Inverter - Sunshine Solar

[Gozza2]

Morning all

I'm looking at getting a small inverter for our off grid trips.

Because it will only be used to charge Mrs Gozza's laptop, I only need a low power one and I've found this online: The continuous power rating is more than double the power that the charger needs, and it will have a huge label on it saying "LAPTOP CHARGING ONLY"!

My question is simply, does anyone have any experience with Sunshine Solar and would you use them again?

UPDATED QUESTION- thanks to Gumpy and JTQ for the comments below - I've gone back to the website and found Sunshine Solar also have a Pure Sine Wave inverter - so, different inverter, same question - anyone have any experience of Sunshine Solar?

300W - 12V Pure Sine Wave Sunshine Power Inverter

Sunshine Pure Sine Wave Inverters are suited for sensitive electronic equipment, allowing motors to run faster, quieter and cooler, preventing computer crashes, noises & glitches in monitors, TV, game consoles etc. Convert DC power from your battery into AC power enabling use of electrical...

www.sunshinesolar.co.uk

 

[GUMPY]

Laptop chargers don't always react well with MSW inverters, the magic smoke escapes from the charger😱
Possibly better to look for a 12v laptop charger.

 

[Gozza2]

Laptop chargers don't always react well with MSW inverters, the magic smoke escapes from the charger😱
Possibly better to look for a 12v laptop charger.

Thanks Gumpy, yeah I've been looking for one - but Mrs Gozza's laptop is a Dell and they have some special sensor that means they'll only charge from a Dell branded charger...and I don't really want to take out another mortgage right now!

I've had a couple of not-Dell chargers that say they'll charge a Dell, both have gone back because they didn't.

 

[JTQ]

Exactly the same comment, you may experience issues or even charger damage by using a Modified Sinewave inverter.

A lot will depend on how modified the wave form is and how sensitive the charger is to crude wave forms.

Way better is to invest in a high quality "pure" sinewave inverter; these are normally a lot more expensive reflecting the technology that they have to employ.

Edit: an example, picked only on their stated specification, not experience LINK

 

[JTQ]

I pop into a coffee shop with my laptop and its charger; many other such free facilities exist, but we like a morning coffee.

 

[Buckman]

Thanks Gumpy, yeah I've been looking for one - but Mrs Gozza's laptop is a Dell and they have some special sensor that means they'll only charge from a Dell branded charger...and I don't really want to take out another mortgage right now!

I've had a couple of not-Dell chargers that say they'll charge a Dell, both have gone back because they didn't.

I would never buy another Dell laptop again as too many hassles with it and I thought it was just me. LOL!

 

[JTQ]

I would never buy another Dell laptop again as too many hassles with it and I thought it was just me. LOL!

That is totally at odds with the excellent products and customer service I and those i support re their IT kit have found with DELL, particularly with their professional Latitude range. Great products together with some good DELL Outlet deals on over stock, refurbished or scratched units.
I use the right chargers, so have never had issues with them objecting to using the wrong ancillaries.

 

[Buckman]

That is totally at odds with the excellent products and customer service I and those i support re their IT kit have found with DELL, particularly with their professional Latitude range. Great products together with some good DELL Outlet deals on over stock, refurbished or scratched units.
I use the right chargers, so have never had issues with them objecting to using the wrong ancillaries.

It is not the charger so much, but the constant issues with the laptop once the warranty had expired as I did not want to subscribe to their maintenance plan.

However the thread is about inverters so do not want to digress too much as several months ago I did start a thread and Same helped with work arounds.

 

[Sam Vimes]

With so many different makes of laptops and inverters it's hard to make a decision that works for you.

Best option is a pure sine wave inverter. Less risk since it's much the same as plugging directly into the wall.

As an aside....I've used Dell machines for many many years. In fact I still use a 15 year old Vostro 1500 with a third party power brick.

As they say... mileage will vary. 🙂

 

[borderbilly]

Leave the laptop at home, simples!

 

[Gozza2]

Leave the laptop at home, simples!

