Powering a Laptop

**wvanduser** · 01-29-2005, 02:28 PM

I don't have a car (DC-DC) adaptor for my laptop. It's a Toshiba Tecra 8000. I believe that it requires 12VDC, and I think that it requires 3 amps to operate. I wanted to know if I could find a car adaptor designed to produce 12VDC and 3 amps, directly solder it to the motherboard, and then directly link it to the battery. Is this a bad idea? I would put a fuse inline, but what kind of fuse? Can anybody forsee any major problems with this plan? Can anyone else suggest other plans?

**mushin** · 01-30-2005, 08:38 PM

You believe it requires 12V? I'd make sure of that before doing anything

I wouldn't solder anything to the motherboard. Power plugs tend to be standard, so get one that matches the jack on your laptop. If there are none, hack it off your power brick, you can always reattach it if need be.

Your main concern is power regulation. Car power is dirty. Any good 12V regulator, that can provide 3+ amps, should work for you. You should always fuse any wire coming off the battery, as close to the battery as you can reasonably get it. At only 3 amps though, you might be able to use the cigarette lighter line, or some other already-fused line.