DL in the field

I think Apple advise not to run a laptop without the battery present
as the 'power' from the converter isn't enough to fully drive the
laptop.
Although it's probbaly be OK for most things.

 

Current MacBook Pros do not have a user replaceable battery. I am not
sure of the lesser MacBooks. My Old PowerBook Pro (a PPC or non-Intel)
machine has a user replaceable battery and it is possible to run that
without the battery. That option is not possible with the Intel
MacBooks.

....and as I have said I use the Kensington Power Inverter which is able
to power the MacBook Pro 85W power supply without issue.

 

Apart from anything else, the battery acts as a giant smoothing
capacitor and smoothes out most of the ripple and harshness of the
power supplied by most invertors.
Regards,

Eric Stevens

 

I think Apple advise not to run a laptop without the battery present
as the 'power' from the converter isn't enough to fully drive the
laptop.
Although it's probbaly be OK for most things.

--------------------------------------------------------------
I would think that such advise (keeping the battery installed) would be to
act as a capacitor and smooth out the power. If the power from the convertor
isn't sufficient to drive the machine,, it certainly isn't going to recharge
the battery.
When I did consumer electronics repair, I always kept a car battery on hand
for working on high power car stereos. My bench power supply was rated high
enough to supply the car stereos, but the capacitors in the power supply
weren't enough to supply pure DC.

 

At one stage my business owned an early Cromemco computer the power
supply of which was equipped with capacitors the size of bean cans.
There was a lot of construction work going on in the district and one
day we experienced a power supply glitch long enough to cause all the
fluorescent lights go out and then have to go through their restart
procedure. The large capacitors of the old Cromemco enabled it to just
sail right on through all of this even though it was running three
users at the time.

Regards,

Eric Stevens

 

Now that's what I call a power supply. Most products have a "sour
supply": a half second glitch and they shut down; acidic comments
follow...

 

The air doesn't either.

I am not

Well yes if you buy a new Mac but perhaps the better option for the OP
would be a cheaper laptop such as old old Mac or even PC type
which I believe most have user replaceable batteries

That might be the same or similar one to my friends which 'blew up'
although I thought his was 65W.
But it was blown by using an inverter (UK inverters give out ~230V).
he uses his powerPC macbook G4 1.5GHz 15" on a boat and this one time
forgot to use a surge protector. Although we can't prove it, it
stopped the
laptop battery charging. He brought a new charger, no luck so he took
the labtop
back to an Apple store where they tried a new battery which worked
fine.
The 5 amp surface mount fuse in the laptop was OK as we tried that
first.

His inverter has also died so whatever caused this spike from his
diesel generator
did something nasty blowing up the inverter, PSU and battery or at
least that appears
to be what happened.

So just a warning really, I hear on a mac podcast that USians are more
likely to suffer brownouts
and surges, lightning than we in the UK are generally speaking.
I can only speak for my bit of London and I can't remember a powerout
in the last 10 years.

 

So? You are not going to randomly remove that battery either if you are
using a MacBook Air.

At no time have I suggested which "laptop" he should consider. He can
buy whatever works for him. I have just remarked on some nominal
differences between "Netbook" & "Laptop" portable computers. I used my
experience as an example, and I have been using Apple computers since
1983.
He seems to be a Windows user, and I have no idea if he would, or would
not care to switch OS at this stage, or if he would be comfortable
switching. (Though I suspect he would be quite happy if he did. There
are others in this NG who have who are happy with the move.)

Correct, the PPC G4 Powerbook & MacBook portables use a 65W power
supply, and they are normally functional with voltage input range of
100-240V 50/60Hz. Current Mac portables us a 60W power supply for
portables with displays 13" and smaller, and 85W for 15" & 17"
PowerBooks.

I can't speak for what might, or might not have happened to the setup
your friend was using with diesel generator.

I have the occasional power outage out here at the lake. The cause can
be anything from a lightning strike, a localized PG&E transformer
issue, sometimes an accident where a utility pole has been damaged
miles from my home. For that eventuality I have a UPS which does a good
job of giving me time to shut down safely, and which provide a degree
of protection against power surges. For those extended outages I also
have a Honda 3000W portable generator (this one is not all that
portable, or as quiet as I would like), which provides 110/240V output
and 12V charging when I need it. That has been around twice a year.

 

Not really. To a degree when the battery is not charged, perhaps, but
once it is fully charged it doesn't soak ripple as well.

It's not the job of a battery to do so in any case - the power supply
front end is there for that.

 

No. The power converter can run the MacBook at full load AND charge the
battery at the same time.

The PS design may not handle the no load on the battery side for a
variety of reasons however.

 

If the battery goes the laptops dead too, send back to Apple.
Not the sort of thing you want while out on a photo shoot
or even arriving back from one.

Me. too and I agree with the majoroty of what you say until you talk
about
buying a new laptop a Macbook pro in this example, they are great
machines but I think a bit pricey
for what the OP had in mind which seemed to be just to view images on
a larger screen
or to off load images off a card.

Yep I totally agree if he has $1000 or more to spend.
There maybe a way of using an ipad2 (when it comes out) or any other
tablet
for viewing what you've taken on a lager screen.

Yes so I wonder what happens if you put it on a generator that can go
above 260V.
I guess it's OK in the US when the generator is pumping out 115V, but
in the UK
we need 230/240 not much of a margin, although I though the max range
was 80-263V
But that might have been another adaptor, I tend to buy a lot of
adapters for work too.

Neither can I that's the problem, we don;t know what caused the
problem
but with a blown inverter (caps blown), blown kenington charger, and
knackered battery
everything points to the generator going over voltage.
The thing is it's been OK for 2 years, it's just this one time he
didn't use a mains surge suppressor.

Few people have them in the UK, home users our national grid is
surprisingly reliable.

Similar to my firensd 2KW I assume, yeop and tehy are load in fact
there's a 'ban'
on them being on after 8pm where he is. (a canal in London) .

yes the 240V output going into a 240V input is OK, but if there;s a
spike ......

 

That's true, but if its fully charged you don't need to hang it on an
invertor or similar.

It may not be the job of the battery, but that's what it does. As for
the computer's power supply, if its a 'switched mode' it can get
particularly excited if its fed with the output of some of the rougher
invertors.

Regards,

Eric Stevens

 

Here in the US, it depends a lot on where you live. If your area is subject
to high winds and storms, then you will experience a lot more power outages
and surges than if you live in a "gentler" area. Here on the Pacific coast,
the whether is generally pretty mild, so we enjoy pretty steady line power
most of the time.

 

Sure you do. When I'm in the hotel, at home or at work, the laptop is
plugged in, often for weeks. That battery is well topped up.

If its fed from its 'brick' that's all it needs. The PS in the laptop
has further filtering and transient absorption before it converts to the
various voltages needed by the motherboard and internal peripherals.
The battery charger part of the laptop has its own regulation in any
case past that point and the laptop PS and electronics won't even see
the benefit of whatever ripple absorption the battery may be providing.

It's just more complex than other battery/ps devices.

 

That's not the case in my neck of the Pacific Coast. Here in Northern
California we get many outages every winter.

 

We should be so lucky here in Central Florida. Few weeks go by
without an outage. Everyone's air conditioner kicking on in the late
afternoon causes the blow-outs. Even in the winter since most of us
heat our home with our air conditioner as a heat pump.

 

No wonder: just look at the longstanding policy by which California
doesn't build either base or peak load generating capacity of its own
but relies on buying from surrounding states.

Regards,

Eric Stevens