I ran a full sized office photo copier off a generator once, it ran fine, but you could really hear the engine chugging when the fuser started to heat up.
What is the best way to power a laptop in an off-grid setup? Mine will be primarily solar + AGM battery.
I think the simplest “just works” set up is to get a “pure sine” inverter and go:
solar > battery > inverter > power supp > laptop
The thing is, if I understand correctly you have a big inefficient inverter to AC only to transform back to DC, with the only benefit being that the plug fits in the socket.
I’m curious to know how a generator ruins a power supply? Is it something to do with the arcane sine wave magic from the inverter?
The “best” would be some kind of DC to DC converter, but I’m not sure there’s anything plug and play atm because there’s a wide range of specs laptops want. If your laptop happens to change with USB c PD or whatever the spec is that’d be the most efficient that I’m aware of. No sense in going dc->ac->dc if it can be helped.
Using a generator to power a computer is a really bad idea. You’ll significantly shorten the lifespan of the power supply. Ask me how I know.
I ran a full sized office photo copier off a generator once, it ran fine, but you could really hear the engine chugging when the fuser started to heat up.
I’m trying to figure this out at the moment.
What is the best way to power a laptop in an off-grid setup? Mine will be primarily solar + AGM battery.
I think the simplest “just works” set up is to get a “pure sine” inverter and go:
solar > battery > inverter > power supp > laptop
The thing is, if I understand correctly you have a big inefficient inverter to AC only to transform back to DC, with the only benefit being that the plug fits in the socket.
I’m curious to know how a generator ruins a power supply? Is it something to do with the arcane sine wave magic from the inverter?
The “best” would be some kind of DC to DC converter, but I’m not sure there’s anything plug and play atm because there’s a wide range of specs laptops want. If your laptop happens to change with USB c PD or whatever the spec is that’d be the most efficient that I’m aware of. No sense in going dc->ac->dc if it can be helped.
But why would it? Is the output not voltage controlled?