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From: Owen H. Morgan (no email)
Date: Fri Mar 01 2002 - 15:34:20 EST
Hi guyz!
I DID IT!
I successfully opened up the battery pack in the Toshiba without loosing any digits or shedding any more blood. I have now removed the dead NiMH cells from it and connected 12V DC from the house battery direct to the plus and minus poles inside the empty battery pack, and the Toshiba is now running direct off 12V from the house battery.
The computer draws around 1A, rising to 1.5A when it spins up the CD to scroll the chart. If I close the screen, consumption drops to around 0.7A, quite a contrast to the 5A it draws when powered through the inverter. I think can live with a chart plotter that draws an average of 1A.
All I need now is a dedicated battery for the computer and some sensible way of charging it at sea, as I assume it is not a good idea to run the computer off the house battery with all my other consumers. Since I've connected direct to the battery poles inside the empty battery shell, I suppose Toshiba's designers expected the supply at this point to be really clean, so have not bothered much with filtering etc.
Anyone know how clean the output from a standard alternator is? Would it be safe to keep the computer connected to a battery while it is being charged from the alternator? A fully charged 12V NiMH battery can reach around 15V, so I don't expect the battery voltage when running the alternator will be a problem, but starting the engine from the battery the computer is connected to is probably a big no-no.
I ran into one rather peculiar niggle. If I disconnect the 12V supply from the empty battery shell while the computer is off and then reconnect it, the Toshiba decides the battery is terminally empty, and will not switch on even if there is ample battery voltage. The only way of getting it to start again is to remove the shell from the computer and re-insert it after it has been connected to 12V. This isn't a major problem, as the Toshiba only draws around 18 mA when it is switched off.
Owen
-- * This e-mail was accelerated by EPOC and REM * * Then it was brought to its knees by the Internet and GSM * Owen H. Morgan, Yacht "Naomi J.", LD-9311 @ Sjøhussenteret marina 68°43.13'N 15°24.74'E Sortland in Vesterålen, Northern Norway http://home.no.net/naomij ___________________________________________________________________________ || The Live-Aboard List : send a "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" request || || in body of message to: ||
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