24v to 110v AC or 12v DC???

[Paul Harrop]

Does anyone know a good solution to power a laptop in a Helicopter? The ship's system is 24vDC and we need a good way to either have 110vAC or 12vDC out of it. Any suggestions?

 

[John Erwin]

Does anyone know a good solution to power a laptop in a Helicopter? The ship's system is 24vDC and we need a good way to either have 110vAC or 12vDC out of it. Any suggestions?

Here's a source that sells inverters with 24vdc input: http://www.dcacpowerinverters.com/24_volt_power_inverters.html . You may need to check on regulations though regarding their use on aircraft.

There is aviation-grade inverters that do the same but for a lot more cash; avionics suppliers would be able to provide more info on that.

The DC to DC route might be the most elegant, however in this case I suspect you are thinking of simply plugging a common 12v inverter into the output. You may want to check into "Empower" which is the standard used on commerical aircraft for laptop power systems. There *might* be something for smaller aircraft systems that you could use; these are like other laptop replacement adapters but they accept multiple input voltage sources.

Hopefully this helps a bit.

 

[D. Hayes]

The laptop power supplies we have for our maintenance computers for use on aircraft have a input voltage of 12-32v. It's made by a company called Amperor. Here's a link http://www.amperor.com/products.html we have the ADP-90DC model. Most modern and more powerful laptops will need more like 18v to operate.

 

[Mark Blue]

I would look no further than Lind a company who specializes in power for the mobile market.

http://www.lindelectronics.com/cgi-..._Adapters/x/dbx_gen_Special_DC_Adapters_mfgs/

I had a pure sine wave inverter, then I switched to a DC to DC adaptor to power my laptop in the car and I couldn't be happier. They provided power to Everest camps back in 2003, so they have an awesome reputation and make really good quality products.

 

[Eric Friedebach]

This aircraft parts vendor has some as well (the link only shows one, but type “inverterâ€￾ into the website search box for a larger selection.

Good company to deal with, BTW.