stupid said...

hey all . just interested if any body knows of any brand / model of laptop to use on twelve volt with out a inverter . cheers

I believe the older Toshiba s will. I bought an old Toshiba Tectra off eBay a few years ago. It came with a leather case full of all the extras, spare hard drives and cd drives etc, plus a car power supply unit, 12v to 15-18v. I took the battery out and leave it out and the unit runs off the yacht batteries via the car kit. Some of the yachting forums say they will operate direct off 12v if the internal battery is removed. I have not bothered to try as I have a converter and you need a power cord anyway.

I am running Windows 98. Only programmes are ACDsee {picture programme} for chart manipulation and Seaclear 2 nav programme with a gps puck. The unit is for navigation only, memory is very low {256} and I think its a Pentium 2 but its more than adequate.

Buy something cheap off eBay and give it a try.

any laptop can run off 12v. its as simple as going to dicky smith and getting a 12 to ??? volt adapter to suit your laptop. plugs into a ciggy lighter.
did it to mine for a year while living aboard with no probs at all. cost 90 bucks.

thanks all for the valuable info
seems i now just need to start hunting for a dinosaur and see if i can drag it back to the cave !
cheers

One question comes to mind is that most electronics not destined for marine work will have some componentry susceptible to the ravages of moist salt air.

I have an idle lap top I'd like to use, but I also don't want it to clap out from corrosion after sitting in the boat for a year....

Comments?

Michael

MichaelR said...

One question comes to mind is that most electronics not destined for marine work will have some componentry susceptible to the ravages of moist salt air.

I have an idle lap top I'd like to use, but I also don't want it to clap out from corrosion after sitting in the boat for a year....

Comments?

Michael

If it is just for the boat, i would only use a older secondhand laptop, and maby take it to a computer shop, get them to pull it appart, use some electrical greace on the conectors, remove all the external plugs your not going ot use and seal the openings, even the exposed boards could be sprayed with a varnish like they use on stators and armatures. Or just get a good bag to keep it in.

A netbook at the fraction of the cost can have up to 10 hrs battery life...

I have a laptop onboard but I use it for music production, it is heavy on the juice so I use a netbook for everything else.

I also use a Sony psp for watching movies, I plug it in to the flat screen and have dvd quality movies (plus games) with a 4 to 5 hr battery...

MichaelR said...

Just got an IBM T21 Laptop with 1g RAM and 30G Hard Drive from work as a write off. Bought a 12 volt power supply from Dicks for $120 which will also power/charge the blackberry and ipod. The IBM works on 15 volts, and so is quite happy with this adaptor www.dicksmith.com.au/da/

Flattened the hard drive and re-installed WinXP and Office, as well as SeaClear II and will be installing the GPS puck and the charts when I can figure out how to and where to get the charts for a reasonable cost.

Bonus is, that it has a DVD player and will also drive a wireless internet connection when close to mobile phone range via the blackberry.

SO, anyone got any Eastern Australia Charts they'd like to "share" or swap?

Michael

Ciscos right, ours was and still is a Twinhead brand laptop bought about 1999. full drop resistant from table height, water resistant, xp pro, dvd and wireless. ran worlwide cmap well and interfaced via nmea to auto pilot (coursmeaster) and wind instruments.
still more reliable than our new(ish) toshiba.
20 volts. even had wireless moden for internet which worked within sight of land.
i miss my little boat though.