Portable power for laptop cart
I need to power a laptop while on a cart by battery power. At the end of the day or in between if needed the cart would be plugged in to charge. The cart would contain the laptop, mouse, keyboard, docking station and ZD500 printer. My first thought is to get a large battery backup device but the incessant beeping when no attached to power is a deal breaker. Also, I’m not certain those are best for depleting the battery over and over. Advice? Thanks in advance.
How far away is the nearest AC outlet? I build carts for electronic gear and equip them with a long AC cord and plug.
You can get HP battery operated printers that might work for you and obviate some power requirement and retro fitting. I have seen these at Staples.
You can get HP battery operated printers that might work for you and obviate some power requirement and retro fitting. I have seen these at Staples.
The printer is going to be problematic.
Zebra do, however produce battery powered printers. A ZQ520 might suit your needs.
If you configure a laptop with the slowest availible CPU, an SSD, and a second battery, it should be possible to build a machine that will easily last all day on a single charge, even with power savings disabled.
Perhaps you can get away without an external battery?
Zebra do, however produce battery powered printers. A ZQ520 might suit your needs.
If you configure a laptop with the slowest availible CPU, an SSD, and a second battery, it should be possible to build a machine that will easily last all day on a single charge, even with power savings disabled.
Perhaps you can get away without an external battery?
ASKER
The laptop will be Dell Latitude Rugged 7204 or Latituded Rugged 5404. I will check out Zebra battery powered printers. My preference was to use a dock which would need power. However, if I can attach a bluetooth mouse and keyboard nothing more would be needed. There will also be a barcode scanner attached via bluetooth.
A laptop with an SSD drive and LED monitor plus Bluetooth keyboard (if you need it) and mouse can go for 1/2 day or more in use. That coupled with a battery printer may be enough not to have a car battery backup.
Car batteries ate 12 - 13 volts and many newer laptops are 16 - 20 volts so there is a conversion that has to take place.
Car batteries ate 12 - 13 volts and many newer laptops are 16 - 20 volts so there is a conversion that has to take place.
ASKER
Will have IPS screen and SSD. Only thing with a motor I believe will be the CPU fan.
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At least two full-size lead-acid deep discharge batteries will be required -- not marine batteries, not the so-called "deep discharge" batteries sold to consumers -- this application requires true deep discharge batteries used for solar banks which are, unfortunately, expensive. And, of course, a UPS of the necessary size.
Wire the two deep-discharge batteries in parallel, open the UPS and remove the small SLA battery, and wire the batteries to the power terminals.
To deal with the beeping, open the UPS and cut the leads to the speaker, solving the problem (but also invalidating the warranty.)
Figuring $100 for the UPS and two modest-capacity deep-discharge batteries at $250 each, this should come in around $600.
If noise and stink are not an issue, a very small gasoline generator might be a less expensive possibility.
If you don't mind diddling the electronics severely, and have an electrician or very qualified computer tech ... you might have them look into opening up the printer and bypassing the printer's power supply so you could go directly to DC in the printer. Then everything could run off a modest battery bank using DC to DC converters. No UPS needed.