find the one that fits our field laptops, but the one at this link fit's quite a few. Look at the 120V power supply that came with your laptop, and see what it puts out to the computer. That's what you want to look for. No inverter - it's made to plug into a car cigarette lighter. We just cut the lighter plug off and connected it directly to the boat's batteries. You could do the same on the bike. Everything stays DC. The units are made specifically for the various laptop models. Doesn't get very hot at all. Caveat - the boat's charging system handles it easily (Honda outboards!) - will the VFR's?? If you haven't already, make sure your ground system, R/R, and stator are up to snuff to handle the load. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Thanks all. The inverter is marketed as being able to charge laptops - so assume it will provide adequate power. According to the guide on it - a typical laptop will take 75W and the inverter will run continuously at 80W. So not a lot of spare capacity - will be interesting to see how that goes. We wont be using the laptop at the same time - so will just be charging the battery while riding and then using it at night. Just reading through the instruction booklet - what is more worrying is that it reaches temps of up to 60C (140F) so they recommend not to have it near flammable gasses. The tank bag might not be the best place for it then :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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