Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen From: davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: car battery adapter for '386 Zenith Turbosport laptop Keywords: laptop battery zenith turbosport Message-ID: <590@crdos1.crd.ge.COM> Date: 28 Sep 89 13:23:53 GMT References: <1972@frog.UUCP> Reply-To: davidsen@crdos1.UUCP (bill davidsen) Distribution: usa Organization: GE Corp R&D Center Lines: 38 In article <1972@frog.UUCP>, barr@frog.UUCP (Chris Barr) writes: | Zenith refuses to sell a car battery adapter for their '386 laptop, | the Turbosport, because 'its quick-charge batteries draw too much | current for a car battery'. The 386 draws about 25w *max*. Your starter draws about 1200w max. Do you believe Zenith? They probably assume you are a duffus who would leave the computer on for two hours with the engine off, and want to protect themselves. Now when you don't start, they can say "I told you so." | | The Turbosport battery is labelled '24 V, 2.0 amp'. The AC adapter | and computer's baseplate label give voltages & amperages ranging | from 27 to 37 V, 0.18 to 1.8 volts. Most importantly, Zenith tech ^^^^^ did you mean amps? I assume so. | support says their ac adapter draws 1.1 amps from a wall socket. | I assume this is a peak value. That's not very efficient, but 37*1.8 {ballpark equal} 120*1.1. | II. DC->DC adapter | | a. Axonix, Salt Lake City, sells one designed to power both a | '286 laptop and a printer, so it puts out 26 V/ 2.0 amps. This | would probably work - if it mated with the Zenith's unique 4-prong | external power connector! For what my opinion's worth, sounds like a winner. I have a compressor which draws 10 amps from a cigarette lighter and it hasn't been a problem yet. I would expect the converter to pull about 5a, so you shouldn't have any problems. I *would* measure the current draw and base my engine off usage on that figure. -- bill davidsen (davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen) "The world is filled with fools. They blindly follow their so-called 'reason' in the face of the church and common sense. Any fool can see that the world is flat!" - anon