Michael Gilbert Posted August 9, 2018 Report Share Posted August 9, 2018 Anyone know if it would be possible to utilize my batteries from my audio rig to charge my laptop when I need extra juice on it in the field? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Visser Posted August 9, 2018 Report Share Posted August 9, 2018 Apple used to make and airline DC to MagSafe adapter. That would probably be the path of least resistance, but to be safe I might go with a regulated 12v output from your battery rather than feeding the circuits of the adapter an unregulated 14.4v tap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismedr Posted August 9, 2018 Report Share Posted August 9, 2018 afaik apple didn't licence magsafe to 3rd parties, so there aren't many solutions... some companies did cut off the connector from the power supply and connected it to a LiIon power pack (I used one of those when we needed to have extended runtime in project off the power grid). not cheap but light and works well. alternatively, you could use a common 12V battery with an 12V DC to 120/230V AC converter and just plug in the normal charger, conversion losses shouldn't be too high if you use a good AC converter (also the apple power supply needs a good AC converter, otherwise it refuses to work - Tom's idea with the airplane adapter would probably avoid that problem and be smaller overall) chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundchris Posted August 9, 2018 Report Share Posted August 9, 2018 I use a 12V car charger for my MBP. Made an adapter from Hirose to cigaret-lighter. similar to this, works up to 15V Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Gilbert Posted August 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2018 The Car charger route is something I was looking at. I am in the process of building a little diy BDS. I have a pelican that I am putting everything in, so that when I am in the field and needing to dump media for my documentary, everything I need is nicely packed into that case and I can just open and go, that is where the power solution would come into place. Typically my laptop would have enough juice, but I want to be able to charge it and a few other things just incase. If I built a hirose or dc locking to cigarette lighter adapter, I should put whatever steps the voltage down to 12v into that custom cable, so that I can connect to any port. Same goes with my USB charging want/need. keep any voltage regulator built into the cable versus building it into specific ports on the bds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ilari Sivil Posted August 10, 2018 Report Share Posted August 10, 2018 I've understood it's relatively easy to tear out the regulator board from a cigarette lighter charger and solder in a different connector. I think I saw a tutorial online somewhere to do this for 5V USB power. You might need to hack up a new enclosure, though. An easy solution could be to use the hole for the tip of the cigarette lighter jack as a cable exit and solder the Hirose/dc-jack on the cable, so you could just plug the assembly into your power distribution with one connection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.