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[–] 4 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I'm trying to figure this out at the moment.

What is the best way to power a laptop in an off-grid setup? Mine will be primarily solar + AGM battery.

I think the simplest "just works" set up is to get a "pure sine" inverter and go:

solar > battery > inverter > power supp > laptop

The thing is, if I understand correctly you have a big inefficient inverter to AC only to transform back to DC, with the only benefit being that the plug fits in the socket.

I'm curious to know how a generator ruins a power supply? Is it something to do with the arcane sine wave magic from the inverter?

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    The "best" would be some kind of DC to DC converter, but I'm not sure there's anything plug and play atm because there's a wide range of specs laptops want. If your laptop happens to change with USB c PD or whatever the spec is that'd be the most efficient that I'm aware of. No sense in going dc->ac->dc if it can be helped.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago*

    The “best” would be some kind of DC to DC converter

    No sense in going dc->ac->dc if it can be helped.

    Most laptop chargers can actually run on DC, and with as little as 48 volts. Here is a german guy demonstrating it. So if your battery bank runs on 48 volts, I think you might be able to just connect it directly to the input of a laptop charger and it will work.

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