Charging my laptop

[iraghav]

Folks,

a new Model Y owner here.
At times, i need to work from my car for a while, which has been challenging so far since I cant get my existing 400w converter to work - to charge the laptop.

In my mind, this should be a pretty standard setup, a car providing options for users to buy a converter device that lets them run small electrical devices, such as a laptop charging and so on.

What am i missing ?

help / suggestions please.

thx
raghav

 

[ucmndd]

400w converter

The 12v socket is good for 12 amps continuous output (less than 200 watts). Use a smaller inverter. You also need one that works at ~16 volts as your “12v” socket is actually 16 volts.

Model Y Owner's Manual | Tesla

Learn about the electronics available in the interior.

www.tesla.com

 

[exxxviii]

I cant get my existing 400w converter to work - to charge the laptop...

How big is your laptop? A 400W brick is freaking huge. Unless you tap an inverter directly to the battery off a 40A fuse, nothing will power it. In any car.

Realistically, you will not be able to power a laptop that needs much more than 125W in any car. And a 125W laptop is usually a beast. So... see what the minimum power requriements are to power your laptop, and buy a brick with that spec. Then you can probably plug that into the 12V port through an inverter.

 

[GtiMart]

I suggest a small portable battery that can charge itself using the car's 12V (at 140-150W max) while providing you with more than that as you need, for w while. It will slowly discharge because the max you can pull from the 12V plug is around 150W.

 

[ATPMSD]

Maybe you need a better laptop or at least change the power mode. You should be able to get 6-8 hours of use out of a laptop.

 

[Midnightsun]

Lots of laptops today charge via USBC, no need to plug in to 120v. Don't think a laptop exists that requires a 400w inverter and as mentioned there is no 12v socket on any car that will accept something this power hungry. See what your laptop requires and you can most likely just use a smaller inverter. they are rather inexpensive. Inverter

 

[Watts_Up]

@iraghav what laptop do you have?

I would recommend looking at this forum thread:

Advice on 12V inverter to 120V for Laptop - Equipment (No astrophotography) - Cloudy Nights

Advice on 12V inverter to 120V for Laptop - posted in Equipment (No astrophotography): Hello All, I had a bad experience with 12V DC laptop adapter killing the mainboard of my Dell laptop (I can tell more about that story if folks want), so my decision for field powering the laptop is 12V...

www.cloudynights.com

I put a summary of interesting points, see below:

1) The user had bad experience with 12V DC laptop adapter.

- I suppose using a 12V to 19V step up DC converter, maybe something like this one:

DC-DC 12V to 19V 8A Adjustable Step Up Voltage Converter 152W Car Boost Voltage Power Supply Module for Voltage Conversion​

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2) Someone recommend getting a specific car adapter provided by the laptop manufacturer. Such as the following Dell:

Dell DC/DC Auto-Air Adapter 90W​

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The item on the left is an "Airplane Adapter"​

The item on the right is the "Car Adapter"​

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- In the Forum thread, someone provides the following information:

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Dell has a tiny axial pin inside the power plug which is digitally transmitting parameters of the power adapter. ​

Only when a certified adapter is detected the laptop allows it to charge the battery. (Actual laptop operation is un-affected). ​

​

The above model seems to have some issue with that pin and blew the little transistor in the receiver circuit on the mainboard. ​

Thus preventing the battery from charging ever again (which you see in the bios 'power' menu). ​

​

I only realized that when I had tried the adapter on two laptops. ​

Dell placed the communication transistor on the mainboard (and not on a separate charge controller). ​

​

So blowing that one transistor kills the whole MB. Cost me 2 new MBs and replacement work. ​

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3) A less worrysome option but not as efficient would be using a 12V DC / 120V AC inverter and the Laptop charger:

I personaly use the following inverters

BESTEK 300Watt Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter​

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BESTEK 150W Power Inverter DC 12V to 110V AC Converter 4.2A Dual USB Car Adapter​

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Note: Inexpensive inverters output square waves rather than sine waves and some equipment won't like that.
Many laptops will work with an inexpensive square-wave inverter, but for maximum compatibility and safety
you probably want a good pure sine wave inverter. They are a little bit more expensive, but recommended.


4) If you are a DIY person, the following youtube video is quite explanatory:

How to running the laptop with 12v battery / 3 wires Charger?​

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[E90alex]

If your laptop has USB C charging then you can either use the built in USB C ports in the center console for a slow charge at about 27W or get a 12v socket USB C PD adapter for a faster charge.

Even 27W should be enough to slow charge while driving and sustain battery level during use on mode laptops unless you’re doing super heavy workloads on a very power hungry laptop.

 

[Johnny Vector]

Lots of laptops today charge via USBC, no need to plug in to 120v. Don't think a laptop exists that requires a 400w inverter and as mentioned there is no 12v socket on any car that will accept something this power hungry. See what your laptop requires and you can most likely just use a smaller inverter. they are rather inexpensive. Inverter

Some folks have tested the power output of the USB-C connectors in a recent (2022) MY, and the front ones seem to deliver between 33 and 36 W. Less for the rear ports, as they are limited to 9 V. I haven't checked my 2020 build MY, just reporting what I read.

