Plastic Classic Forum

This post is in response to discussion about plugging your MacBook in without an inverter - which was apparently impossible. I hoped that maybe someone had solved the problem by now (I also have a MacBook) - and, lo and behold, they have!

http://mikegyver.com/IdeasnProducts/air ... index.html

Looks like in order to get around Apple's restriction on who can manufacture magsafe connections they simply re-use the one that Apple creates. You can send in your own and save, or buy a new one and pay. Either way, problem solved, from the looks of it!

alot. Too much. With our crew now 17 and 18, they still come aboard for a week or two with us for a summer cruise. We run our laptops on two seperate small inverters. One I think is just 150 watt or so. The only problem is running down the house bank in a hurry. That's been giving me some insight into what I'd need to do to run refrigeration onboard.

We also use the smaller inverter in the car for long drives if anyone wants to do their homework (right...)

Having looked again, I guess this is more for a direct 12v use? That would help us but laptops can use some juice.

Yep - this is direct 12V, no inverter, which will definitely reduce the amount of power used. But you're right, it still can add up to a lot. In the past I've used a battery box with it's own inverter to avoid mixing up powering the laptop with the main battery bank - and have charged that battery box with a solar panel or with the engine when it was running anyway. Not worth purchasing a battery box for that purpose, though, since the money spent on it would be better spent on more juice in the main bank!

Thanks, Chris! I hadn't done any looking yet, but I had been thinking "Hmm, I wonder if one could use the end off an Apple cord...."

Now I'll go check out the link. Thanks again :)

Rachel

(Who uses her 12-volt iBook cord constantly and would hate to give up that ability)