not really a bike question...

[ashwell-09]

Hi everyone,

I have a laptop with a really poor battery life, is there any way i can adapt a laptop charger to fit into my car? Preferably through the ciggarette lighter slot? it saves me having to buy an ipod or a better phone with good memory

I'm pretty shit with electronics and not sure if it's even a possibility.

Cheers,

Joe
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Riding as fast as you can sounds like a good speed to me
1988 Yamaha DT 50 > 2004 Motorhispania RYZ 50 > 1988 Honda CBR 400

[Fisty]

buy a 12v inverter that plugs into your lighter socket

https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/12V-240V-150W-300W-PEAK-POWER-INVERTER-USB-NEW-/200526347767?pt=UK_Cars_Parts_Vehicles_Other_Vehicle_Parts_Accessories_ET&hash=item2eb04d3df7
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Quietly and consistently taking the piss.
TL1000R | Hayabusa | ZXR400 | TL1000S | Bandit 400 V
Fatter and faster than Fret

[HD]

If you mean for music then I highly recommend you buy an iPod or even a bigger memory card for your phone. You can get really cheap iPods with tonnes of memory on there
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Rusty '02 Vito Camper + CBR600F3

[G]

There's a lot of cheap mp2 players.
I'd highly advise against buying an iPod, because they such for a variety of reasons.

You can get 12v chargers for laptops. I got a small one and charged a netbook with it while riding my bike - a few hour's riding would easily get it to full charge which would let me watch a film and read some of a book in the evening.

[Teflon-Mike]

A 'cheap' MP3 player would probably be the most cost effective solution.

I got a universal 12v cigarette socket lap-top charger from Maplin in a sale about six months ago for the grand sum of £5.99, they;re normally about £25 up depending on the power out-put.

Ran snowies Toshiba OK, but My HP has a wiered voltage rating.

Needed to run my HP in the Range-Rover as I use it for GPS navigation, for Green-Laning, & a run can be all day, and the battery just wont last more than an hour or so with teh GPS sender plugged in, so got a 300w 12v Inverter that plugs in the fag lighter socket, and gives you a 240 AC three pin plug socket you can plug a domestic lap-top charger (or any other reletively low-drain applience) into.

I think mine was about £50, and far more powerful than I need, BUT consensus of people using them for same thing as me was that the cheap ones have a habbit of going 'pop', as does running them continiousely close to thier rating. Advice I was given was dont buy anything 'plastic', they go pop. Metal ones with propper heat-sinks are more likely to last, but if they have a cooling fan, then they are probably a good bet.

You do need to have the engine running if you have something fairly hefty plugged in though, or it will flat the battery pretty quick.

One thing I will say about running the lappy in the car though, is its a pain to stow. There's no-where really convenient to site it, its too big, and theres wires all over the place, and you cant easily do anything with it, like change music or whatever.

Green-Laning, Usually have Snowie Co-Driving, with it sat burning her knees, moaning at me..... but its plotting our progress in real time on a high-resolution Ordinance Survey map, loaded with over-lays of the track we can drive down, and its taking an awful lot of the hard work out the job for her, and saving her getting into a twist with a paper-map on her lap, moaning she dont know where we are on it, or getting it upside down or whatever!

Other-wise, it sits in its case, turned off, charging, and for music, one of the I-Pods is plugged in via a radio transmitter.... another Maplin 'special' that I think cost £7.99 or something, you can actually program the transmit frequency you want into rather than having just one or two you have to hope are 'clear', but has big bonus of a USB charging socket on it, as well as the phono-lead so you can plug in an Ipod or MP3 to transmit & play through the radio, and power / charge it at the same time.
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My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[G]

You can get lap top mounts for cars.
Tempted to make something like that up for my lorry to go with my touch screen tablet style laptop.

[Teflon-Mike]

[Robby]

[G]

Have you been talking to Marjay - no significant rust that needs fixing . And no, the surface of the 1/2" thick metal on the body of the tail lift is not a big worry .

Provisional licence I'm probably going to have 'issues' with as DVLA returned (doctor missed a couple of ticks) without my photocard.

Giving me plenty of time to consider toys for the cabin .

[stinkwheel]

Wow. ITT, people recommending stepping 12V DC up to 240V AC then stepping it down again. Involving buying an expensive inverter and flattening their battery. Not to mention having a potentially dangerous 240v AC supply in their car ready for a drink to be spilled on it.

You need a DC to DC adapter.

My laptop runs on 9.5V DC. So I'd need one of THESE at £4.39.

Look on the back of your laptop for what voltage it runs on. Google for a "12V to xV adapter" click "add to cart".
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Teflon-Mike]

[Codemonkey]

Something like this...

https://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=44736