My parents are missionaries in Haiti, and use a laptop computer to communicate with us here back in the states. ( email and internet phone thru a cyber-cafe once a week)
The problem is Haitis’ power supply. Spotty, spikey, current is hard on the computer.
So, does anybody know of a product that could be used to clean up the computer power supply ? My knowledge of electricity is miniscule.
An inverter? Transformer? Not really looking for a surge protecter I dont think.
Thanks guys.
Replies
You can buy power conditioners that will clean things up, but they're pretty expensive. If it was me, I'd just get an APC battery backup unit. That'll kick in if things on the line get too bad. You can get a pretty nice one for a hundred bucks or so.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
I'd just get an APC battery backup unit.
APC also makes a laptop protection unit that's in the $40-50 range, that you pass the a/c adapter through. That makes the l/t battery the "backup," so you want to have some sort of power indicator in the tray or on the desktop, too.
Spending a little bit more on the "foreign power adapter" for your specific a/c to laptop is also a good idea where the power is worst.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Yes, you can get a "clean power" conditioner. I priced one for my flat screen T.V. About $500.00 cdn. so that's about $10 us.
What MikeHennessy said - A UPC should do the trick nicely. Wouldn't have to be a very big one for a laptop.
What are your folks doing, exactly? I'd be interested in hearing about it. If you don't wanna tell the story here you could post it in the tavern...
To All : Thanks for the tips guys, I am going to investigate those options. Once again the BT SuperFriends come through in spades.....<G>
To bosshog: My parents are missionaries in Haiti. They live about forty miles west of Port Au Prince in a small town called Marose. Their main occupation is spiritually assisting the indiginous Church there, a congregation of about twenty families. Also in equiping the local populace with basic health and personal provision skills.( Gardening, raising livestock,water purification, well drilling) The Haitian average family income per annum is $400/U.S. or so. In their particular area it is somewhat less than that even.
We (myself, DW, and the three bunchkins) are going down the end of April for several weeks to help out with some projects for a couple neighbors and to take some supplies that are unavailable locally to them there. I'll post pics when we get back if anyone is interested.
Thanks again everybody, much apreciated.
Edited 3/30/2007 10:08 pm ET by woody1777
how about a solar charger ?plenty of sunlight in Haitisomething like this http://www.sierrasolar.com/prod_store/LAP_laptop.htmlor a couple of these http://21st-century-goods.com/page/21st/PROD/BATTSAVSE2you get the idea . might be the most cost effective solution
I do hope you'll post pics and stories when ya get back. I think it's amazing that people are willing to give of themselves like this. Don't know if I could ever do it.Is there a link to a website for the project they're working on?
Just because I Don't Care Doesn't Mean I Don't Understand
take the right shots b4 you go - hep a and b??
Don't quite know how this works or if it would help, but the city of Portland set up a kiosk recently with a laptop for citizens to type in comments about where they felt the city should be going. The laptop was powered off a car battery.
A UPC is one option. Perhaps a little better would be a "home-brew UPC" -- a 12V car battery, battery charger, and inverter to generate AC. And, of course, many laptops will run directly off of 12V. This gives you as much "runtime" as you have batteries for, and would be less fussy about the quality of the power source.
Both options are reasonably cheap, but heavy (for shipping). With the home-brew approach, though, the battery (and perhaps charger) can be obtained locally, and the other components are lighter.
But check first if the laptop can run off of 12V -- the inverter may not be necessary.
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However, on rereading I see that the laptop is being used in a ciber cafe, so some sort of portable scheme is needed. If simply charging the laptop batteries is sufficient then the above options should be OK, otherwise, there are small UPCs that might work.
Also, there are those "emergency car starter" battery packs -- a portable boombox-sized gizmo containing a rechargeable 12V battery. Either an inverter or the laptop's 12V power cord could be used with one of these.
Recently read an engineering article about a new type of surge suppressor being sold by a company called ZeroSurge. You can google their name and find their web site and info. Pricey units (around $130 for starters), but they completely absorb surges, not just clip surges to a peak value which then gets through (existing technology).
As others have said, a UPS running from a battery is about the only other option. There are some difference with these, the inexpensive ones provide just a square wave output averaging 120V while the more expensive units provide a stepped square wave to more approximate the power line sine wave.
Then there's also running your own generator.
I like the car battery idea. A UPC won't protect against the spikes and other sillyness on the AC line. Most surge protection will - in the act of protection against a massive spike - fail and become unuseable.
The car battery should have enough voltage to run a lap top for weeks on end, the voltage will be super clean, and recharging will be quite simple and easy.
Let us know what you ended up doing.
Good luck.
Instead of a car battery get a small sealled gel cell battery..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
"A UPC won't protect against the spikes..."
Sure they will.
Taken from:
http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=21
"It also safeguards your equipment from damaging surges and spikes that travel along your utility and phone lines."
Old Age Hasn't Slowed Me Down. I Was Always This Slow
> A UPC won't protect against the spikes and other sillyness on the AC line. Depends on the UPC. Some types just switch in when power fails, while others run constantly -- converting to DC and back to AC when the power's up. This second style is pretty good at eliminating powerline glitches.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
The best low-tech solution to lousy power with lot's of spikes starts with an inexpensive battery charger.
Don't get a high tech computerized charger with all the cool gee-gaws on it; they just burn out quick.
Use that to charge a marine battery or any auto battery that's reasonable size and not almost dead.
Get one of the auto/air power adapters for the laptop to connect between the battery and the laptop/cellphone.
If the power is incredibly lousy (regular lights bulb blow out with the power spikes), don't connect the laptop power adapter at the same time as your charging the battery.
If the lights just flicker and kind of yellow out when the refrigerator compressor comes on, you can hook them up simultaneously.
A marine/auto battery will soak up the vast majority of spikes and ripples that bother electronic equipment. Note that if the battery is completely dead, it will NOT limit the spikes like a partially or better charged battery.
Good luck
Marc