Macs and Apple Laptops

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by gulfcoastsailor

I’m curious. Just how far does One live off the grid when you still have an Internet connection?

Pretty far. Haven’t paid an electric bill in 20 years or so.

If there is a cell phone signal, there is the Internet. That covers the entire country. With very few exceptions.

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by kas_1611

You can? I'd love to know how when the minimum input voltage on my Apple powerpack states 19V? You could run them direct off a 24V system.

Personally I use a Sterling "Coke Can" inverter from my 12V DC socket to charge my 2013 MacBook Pro up when I need. Doesn't need to be a big inverter or anything overly fancy as the powerpack does a good job of smoothing any irregularities in supply (I know as I've used it happily on some pretty shoddy mains systems (think West Africa)).

12 volt chargers are easy to come by with the appropriate connectors/amperage to charge any battery-powered appliance that has industry standard plugs. Macs are no exception. Check amazon, you'll find the right charger.

[Tillsbury]

The other thing to consider is getting some sort of dock installed. I use a MacBook with USB-c, and installed a dock behind the instrument panel and a USB-c cable running out through a hole to the chart table. Behind the panel, the dock is connected to an external monitor, SD card readers, external hard disk, Ethernet to the router, and other USB devices. It came with a 19V dc converter, and I power it from the switch panel with a dc-dc converter that cost $5 dialled in to 19V.

This means I can quickly plug in either my laptop or iPad for charging as well as for access to the other peripherals connected up, and no wasting power converting from dc to Ac and back again.

[wannacat]

Been using a 400 watt invertor with the 12 v cigarette plugin for years that I bought at a truck stop fon my MacBook Pro. Works great, I've used smaller versions but they seem to labour a bit and aren't as fast as the 400 watt one. Our phones and the iPad can use the 150-200 watt ones.

[Siberian Sea]

Just go to your local Radio Shack type store and get a DC power converter. This will change the batteries 12 volts to what you need. Get one that has adjustable voltage output that can be set to match the 16.5 to 18.5 voltage output of your Apple wall charger. You will also need to match the output cable plug of your converter to the input charging port of your device you want to charge. I did this and have been charging my laptops and tablets for years with issue