October 30, 2006 14:13
Low-cost inverters (120 AC to 12 v DC) are all "modified sein wave"; actually square wave (a true sein-wave inverter costs as much as a lap-top). Low-cost 120v AC to 12v DC interters cause many transformers to overheat and fail. In 10 years of live-aboard I must have fried 6-10 charging devices for small elecrical appliances, power tools and etc.
So an inverter is a poor choice for powering a DC appliance (like a laptop) IF there is a way of getting the 12-14 volt boat power to the correct voltage of the device to be used (not to mention the power loss from going from 12 DC to 120 AC and back again to whatever DC you need).
Q: Has anyone tried the "Megsafe Airline Power Adaptor" sold by Apple for the new Macbook and Macbook Pro?
It looks compact and is cheeper than ones mentioned above, but I can't find actuall specs on it.
Do the converters mentioned above plug to a Macbook?
CAUTION: If yoiu are trying to wire directly from boat batteries to an appliance be aware that voltage will run as high as 14v with the engine running and 13.1v with a fresh charge on your house bank. If that's beyond the specs for the device you can lose an expensive device. If a $50 adaptor regulates the voltage you are money ahead to get one.
So an inverter is a poor choice for powering a DC appliance (like a laptop) IF there is a way of getting the 12-14 volt boat power to the correct voltage of the device to be used (not to mention the power loss from going from 12 DC to 120 AC and back again to whatever DC you need).
Q: Has anyone tried the "Megsafe Airline Power Adaptor" sold by Apple for the new Macbook and Macbook Pro?
It looks compact and is cheeper than ones mentioned above, but I can't find actuall specs on it.
Do the converters mentioned above plug to a Macbook?
CAUTION: If yoiu are trying to wire directly from boat batteries to an appliance be aware that voltage will run as high as 14v with the engine running and 13.1v with a fresh charge on your house bank. If that's beyond the specs for the device you can lose an expensive device. If a $50 adaptor regulates the voltage you are money ahead to get one.