12v or inverter for computer use?

[flashngcurser]

Hi all,


I will be living with family in Montana, I may have to use 12v or square wave inverter power to run my computer.

Does anyone know if this is possible? Will square wave power kill my power supply? (or monitor?) Or is there a way to use 12v?


Thanks Dan

[pcmech007]

You won't be able to use a 12V source on a typical power supply. It expects 120V or 220V and steps this down to 12V and 5V.

If your computer is a laptop, there are adapters which allow a 12V supply (like a cigarette lighter outlet) to power the computer.

As for square wave 120V sources, yes you can do it but it will shorten the life of your power supply, may cause bad flickering in your monitor and forget about using a laser printer (laser printers draw huge amounts of current when they power on and warm up).

Generally, square-wave outputs are used only in lesser quality backup ups's. Full-time/Backup ups's deliver sine wave or modified square wave, because extended use of square wave will eventually damage downstream electronic components.

[cadetstimpy]

Get a good UPS on ebay and then you can parallel wire in all the batteries you want!