So i live on the road and i need a way to charge my laptop. My laptop charger is 150w so i found this 150w converter. Is this safe to use, Would this harm the battery of the car in anyway? Also if theres any techs, would it be safe for the laptop too?
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Is an Ac to Dc converter safe to use in a Tesla?
- Thread starter ryan48659
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- #battery #charger accesories
Not sure how new the OP's 3 is. What happened to this?
(his screenshot is at Screenshot 20211231 232032 — Postimages).
https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-A1DF67DE-94B4-4859-98B4-B0A5D342FAB3.html doesn't have that reference at the moment.
There are hits if one Googles for model 3 16 volt accessories socket site:teslamotorsclub.com. OP might need an inverter that can take 16 volt input...
(his screenshot is at Screenshot 20211231 232032 — Postimages).
https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-A1DF67DE-94B4-4859-98B4-B0A5D342FAB3.html doesn't have that reference at the moment.
There are hits if one Googles for model 3 16 volt accessories socket site:teslamotorsclub.com. OP might need an inverter that can take 16 volt input...
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I would stay away from these cheap plug in inverters. They are almost never pure sine wave thus they are less efficient and wasteful. If possible I'd get a PD plug for the cigaret lighter and use that to charge the laptop if that's an option. Way more efficient and less clunky.
Under the back seat of the Model Y or 3 is access to high power. I have seen a few people that hooked up an inverter there for higher power draw. The car is very picky with sudden changes in power draw, though. Just plugging in charger might create a short spike making the car's DCDC converter shut down. It will recover but it's not something you want to do.
I have a lot of things I need to power while on the road. I didn't want to mess with the power system of the car so I got myself a Bluetti power station. It has 12 Volt, 120 Volt AC and USB outputs. I slow charge it from the cigaret lighter plug and can use full power whenever I need also when the car is parked and off.
Under the back seat of the Model Y or 3 is access to high power. I have seen a few people that hooked up an inverter there for higher power draw. The car is very picky with sudden changes in power draw, though. Just plugging in charger might create a short spike making the car's DCDC converter shut down. It will recover but it's not something you want to do.
I have a lot of things I need to power while on the road. I didn't want to mess with the power system of the car so I got myself a Bluetti power station. It has 12 Volt, 120 Volt AC and USB outputs. I slow charge it from the cigaret lighter plug and can use full power whenever I need also when the car is parked and off.
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Not sure that really matters. I'm assuming the OP is trying to use the AC adapter brick that came w/their laptop to charge it. Those usually accept 100 to 240 volts AC 50 or 60 hz. What they output when charging can be clear (e.g. 20 volts) or murky. Look at Lenovo 65W AC Power Adapter | Power Adapter.
"The Lenovo 65W Standard AC Adapter (USB Type-C) offers fast and efficient charging at home, in the office, or on the go. This 65W charger is compatible with ThinkPad USB-C enabled laptops and tablets. It features Smart Voltage: technology which automatically detects and delivers 5V/2A, 9V/2A, 15V/3A or 20V/2.25A. Tested, reliable and backed by a one-year limited warranty."
https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/hp-65w-smart-ac-adapter-p-h6y89ut-aba-1 for example is 18.5 volt output.
https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/...nd-acdc-power-adapter-charger-reference-guide lists various Lenovo types. https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/pd008463 says DC output voltage: 11.5 V dc to 18 V dc. I have some old Lenovo laptops with the round plug like that. I also have a slim tip Lenovo.
The Apple A2518 67 watt adapter that came w/my 14" M1 Pro MacBook Pro has a USB-C port on it and on the brick mentions USB PD and output voltages of 20.3, 15.0, 9.0 and 5.2 w/the max amperages for each voltage.
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Yea, the car is very likely going to notice if you start pulling power from the PCS output.
The large power bank w/inverter dea is a good one though! You will never overwhelm the 12V outlet but with that buffer you would always have the power available. Plus you could use it if there was a power outage.
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I had an inverter hooked up to my old Model S and it worked flawless for 2 years. Used it every day to power a microwave and other things. But the new Teslas have a different DCDC and I have seen people going through all kinds of soft start tricks to make it work. So I thought the power bank is better, especially, as you say, it can act as a portable backup power for all kinds of uses.
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bradtem
Robocar consultant
Even if your laptop is not USB-PD powered (as most are these days) you can find DC to DC converters for just about any laptop which should be more efficient at delivering power to your laptop in the car. It may be called a mobile adapter or mobile charger. The cheapest ones are the ones that come with a variety of tips for different laptops and voltages, but there is usually a dedicated one just for your laptop model you can get. If your laptop is USB-PD, such adapters are low cost and tiny.