We'd love to, and one day we will - but Mrs Gozza runs a business and needs to be able to check emails, tweak her web sites even when we're away.

 

[borderbilly]

We'd love to, and one day we will - but Mrs Gozza runs a business and needs to be able to check emails, tweak her web sites even when we're away.

Leave Mrs Gozza at home, even simpler 😁

 

[ProfJohnL]

The magic words are "Pure Sinewave Converter" the output should be perfectly safe to use with a laptop charger, But as to the quality of the brand I cant help.

However most lap tops need a DC supply at a specific Voltage defined by the lap top manufacturer. There are now ways to to provide DC to DC boost converters direct which would be a far more efficient than using sine wave inverter to lap top power brick.

Check on the lap tops power brick which should give a power rating in Watts, and the required DC voltage. Im not advocating this converter as the answer, but just to show such things are available.

 

[Milkfloat]

Which Dell laptop is it? I power multiple Dell laptops by 12v to USB C and all are totally fine.

 

[IanB1485]

I had a Dell Latitude laptop for work - all the commissioning engineers and project managers at the company had them and we had mixed experiences with them ( using them all day everyday ) mainly with the PSUs falling over or their leads' stain relief falling the annual PAT.
The DC input connector has three terminals and this way the laptop knows its a dell charger , sometimes , even with a Dell charger connected sometimes they didn't like it.I liked mine so much when I left that company I bought one secondhand.

 

[Buckman]

I bought my current Dell Inspiron in 2020 and it has i7 processor and cost ws close to £1k. I did do research on it before putrchase and went along with a number of glowing reviews and dumped my Asus in favour of the Del. Strangely the Asus although slow works perfectly.

Within a month or so of the warranty expiring, keys stopped working for no reason and still don't. Also, for example, pressing the "A" key it would bring input another letter. This happened with other keys. Another issue is that when typing one has to almost bang the keys hard otherwise it skips the letter

Definitely the worst laptop purchase I have ever made and I know I am not at fault. On Googling the Internet, many other people have had similar issues to the above. I suspect that if I had taken out the maintenance subscription plan, none of this would be happening.

 

[borderbilly]

PSUs, PAT, what the hell are you talking about? Need to remember there's a lot of old foggies on here, including me.

 

[otherclive]

PSUs, PAT, what the hell are you talking about? Need to remember there's a lot of old foggies on here, including me.

Power supply unit, Portable Appliance Test

 

[trevormonty]

If laptop supports USB C charging then 12V to USB C outlet is best way to go. Cheaper, more compact and power efficient. See article regarding wattage rating.

How to Charge Your Laptop With USB-C: Your Questions Answered

Most modern laptops have USB-C connectors, but not all of them use this versatile port for battery charging. Looking for a painless USB-C charging experience? Here's what you need to know.

au.pcmag.com

Modified sinewave will be fine for laptop charger. Best uprate inverter by 2 or more. If laptop requires 100W use 300W inverter. Will still only draw 100W from battery but better able to handle laptop's initial turn on power surge.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Modified sinewave will be fine for laptop charger. Best uprate inverter by 2 or more. If laptop requires 100W use 300W inverter. Will still only draw 100W from battery but better able to handle laptop's initial turn on power surge.

I don't know where you get you information from, becasue I have had a number of power bricks for laptops, tablets, and other items like TV's and audio equipment which when used on a modified sine wave inverter either ran very hot, or produced glitches in the appliance operation or actually permanent damage the power brick. And it was not about surge current capability.

The coarse step wave output form created by the modified or pseudo sine wave inverters causes electronic ringing in motors (e.g. hairdryers) and transformers which can cause them to run slowly and over heat, or other inductive or capacitive loads. modified sine wave inverter are are fine for resistive loads and filament bulbs , but these days there aren't many items that use only resistive components.

 

[Deejuk]

Just for the record I bought one of these works ok for my laptop and bits, plus you may be able to get a converter for to charge slowly from USB while it's not working.

All that said I'm no expert, just muddling my way along for 50-plus years.

https://amzn.to/44J6t8s