Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: Wed, 5 Jun 91 04:58:46 CDT From: "Patton M. Turner" Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Cellular Modems Message-ID: Organization: TELECOM Digest Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 426, Message 5 of 10 Lines: 37 > high-powered laptops such as the Toshiba 5200 don't have any provision > for running off of a 12-V DC input. I can imagine that your typical > low-power 12-V input might be insufficient to run something like this, > with a hard drive, 16 megs of memory, 25 MHz 386, VGA screen, etc. > However, we need something that powerful (and we need the slots). > Seeing as how a car battery can provide a substantial amount of power, > I was wondering if anyone knew of any product that would allow us to > run something like this off of the car's lighter jack, or even to hook > directly to the battery if necessary. In addition to an inverter, which will generate a square wave with the same RMS voltage as AC line current at up to several thousand watts, there is another solution: the Adapata80 and 30. These do not produce AC current, and only work with switching type power supplies. The adaptors produce 80 and 30 watts respectivly, and weigh about 1 pound. They include a cigrette lighter plug for the DC and a 110 volt receptacle for the output to the computer These adaptors being upstream of the power supply should avoid "noise problems" from the car's electrical system. One of these adaptors is being used by the Agricultural Engineering department here at Auburn, I'll check with them regarding their experience with it. The company's address is: Product R&D Corporation 1194 Pacific St. Suite 201 San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 I hope this helps, I'll E-mail any aditional information. Patton Turner KB4GRZ pturner@eng.auburn.edu