It is very rare for a laptop to take 150w (and especially unlikely if it uses USB-PD, though that was recently upgraded to support up to 200w.) Most commonly they take 60w or 100w -- 20v at 3a or 5a. All of which your car can provide easily. More to the point, even if somehow your laptop does peak at 150w, that will be the peak, and almost never drawn. The only time it would be drawn is if your laptop's battery is empty and at the same time you run a super intense game or AI training application or something else that maxes out the CPUs and GPUS. So the simple answer is, don't do that if your battery is empty, but in reality, I will wager you don't actually draw 150w.
Good news with the Tesla 12v socket. They don't have a fuse. Instead, they have a smart digital circuit breaker that cuts the power if current gets too high too long, and then resets. So you don't have to replace a fuse if you load it too much.
It is very rare for a laptop to take 150w (and especially unlikely if it uses USB-PD, though that was recently upgraded to support up to 200w.) Most commonly they take 60w or 100w -- 20v at 3a or 5a. All of which your car can provide easily. More to the point, even if somehow your laptop does peak at 150w, that will be the peak, and almost never drawn. The only time it would be drawn is if your laptop's battery is empty and at the same time you run a super intense game or AI training application or something else that maxes out the CPUs and GPUS. So the simple answer is, don't do that if your battery is empty, but in reality, I will wager you don't actually draw 150w.
Good news with the Tesla 12v socket. They don't have a fuse. Instead, they have a smart digital circuit breaker that cuts the power if current gets too high too long, and then resets. So you don't have to replace a fuse if you load it too much.
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I use such converter for charging my Lenovo laptop and wife's HP laptop and normally it works. But few times we did trip Tesla's cigarette lighter breaker. One just needs to wait some long time - around 15 minutes before the Tesla cigarette lighter outlet starts working again. Be careful when your battery is low as then it draws a lot of power to quickly recharge it.
When I read here about USB PD it is true it may work better, I will try that. But one needs to buy some good charger, the one I have gives just about 20W on the USB PD port.
When I read here about USB PD it is true it may work better, I will try that. But one needs to buy some good charger, the one I have gives just about 20W on the USB PD port.
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davewill
Active Member
One thing that people haven't mentioned is that newer Teslas now have 16v at the "12v" power port. If you have a newer car with the lithium battery replacing the 12 lead acid one, make sure the inverter han handle 16v input. Some can and some can't. The same goes if you look for a USB-PD adapter for a car plug, although those can often handle up to 24v input.
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Also, keep in mind that "12" volt systems are typically 13.x - 15.x VDC while the engines are running.
In 2013, Honda, for example, began using a charging system that varies voltage from 12.5 to 15.8 VDC in 0.1-volt increments.
The voltage on my '23 Model Y is 15.5 VDC - that's less than the upper end of the charging voltage on my last Honda.
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RayK
Active Member
I asked what the laptop requirements are because there could be another way of powering it without needing the DC->AC->DC conversion that using an inverter with the laptop's original AC power supply will cause or using a low-wattage AC power supply but with some tradeoffs. It really depends upon exactly what the OP is using for a laptop.
I believe I have about a hundred ThinkPad laptops; inventory control is not my forte - I lost count several years ago. Most of them are functional but I do have some parts machines as well. In my previous life I was a member and then co-admin at forum.thinkpads.com. Everything from old 600-series systems (600E, 600X) to the W520 I'm currently typing on. Power requirements of my systems have shifted over the years from 12VDC to 20VDC. Almost of the ThinkPad power supplies that I own have a coaxial (barrel) plug to deliver power - a couple of them have that rectangular plug but I think that's mostly for the docking stations. I don't own any laptop which uses the USB-C power connection. Mainly because I stopped acquiring ThinkPads once they ruined the keyboard layout (turning away from the classic 7-row arrangement but that's just IMO).
Anyway, back to the W520 I'm on.... The power supply I'm using right now is rated as 135W, outputting 20VDC at 6.75A. However the preferred supply of the W520 is 170W, or 20V at 8.5A. Using the lower wattage supply means that the computer is not running as fast as it can and/or charging of the battery will take longer. The laptop shows the power requirements on the bottom label as: 20V 6.75A/8.5A.
The OP might be able to get away with using a lower wattage power supply. If so, then it might be possible to use a boost converter; a DC->DC circuit which provides an output voltage greater than the input voltage, assuming the laptop requires something greater than 16V. That would take the 12V/16V DC input and boost it up to what the laptop needs. Typically those converters don't have a high current capability but I believe there are some which can reach 5A.
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