[Clegacy]

I plan to have a laptop charging while the vehicle is off. How much juice will I drain from the stock battery? Should I upgrade to a yellow top?

 

[Catt22]

The laptop won't draw much current at all while it's charging. The stock battery should be fine. You will need to do some mods to the wiring as both the 12v and 110v outlets are off when the ignition is off. It wouldn't be too much work to change that situation. You should be able to find out what the actual current draw is from the laptop specs.

 

[AceTechno]

Just a thought. Have you given any consideration to leaving a laptop in your car charging while you are away from the car? iPods, stereos, cell phones, PDA, GPS Laptops are the #1 reason cars get broken into and damaged. Going to a yellow or red top battery may help. You may consider a battery with a higher CCA rating. These have a higher mAh rating as well. And yes you will need to rewire things so that the inverter is on with the key off or rewire the lighter plug to be always on. :thinkerg:

 

[Layonnn]

Just a thought. Have you given any consideration to leaving a laptop in your car charging while you are away from the car? iPods, stereos, cell phones, PDA, GPS Laptops are the #1 reason cars get broken into and damaged. Going to a yellow or red top battery may help. You may consider a battery with a higher CCA rating. These have a higher mAh rating as well. And yes you will need to rewire things so that the inverter is on with the key off or rewire the lighter plug to be always on. :thinkerg:

Hopefully he would know to at least conceal it so it is not a visible reason to break in.

 

[Clegacy]

Just a thought. Have you given any consideration to leaving a laptop in your car charging while you are away from the car? iPods, stereos, cell phones, PDA, GPS Laptops are the #1 reason cars get broken into and damaged. Going to a yellow or red top battery may help. You may consider a battery with a higher CCA rating. These have a higher mAh rating as well. And yes you will need to rewire things so that the inverter is on with the key off or rewire the lighter plug to be always on. :thinkerg:

I won't be leaving the laptop in the car unattended. I will only be using this laptop while Im in the car. I just want to make sure the car battery doesn't drain while Im parked getting some work done on the laptop.

 

[kokopelli]

Should be fine.. Ron

I won't be leaving the laptop in the car unattended. I will only be using this laptop while Im in the car. I just want to make sure the car battery doesn't drain while Im parked getting some work done on the laptop.

 

[F.E.A.R.]

No need to get a battery, but if you do I suggest getting this bad boy that I installed, not cheap, and I don't know anyone else that has Optimas big-rig yellow-top besides me, but it is one hell of a battery!

I still wish there was a way to know how long you can leave your car electronics on and a\c and what not with the car off until your battery dies though...no way to tell really

 

[Winterpeg]

What about those little solar panels you can put on your dash that plugs into the cigarette lighter and gives a slow charge?
Would that negate the draw from a small electronic gizmo charging in the back of the FJ?

Just a thought....

 

[kokopelli]

Try this... Ron

Calculate Battery Amp Hours

No need to get a battery, but if you do I suggest getting this bad boy that I installed, not cheap, and I don't know anyone else that has Optimas big-rig yellow-top besides me, but it is one hell of a battery!

I still wish there was a way to know how long you can leave your car electronics on and a\c and what not with the car off until your battery dies though...no way to tell really

 

[F.E.A.R.]

Try this... Ron

Calculate Battery Amp Hours

Isn't that a bit hard to do? I might have my sound system playing which is 1.8k watts total or I might have the A\C on which I have no idea how much power it takes..it's really a loose estimate if you use that website :-\.

 

[kokopelli]

Not really.. It's the only way you can do it. Turn on everything that you might want and measure the current at the battery. Use that to calculate the drawdown on the battery. That'll give you an approximation of where things will go black. I'm assuming that the engine is not running, so no AC or anything like that. At least you'll have an idea of the run time.. Ron

Isn't that a bit hard to do? I might have my sound system playing which is 1.8k watts total or I might have the A\C on which I have no idea how much power it takes..it's really a loose estimate if you use that website :-\.

 

[Sky]

I have fully charged my 17" laptop numerous times and have never drained the battery.

 

[bartt]

I know I've seen some battery terminal connectors with some sort of built-in charge indicators. Can't remember where now, but I know they are available.

 

[DEWFPO]

There are solid state devices you can hook up to the battery that will protect your battery from discharging too much. My 05 Chevy pickup comes with that protection from the factory. It leaves enough power in the battery so that it will start even after being drawn down to a certain level.

DEWFPO

 

[stevemacfarlane]

No need to get a battery, but if you do I suggest getting this bad boy that I installed, not cheap, and I don't know anyone else that has Optimas big-rig yellow-top besides me, but it is one hell of a battery!

I still wish there was a way to know how long you can leave your car electronics on and a\c and what not with the car off until your battery dies though...no way to tell really

What's the model number on that Optima? I want to look it up and compare it to my Odyssey 2150 due to arrive this week. I paid $340 for the Odyssey 2150 (free shipping). How much did the Optima set you back?

 

[alden]

Per a recommendation from Larry @ Dirty Partrs I installed an Odyssey
PC1700MJT...cost was $283.

Larry knows his stuff....

 

[F.E.A.R.]

What's the model number on that Optima? I want to look it up and compare it to my Odyssey 2150 due to arrive this week. I paid $340 for the Odyssey 2150 (free shipping). How much did the Optima set you back?

Mine costed about 300, unlike the one you ordered it is a Deep Cycle battery. Mine has a lower cranking amps than the same size RED TOP optima, but has far better deep cycling capabilities and can be completely drained and then recharged (non deep cycle batteries will die from this) It was either this yellowtop or the PC1700MJT, and I decided on the Optima. I believe my model is the Optima Yellowtop D31t