Summer is the time for vacations, travel and forays into the forest or sea. Who among us doesn’t dream of getting out of a stuffy office on a fine summer day, jumping into a car and heading off to adventure?
When traveling, there is often a need to charge various gadgets, without which many can no longer imagine their lives. In such cases, a socket (car inverter) in the car is very useful, which is not difficult to install.
It is difficult to find a second accessory for a car that is as useful as a voltage converter (inverter). In short, it adds a 220V outlet to any vehicle, allowing you to plug in anything from a laptop to a flat-screen TV.
Imagine a TV (up to 30 inches) broadcasting a live match right inside your car. Or plug in the microwave and heat up something tasty for yourself.
♥ ON TOPIC: 7 accessories for iPhone and iPad that you need to have in every car.
What is a car inverter?
Modern cars are equipped with a huge number of battery-powered devices. They are all rated for 12V, but what about situations where 220V is required? A car inverter will come to the rescue - a voltage converter from 12 V to 220 V. This is a real lifesaver for motorists, which will allow you to use household appliances in the car, such as a home audio system, TV or refrigerator. A high-quality converter is equipped with protective mechanisms that protect the device from fire if it overheats. There are also models on the market that provide active air-type cooling.
Externally, inverters are small boxes connected to the cigarette lighter or to the vehicle's electrical system. They are equipped with multiple outlets for household appliances, and some units even include USB ports for connecting mobile gadgets.
♥ ON TOPIC: Car charger for iPhone and Android gadgets: how to choose + 10 best options.
How to charge the battery without a laptop
It is quite a dangerous activity, but sometimes there may be no other option left - charging a laptop battery without a laptop. To do this, you will need a battery, a charger, a multimeter, electrical tape and a copper wire.
- Any battery has several outputs with contacts ranging from 4 to 9. To charge, the user needs to find the two needed with polarity + and -.
- Sometimes the manufacturer puts special notes on polarity or puts them on a label glued to the battery, but most often this does not happen, so you have to look for the necessary options using a multimeter.
- When the contacts are found, you need to connect two copper wires to them, which are secured with adhesive tape for reliability.
- After securing the wires, the circuit is again checked using a multimeter, but this time for the presence of throughput.
- The attached wires are connected to the charging unit; do not forget to observe the polarity. Now all that remains is to wait for the charging process to complete.
Car inverter, or how to make a 220 volt outlet in a car?
Almost all modern car power converters are equipped with two USB ports and an AC outlet. Dual USB ports can charge most phones and tablets simultaneously, and AC outlets are great for lights, laptops, breast pumps, ventilators, inhalers, game consoles, TVs, refrigerators, DVD players, grinders, drills , microwaves, flashlights, iPads and many other electronic devices.
The inverter can be powered through the cigarette lighter in the car using the appropriate cable or directly from the battery.
A car inverter is ideal for travel: it is often a small device, about 20 cm long and about 10 cm wide, compact and convenient. Extremely portable and lightweight. Weight – about 1 kg.
A good inverter always has a protection system - a built-in fuse to protect your device. Safe charging design provides protection against overheating, surges, short circuits and overloads.
The durable metal casing provides improved protection against moisture and shock. Built-in ultra-quiet cooling fan helps prevent overheating.
Depending on the planned tasks, when purchasing, be sure to pay attention to the value of the output power that the converter has.
♥ BY TOPIC: How to choose the right external battery (power bank).
How not to charge?
The attempts described above to charge a laptop without using the original charger are ineffective, but also harmless. Things will get much worse if the owner of the device, trusting vague advice from the Internet, tries to:
- charge the battery directly from the outlet;
- remove the battery and charge it from the mains or other portable power source;
- use homemade adapters, plugs, and so on.
All these options, if you have extensive experience and the necessary equipment, including the same transformers, are feasible - however, they cannot be classified as simple and accessible to the average user. As a result of such experiments, if the owner is lucky, nothing will happen - and if there is a little less luck, the most minor problem will be that the screen on the laptop does not work.
