Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!crackers!cpoint!frog!barr From: barr@frog.UUCP (Chris Barr) Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops Subject: Re: Can Laptops be powered from Car Batteries? Summary: Solar panels, auto battery inverters Message-ID: <26423@frog.UUCP> Date: 28 May 91 18:31:00 GMT References: <18820001@hpspdra.spd.HP.COM> <18820003@hpspdra.spd.HP.COM> Organization: Charles River Data Systems Lines: 28 In article , userDHAL@mts.ucs.UAlberta.CA (David Halliwell) writes: > Does anyone else have success or failure stories about running > computers off solar panels or other alternate DC sources for long > periods of time? Yes, a friend of mine has, for about 2 years, used solar panels to power an early model Zenith 386 laptop (in the south of France where sun is plentiful), for weeks at a time. He's also used automobile battery converters. One interesting one he looked at, don't know if he bought it, was called Power Trip, by a company called Xirco. These things dissipate heat, and the better ones, i.e. higher-wattage ones, are recommended to NOT be attached thru a cigarette lighter, but directly to the battery. 100 watts seems to be a threshold. Here's my list of companies selling automobile-battery power supplies for laptops, but I have no experience to report. About 18 mos. old: Xirco Inc.: Wheat Ridge, CO 303/421-2013 $179 for 100W inverter 'Power Trip' StatPower, 604-420-1585, 170 Simundson Dr., Point Roberts WA 98281 $122/230 Axonix: Utah, 801/466-9797 laptop specialist, fax 485-6204 Chris Barr Charles River Data Systems, Framingham, MA