Kelly Hanson East wrote:One last thing on this thread - a lot of the 12 VDC computer adapters will run the computer just fine, but wont charge the battery....they are chipped so that the computer wont charge unless it recognises the brand name charger...Dell in particular does this.
I have a Targus car/air adapter and it charges my Dell notebook under 12v or 110AC just fine. In fact, we took a road trip this weekend with the 3G tether and had Internet for hours and the Dell was very happy.
But it would put it past me for Dell to do that. My wife's Dell 17" laptop gets mad if I plug my 15" power supply into it. In fact it slows the thing down because it's not a 70w adapter.
.....and it has worked fine on both of our Dell Laptops. It runs on 12 volts, but puts out the 19-20 volts to the computer the same as the Dell 110 power supply. It wasn't cheap, but it is made very well and we would get another,
Sum
Funny you should mention Lind Electronics... I actually know LeRoy Lind, the founder. He's a brilliant guy and makes a really serious, bullet-proof product. I'd heartily recommend anything from his product line - you're right, it ain't cheap, but it's the best you can get.
The other choice I see on our boats would be to create a system that allowed you to clamp the panel outboard of the lifelines on either side. The clamps could attach to the two cabin top lifeline stanchions. I might even run a SS tube between the stanchions on each side and mount the panel to it. You could use a pigtail to feed a common plug near the mast. I would make the mounts in a way that that the panel could hinge downward for storage and aiming at the sun. You would move the panel to whatever side is the sunny side of the boat throughout the day.
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Exactly what I am planning for a setup. E-Marine also sell this arrangement.
For those that want a macbook without the price tag, get a small/cheap Atom CPU laptop and install Snow Leopard, here is a start on how to do it http://www.hackintosh.com/.
FYI in OZ the 13 inch Macbook starts at $1199 and goes up to the 17 inch starting at $2499. I bought an Acer Aspire One for $429.
Something to consider when planning your solar panel installation are the prevailing winds in you cruising grounds. This can guide you in choosing the location that will give you the best solar panel performance.
For instance, up here in the Pacific Northwest the majority of the time the winds come from S or SW. In general this means there is a good chance in any anchorage your boat will be sitting with the bow pointed south. Aside from the month before and after the summer solstice, the sun is also on an arc to the south. This means if I mount my solar panel on an aft arch there is a good chance it will be shadowed by the mast as the boat sits at anchor. I would be better off to have the panel along the side of the boat where it would have clear sun. During the morning it should be mounted along the east rail and at noon moved to the west rail. Every 2 -3 hours you would want to change it's tilt to get the most direct sun you can.
In places where the prevailing wind is from the north an aft arch mount would make more sense, except down under of course where everything is reversed.
I had a Lindt on my LATITUDE D400 that behaved as described - ran fine, but would not charge battery. Fine on boat, where I only used it below anyway, but something to know about in case you will take the computer ashore.
Lindt does make a solid product - good connectors cabling, strain relief, etc and I would go right back to them over anyone else.
I'm waiting for the new sun viewable net books and laptop. There are models coming from Dell, HP, Asus etc. There are some high dollar ones already on the market from Panasonic and a few other. The low cost consumer sun viewables are not far off. With built in GPS and Wifi they will be a great nav station with Sea clear, Open CPN, Google Earth and Active Captain