Advice: if you really need to charge your laptop, but you don’t have a charger with you, you can contact any service center for help - specialists will not refuse to properly replenish the battery “reserves” for a small fee.
How do expensive inverters differ from cheap ones?
Unlike most devices and gadgets, the cost of a converter does not depend on the popularity of the brand, but on its power and other functions. Experts divide inverters into three categories:
Up to 300 W – the least powerful models, which are most often connected through the cigarette lighter. Some devices in this category can be connected directly to the car's electrical network, but this will require a lot of effort. Motorists mainly buy such devices to charge mobile devices and some laptop models, although most often it is easier to simply connect the charger to the cigarette lighter.
300 W - 1500 W - standard inverters that are connected to the machine's electrical network. They can be used to connect a TV, microwave oven, laptops and other devices.
Over 1500 W – especially powerful converters that are connected only to the car’s battery. They can be used for work in wild areas (for example, when it comes to construction).
When choosing an inverter, make sure that it exceeds the power of your gadgets by about 20-30%. Connecting a device that is too powerful can result in failure of the inverter and damage to the wiring in the car (at least in theory).
If you intend to use appliances that require at least 220V, choose inverters with a capacity of more than 1500 W, since 300 W models are unlikely to provide voltage above 200V.
Buy an advanced 2000 W inverter with free shipping
Buy an advanced 3000 W high power inverter with free shipping
♥ ON TOPIC: Which TV is better to choose for your home in 2022: 11 practical tips.
Charger from another laptop
A completely logical solution would be to power the device with charging from another laptop. If their adapters are compatible, then you just need to compare the power. If the third-party option has more, then you should refrain from using such power, as the device may become very hot or even burn out. But at the same time, if the problem with the original charger is that the plug is broken, and the second charge was left over from an old laptop that no longer works, then you can simply cut off the plug and put it on your power supply. No special knowledge is required here.
- You should look at the original plug to see which cable goes to the plus and which to the minus. They will differ in color, with the plus going directly into the central part of the plug, and the minus attached to its outer part. This is the same for any laptop manufacturer.
- On the second plug, we look at similar parameters - which cable is to the plus and which to the minus. Now all that remains is to connect your power supply to the new plug, make sure that the wires do not intersect anywhere and insulate the connections.
This is a completely working homemade laptop charger.
In a similar way, you can assemble a charger from improvised means or specially purchased spare parts for this. You will need a plug for the socket, a power supply directly with the same power, voltage and current as the original unit. Obviously, you will need a plug, but you can do without it, although it is quite inconvenient and dangerous.
Charging assembly is simple: the power supply is connected to a plug and a plug; if the latter is missing, then the power supply must have an output with two soft strands of copper wire. The first should be connected to the minus, that is, in the socket to its outer surface, and the plus is connected to the pin that sticks out in the center of this socket.
The danger is that in this case it is difficult to ensure that the wires do not touch anywhere, so it is better to buy or select the appropriate plug.
Important! It should be noted that purchasing suitable spare parts will cost the same as a new power supply, so it is unwise to assemble it by hand from purchased components.
Three modes of operation of automobile inverters
Start mode - in this mode, the device quickly delivers maximum power to “start” something demanding. In this mode, the converter will not be able to operate for a long time.
Normal mode - in this mode, the inverter maintains its normal power as long as required.
Overload mode is a particularly powerful mode. In this mode, the device can operate for up to half an hour and produce power 1.5 times greater than declared.
Any qualified specialist will confirm that no device can function at its maximum capacity for a long time. The same applies to inverters - if you do not want the device to fail, try to use it in normal mode and do not overload it too often.
♥ ON TOPIC: Xiaomi 70mai Air Compressor Lite: high-quality quiet car compressor (pump).
Solar battery
The good thing about a solar battery is that it allows you to get energy without an outlet and without electricity at all. It is mobile and can be used anywhere, as long as there is sun in the sky. Usage is very simple: the battery is connected to the laptop via a power cable.
Important! You cannot use the device while charging, since the solar battery for a laptop does not have enough power to simultaneously provide power to operate and charge the gadget.
