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electrical:12v:laptop [2018/03/25 19:03] frater_secessus created |
electrical:12v:laptop [2020/01/07 20:49] frater_secessus [use a power-sipping laptop] |
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====== Charging and powering laptops ====== | ====== Charging and powering laptops ====== | ||
- | Laptops are the most power-hungry of the nomad' | + | Laptops are the most power-hungry of the nomad' |
There are several techniques for successful laptop use on the road. | There are several techniques for successful laptop use on the road. | ||
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If the label only shows output in volts and amps we can use Ohm's law to calculate watts. | If the label only shows output in volts and amps we can use Ohm's law to calculate watts. | ||
+ | Example from secessus' | ||
+ | * older Dell corporate laptop, **90w** | ||
+ | * new entry level laptop with very similar benchmarks as the Dell, **30w** | ||
+ | * chromebook, **16w** | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== use a DC adapter ===== | ||
+ | Using a DC adapter for your laptop rather than an [[electrical: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Many modern laptops run off 19v; a DC adapter will convert your nominal 12v DC power to 19v. You can buy an OEM adapter by searching ebay for something like [[https:// | ||
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+ | ===== reduce power consumption ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | You can't affect how fast the laptop charges, so we will focus on reducing power consumption. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== screen brightness ==== | ||
+ | One of the easiest and most effective power saving techniques is to **reduce screen brightness** to a dimmer but still-usable level. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This will make the biggest difference on laptops with larger screens. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ==== tune laptop-specific settings ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | Common settings: | ||
+ | |||
+ | * dim screen after X minutes of inactivity | ||
+ | * blank monitor after X minutes | ||
+ | * suspend/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Set the timeouts as aggressively as you can stand. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ==== reduce cpu load ==== | ||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | Extraneous applications running on your laptop consume CPU cycles, which in turn consumes more battery power. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first place to look is **the System Tray** (see image to the right). | ||
+ | |||
+ | Right-click on each icon in the System Try to see what it is. If t is not necessary disable or uninstall it. | ||
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+ | |||
+ | The second place to look is the **Startup folder**. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Navigate to your Startup folder and delete any icons for programs that are not necessary for automatic running. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ==== eliminate cpu-taxing animations ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Some webpages have animated or multimedia elements that consume CPU cycles when they are visible. | ||
+ | |||
+ | If you want to allow the animations but not have them consume as much power you can switch to another tab so the animation is no longer rendered. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== disable networking ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | If you don't need networking for the current task, consider disabling wifi and bluetooth. | ||
+ | ==== reduce bandwidth ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reducing bandwidth usage will, in addition to easing the pain on your checkbook, reduce the processing power needed to handle the data. It will also reduce the amount of time the wifi or bluetooth are transmitting. | ||
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+ | ===== charge at the right time ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | If you charge your laptop while driving or [[electrical: | ||