# Best place to buy 12 or 24 volt appliances



## BACOG (May 17, 2012)

Any good ideas. About all I can find is for truckers & campers.


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## GregYohn (Jan 24, 2013)

West Marine, Lehman's Hardware, and truck stops are the places to visit for 12 volt. Maybe running a pure sine wave inverter works best, so you can operate 110 volt items. RV places have the stuff too. 

Remember your TV, Laptop, and radio can be run off 12 volt. There are 12 volt water pumps too. 

What item were you needing in particular?


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

GregYohn said:


> Remember your TV, Laptop, and radio can be run off 12 volt. There are 12 volt water pumps too.


I've been wondering about this. How can I change my laptop over to DC?


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

Look at the wall-wort carefully to see what the voltage is that it is supplying the laptop with...12vdc seems to be the standard...

Back to the OP . . . . .How well I remember many years ago when the publisher of Home Power mag. had an article about how very glad he and his wife were that they had finally gotten an inverter into their very very off grid system. His comments were that the selection of appliances was far superior to the very limited amount of 12vdc stuff. . . . .For instance they both liked their "Smoothies" and the 12vdc "blender" had one speed-----on or off----but the AC voltage version had many speeds to chose from......

Because of that magazine article a whole lot of us decided to never bother with 12vdc appliances..........
So you might notice that a very reputable business like Backwoods Solar offers very little in 12vdc appliances . . . . .the stuff just is not very good quality........


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Jim-mi said:


> Look at the wall-wort carefully to see what the voltage is that it is supplying the laptop with...12vdc seems to be the standard...


I'm hoping you'll finish the sentence. I'd really like to know this information.


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

I did say it all in the one sentence.

On the wall - wort will be the info you need .
Voltage in--120vac
DC Voltage out ???? . . . which is what you are concerned with.
And the polarity of the plug........


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

I know that you are telling me something important, but I am just not getting it. I assume that the wall-wort is the black box in the middle of my power cord? Input 100-240V Output 18.5V Would I somehow remove the cord that goes from the black box to the wall and buy an adapter?....or would I do away with the cord altogether and get a direct plug adapter? 

I'm sorry I'm so dense on this, but this is one of those things in life that I've just never understood. I can wire a house because I can read a wiring diagram, but I have no idea about watts, volts or anything electronic.


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## blooba (Feb 9, 2010)

TxMex said:


> I know that you are telling me something important, but I am just not getting it. I assume that the wall-wort is the black box in the middle of my power cord? Input 100-240V Output 18.5V Would I somehow remove the cord that goes from the black box to the wall and buy an adapter?....or would I do away with the cord altogether and get a direct plug adapter?
> 
> I'm sorry I'm so dense on this, but this is one of those things in life that I've just never understood. I can wire a house because I can read a wiring diagram, but I have no idea about watts, volts or anything electronic.


The easiest way to charge a laptop off of 12vt is to buy a car charger.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/20524973?...1=g&wl2=&wl3=13703809390&wl4=&wl5=pla&veh=sem

If the tip you need isnt in the box you can just call the company up with your model number and they will send you the tip free of charge.

These are nice because you can use it for multiple laptops and even if you replace your laptop you will still have the charger.


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

TxMex said:


> I've been wondering about this. How can I change my laptop over to DC?


Your laptop is already DC. Buy a car adaptor for it. Then you can charge it from any 12v power source.

WWW


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