And the sun in the sky can hide behind the clouds, or the weather suddenly changes, so it’s easier to get a full battery than to work and be left without power at all.
How to choose the right car inverter
When choosing a converter, you should consider what devices will be connected to it, as well as a number of other aspects:
1. Car generator power . When buying an inverter, it is worth remembering that its power should not exceed 50% of the generator’s power so that the converter does not drain the battery (at least if household appliances are connected to it). Approximately half of its power will be spent on meeting the needs of the machine's systems, and the rest will go to connected devices. If you do not follow this rule, you risk being left with a dead battery.
2. Devices . The converter should be selected based on the expected power of the equipment used, including data on how much power the gadgets require at startup, in normal mode, and at peak. As mentioned above, only the most powerful converters can provide a voltage of 220 V.
3. Inverter usage model . As a rule, the cigarette lighter in a car produces no more than 100 W, so it is worth considering this aspect if you are looking at an inverter that connects through the cigarette lighter socket. The choice of device can also be influenced by the location where the outlet should be located (inside the cabin or not), as well as the desired power.
4. Brand . High-quality inverters from well-known brands are protected against short circuits and fire, which cannot be said about Chinese devices of dubious origin. When purchasing inverters, it is better to contact large chain stores so as not to end up with a frankly low-quality model.
5. Socket type . When purchasing an inverter, you need to check the type of socket, since not all of them are universal and suitable for all types of plugs.
6. Additional features . High-priced inverters offer a wide range of additional features, such as information screens, voltage changes or USB support. If the functionality is useless to you, it is better not to spend extra money and turn your attention to something simpler.
♥ BY TOPIC: Charging case for iPhone: a selection of the best options in terms of price/quality ratio.
How to save your battery
Several years ago, when purchasing any equipment with a battery, store salespeople advised to fully charge and discharge the device several times in order to “tune” the battery to work correctly. This method has gone online and to this day is an unshakable recommendation from “experts.” The truth is that the logic in these actions was only for nickel-cadmium batteries, which have a memory effect.
That is, having fully charged and discharged the battery, it indicated to the user - here are the lower and upper thresholds. If the buyer did not take these actions, then the battery “got used to” that 30% is the lower threshold (it was at this time that the buyer put the smartphone/laptop on charge), and 93% is the upper threshold (the user got tired of waiting, and the remaining 7% is not critical). Thus, the consumer independently reduced the capacity of his battery by 37%.
Modern laptops, phones and other gadgets use lithium-ion batteries, which do not have any memory effect, which means there are no recommendations on how to properly charge a new laptop battery. The only thing you need to know about how to extend the service life is the operating rules.
- The device containing the battery should not be exposed to strong external heat. That is, keeping a laptop near a battery or in the sun is not the wisest decision. When working in the hot season, you should consider purchasing a cooling pad.
- The situation is similar with low temperatures. It is not recommended to work on a laptop at subzero temperatures, and even if you enter the room from a cold street, you should give the device at least an hour to warm up.
- Do not constantly charge the battery. If the user always works near an outlet and the laptop is connected to it, then it is better to remove the battery. However, it must be used periodically, otherwise it will deteriorate.
- Do not leave the battery uncharged for a long period of time.
- The optimal charge level is from 30 to 90% percent. These parameters are not critical, you can put the device on charge or remove it from it earlier, that is, in the range of 30-90%, but you should not cross these boundaries. During operation, there is no difficulty in looking at the battery level and at the right time disconnecting the device from the network and reconnecting it.
- It is recommended to calibrate the battery a couple of times a year.
- When powered autonomously, you should refrain from using resource-intensive programs. Obviously, you should not load the device as much as possible when it is running on battery power - you can set the brightness to medium, and choose an economical or balanced power supply.
- If a user works on a gadget while traveling and does not use wireless networks, then it is worth activating airplane mode. In this case, the battery will last longer, since it will not constantly try to find available Wi-Fi.
The simple recommendations proposed above allow you to maintain the performance of the battery and ensure that it lasts longer than the 2 years stated as the service life of any modern batteries.