33 W is enough to run most laptops, but not charge the battery unless they're sleeping or off or doing hardly anything. I had exactly this issue recently when trying to run my laptop off a very limited off-grid solar power installation. As a result I did find a USB charger that plugs in to a 12-24V "lighter" socket and has a 65 W PD USB-C output (plus 3 USB-A ports which claim to be capable of 54 W total). I haven't tested it under full load, but it does charge my MacBook Pro while streaming video. It's sold by Feeyoo (whatever that means), and is literally the only one I could find with multiple outputs that include a 65 W port. Hopefully when they say 12-24 V input, they mean up to 27.5 V, since that's the max battery voltage of a "24V" LiFePO4 system so it'll occasionally see that. But it'll be fine with the "12V" (really 16V) Model Y voltage.

 

[jjrandorin]

For some reason, the OP of this thread is equating "existing 400W converter" as something they need to use to power their laptop, and I doubt those two things are actually connected.

Since they used "work from my car" and not "play games on my gaming laptop with 18 inch screen and mobile gaming video card", its almost certain that the laptop doesnt use anywhere near 400W of power.

The OP also joined TMC, created this thread, then logged off, all within about 8 minutes, and so far has not logged back in to see any responses. In general, this tends to mean that either the person really didnt care about the question they were asking, or its someones sockpuppet account, since if you care enough to create an account and post, you generally care enough to see if anyone responds to your post.

 

[Autonerds]

I personaly use the following inverters

BESTEK 300Watt Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter

Have you used this one with the Li-ion 16v?

Noticed in the Q&A the seller stating:

"The inverter only works with DC12V car outlet, the input voltage should be DC11-15V, if the car outlet is 16V, it won't work."

 

[Watts_Up]

Have you used this one with the Li-ion 16v?

Noticed in the Q&A the seller stating:

"The inverter only works with DC12V car outlet, the input voltage should be DC11-15V, if the car outlet is 16V, it won't work."

Good point, I was thinking about this issue. I could not test this, I have only a 12V battery.

 

[Watts_Up]

For some reason, the OP of this thread is equating "existing 400W converter" as something they need to use to power their laptop, and I doubt those two things are actually connected.

A larger inverter might be less efficient and use more current when idling,
mostly because of the number of transistors used to provide more current.

But also larger inverters can detect if there is no load and goes in a standby,
but that's feature is for much larger inverters, like 5kW.

I suppose the OP might use this inverter in an RV or a camper van
and might have more than just a laptop but some lighting too or a TV set.

 

[Watts_Up]

The OP also joined TMC, created this thread, then logged off, all within about 8 minutes, and so far has not logged back in to see any responses. In general, this tends to mean that either the person really didnt care about the question they were asking, or its someones sockpuppet account, since if you care enough to create an account and post, you generally care enough to see if anyone responds to your post.

With only one posting, this posting seems more like a rant,
because Tesla dosent't provides provide AC power like other EVs
(Ford 150, KIA and Hyundai 5/6 ) .

 

[Watts_Up]

Have you used this one with the Li-ion 16v?

Noticed in the Q&A the seller stating:

"The inverter only works with DC12V car outlet, the input voltage should be DC11-15V, if the car outlet is 16V, it won't work."

I wonder if using a 24V inverter instead of a 12V inverter would then work with a 16V Li-ion battery?

Car Power Inverter 120W DC 12V 24V to AC 110V ​

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[Autonerds]

I wonder if using a 24V inverter instead of a 12V inverter would then work with a 16V Li-ion battery?

Q&A indicate no. But this one is supposed to work. 14V +- 2V. Think I will try it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B56TZCWG/ref=emc_b_5_i

 

[Autonerds]

But this one is supposed to work. 14V +- 2V. Think I will try it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B56TZCWG/ref=emc_b_5_i

Yeah. It works but... It's a modified sine wave. My Lenovo laptop charger doesn't like it and will not charge.

 

[iraghav]

Folks,

First of all, thanks a ton for the amazing amount of knowledge and experience flowing through so many responses.
As i said, i m a very new MY owner, and still figuring things out.

1. i have an existing 400W inverter which works just fine for my other car (in past - Civic, CRV, and now a days RAV4 hybrid). Was trying to use that.
2. i didnt mean to imply that my laptop does need 400W power. its just the rating of the inverter i already have.
3. my laptop is an hp envy series, which doesnt support USB charging (2020 model). therefore the need for an inverter to be able to charge the laptop.
4. My other laptop - a macbook pro - which does support usb-c charging, charges just fine with the ports in the center/armrest/console.


Since my original post, and one of the early suggestions, i have now purchased a 140W inverter, which while plugged into the front armrest console, works out fine and the hp laptop charges just fine. Sometimes, i need to charge my camera batteries, apple watch and phones etc.. which all works out just fine with this setup.

Once again, thanks a ton for the overwhelming help.

thx
raghav

 

[Empiro]

I wonder if it isn't the voltage being incompatible with the inverter. Even if the inverter is rated for 400w, it's unlikely the laptop charger actually uses that much. You can look at the label to see the maximum current or power draw.

 

[iraghav]

For some reason, the OP of this thread is equating "existing 400W converter" as something they need to use to power their laptop, and I doubt those two things are actually connected.

Since they used "work from my car" and not "play games on my gaming laptop with 18 inch screen and mobile gaming video card", its almost certain that the laptop doesnt use anywhere near 400W of power.

The OP also joined TMC, created this thread, then logged off, all within about 8 minutes, and so far has not logged back in to see any responses. In general, this tends to mean that either the person really didnt care about the question they were asking, or its someones sockpuppet account, since if you care enough to create an account and post, you generally care enough to see if anyone responds to your post.

Not at all. A genuine user, with real ask.
the suggestion #1 was good already, so went ahead and worked on that.