[SCCC] Portable Laptop for Field Use with KX3

[Marty Woll]

Hi, Dave.

I suggest you pull the battery for your laptop and read the specs printed on
it.   I'll bet you find it's much less than the 18 or 19 Volts listed as the
charger output.  I believe this design lets the computer differentiate
between being on shore power and being on battery power and implement the
power-saving  settings (screen brightness, processor speed, etc.) you have
set for running off each source.

The bottom line is that your computer will likely run on anything between
the battery voltage and the charger voltage, including 12 - 14 Volts.
Evidence of this came during our C5Z contest expedition long ago when a line
surge blew out all our laptop supplies at T minus 14 hours.  Our workaround
was to cut the supply-to-laptop cables at the supply end, strip the wires
and connect them to 12-Volt car batteries we bought at the last minute.
They ran happily all weekend that way.

73,

Marty N6VI


-----Original Message-----
From: SCCC [mailto:sccc-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of David Hodge
Sent: Sunday, November 1, 2020 4:46 PM
To: rick darwicki via SCCC
Subject: [SCCC] Portable Laptop for Field Use with KX3

Hello, All.

Does anyone have experience with DC externally powered laptops or tablets
for field use?
I would like to get something that can be powered from a car battery or
LiFePo battery, 12 to 14 Volt range.

The corollary question is how to interface it with a KX3.

Transcribing paper logs is getting old.

Thanks in advance for any ideas/leads.
David N6AN
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