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Old 07-06-2019, 12:38 PM   #21
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I have two things that require 120VAC to charge, my bluetooth speaker, and my USB battery pack (if you USB charge it, it takes days, with 120VAC it takes a couple hours). I have a '400W' inverter that I wouldn't want to pull more than about 200W from, it came with battery clips, but I put a 12 ga pigtail with a PP30 connector on it, and plug it into the powerpole I added near the main electric panel, or I plug it into my portable aux 20AH battery which is pluged into a 100W portable solar panel.

We hardly ever use our microwave, even when we have shore power, so see no need for a 1500 watt built-in inverter... a smaller inverter is more efficient for small loads.
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Old 07-06-2019, 12:48 PM   #22
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Originally Posted by Lisle View Post
Brand new to all this trailer electrical stuff. I have an Apple laptop. What's the best way to charge it with a Highlander Hybrid as my TV and a Casita 16' as my trailer? Trailer is pretty new and doesn't seem to have any additional electrical stuff on it. I'm planning on charging my iPhone with the cigarette lighter on the car, of course.
most laptop supplies are in the 70-90 watt range, and only draw that much when you're both charging a dead battery and using the laptop heavily at he same time... typical use is more like 35 watts.

see if you can find a DC power adapter for your laptop from PWR+ or a similar vendor. I've used a half dozen different PWR+ adapters with good luck oer the years, on Sony, Samsung, Dell, etc laptops.

your Casita should have a 12V 'cigar plug' adapter under the rear cabinets? every one I've seen did, anyways. I was going to add more power connectors to ours, on the dinette bench near the power center, but we upgraded to an Escape, and I added the power connectors there...



(thats 2 USB with 3.1 amps, 2 Powerpoles each fused at 30A, and a 15A fused cigar socket... they are intentionally mounted upside down so the flaps aren't in the way... I used 12 awg for the powerpoles and 16 awg for everything else... the Escape power panel had enough extra fuse spots that I could fuse everything separately).
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Old 07-06-2019, 12:53 PM   #23
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oh, if you're regularly pulling a lot of DC off your trailer, having 100 or 200 watts of solar is a very good thing. my Escape has 160W solar on the roof, I don't even have to think about it, by the time I wake up mid morning, everything is fully charged. I'll charge phones and tablets at night, but anything heavier, I try and do during the day so the solar provides most of the juice.

with our casita, I used a 100W Renogy "Solar Suitcase".... I put a powerpole 12/2 pigtail on the Casita's 27M battery, and on the solar panel's cord, so I could plug it in.... I generally like to park with my hitch pointing north, so the sun is off the stern end of the trailer. before going to bed, I'll point that panel to the east or southeast, around mid morning aim it due south, then mid afternoon aim it southwest, that pretty much gets me good power all day long if its clear...

you can see my portable solar panel on the left here, mid day, due south...
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Old 07-06-2019, 01:11 PM   #24
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Originally Posted by Lisle View Post
I have an Apple laptop.

I had a MacBook Air with the Magsafe plug. I was able to purchase a 12V cord for it.
I now have a newer MacBook Air and they have changed the power plug. My son-in-law IT provider is searching for a new 12V cord.
Which is all to say, it depends what Apple laptop you have and what cord is required.
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Old 07-06-2019, 01:24 PM   #25
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Typical Apple!
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Old 07-06-2019, 01:27 PM   #26
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Typical Apple!

It's actually a significant improvement. It's not just a power cord.
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Old 07-06-2019, 02:11 PM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo View Post
I had a MacBook Air with the Magsafe plug. I was able to purchase a 12V cord for it.
I now have a newer MacBook Air and they have changed the power plug. My son-in-law IT provider is searching for a new 12V cord.
Which is all to say, it depends what Apple laptop you have and what cord is required.
Here are a couple of chargers that work with the USB-C power connectors on the latest Macs"

50 Watt This will slowly charge a MacBookPro, although might not keep up if you are using it at the same time.

This 90 watt charger (although no longer available at Amazon) will both charge & run a MacBookPro.
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Old 07-06-2019, 03:50 PM   #28
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90 watts is a lot to pull from a cigar plug at 12V, its like 8 amps.



edit, ah some poking around and voila!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004G6W8U4
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Old 07-06-2019, 04:04 PM   #29
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Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz View Post
90 watts is a lot to pull from a cigar plug at 12V, its like 8 amps.



edit, ah some poking around and voila!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004G6W8U4

Thanks, but that appears to be no improvement over using my small inverter and the charger that comes with the MacBook Air. Either will be lumpy with excess cord compared to the 12V cord I had for my old Air.
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Old 07-06-2019, 04:14 PM   #30
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Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo View Post
Thanks, but that appears to be no improvement over using my small inverter and the charger that comes with the MacBook Air. Either will be lumpy with excess cord compared to the 12V cord I had for my old Air.
the improvement is in efficiency. going 12V -> 120VAC -> USB C is going to be less efficient than going 12V -> USB C directly.
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Old 07-06-2019, 04:27 PM   #31
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz View Post
90 watts is a lot to pull from a cigar plug at 12V, its like 8 amps.



edit, ah some poking around and voila!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004G6W8U4
Yea, you need a good cigarette plug. I had one without a spring with my old 90 watt 12V supply for my magnetic connector Power Book, and it regularly got hot enough to disconnect (and burn you if you let the tip hit you when unplugging). I eventually replaced the connector with one that had a spring loaded tip & it worked fine.
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Old 07-06-2019, 04:30 PM   #32
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also a good socket. there's a marine style cigar outlet thats specifically NOT for lighters, which you can turn the plug 90 degrees to lock, these tend to handle the higher currents somewhat better. thats what I used for my bulkhead power outlet panel (but my inverter is on a powerpole that can handle up to 30A...)

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Old 07-06-2019, 05:34 PM   #33
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Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz View Post
the improvement is in efficiency. going 12V -> 120VAC -> USB C is going to be less efficient than going 12V -> USB C directly.

Understood, but I want tidy too.
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