check out the new remote control Jockey Wheel SmartBar rearview170 Topargee products Enginesaver Low Water Alarms
Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Post Info TOPIC: Computer Upgrade - DC Power Only


Veteran Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 66
Date:
Computer Upgrade - DC Power Only


Am researching a computer upgrade since my two laptops are giving up the ghost slowly;

I don't want to run any 240volts since the DC is very quiet and regulated - both sound-wise and electricly.

I want a 27 inch monitor running of 19 volts power-pack to run off 24volts with a buck inverter to drop the voltage 5 volts. They look to be a cuppla hundred bucks and draw about 30 watts.

The Computer itself I want to run reasonably fast, resize photos, a bit of videos editing. Mostly to watch movies on the monitor. There are these things called NUCs which are used as drivers for displays and run a Celeron or low end i3. I want to run this off DC and want the total draw from the box to be under 100 watts. No fan at all would be nice on a starry night in the middle of nowhere.

Are the single board computers any good? Latte Panda , that type of thing. Would like to run Windows 7 and Linux. I have been playing with a raspberry Pi and it really doesn't have enough processor power.

I already have a network setup so this will fit in nicely.

Would appreciate any tips... 

 



-- Edited by Extraordinary Rendition on Tuesday 26th of February 2019 03:02:23 PM

__________________


Guru

Status: Offline
Posts: 7579
Date:

An Asus PN40, it probably doesn't do quite what you want but it is low power & would have enough grunt other than for 3d rendering which suck the life out of a render farm! It would be perfect adequate for 2d work.



__________________

Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

50L custom fuel rack 6x20W 100/20mppt 4x26Ah gel 28L super insulated fridge TPMS 3 ARB compressors heatsink fan cooled 4L tank aftercooler Air/water OCD cleaning 4 stage car acoustic insulation.



Guru

Status: Offline
Posts: 4188
Date:

Does the monitor's 19V supply have enough headroom to accept a 24VDC input, without stepping it down? I would think that there would be several buck converters inside the monitor, and that these may be spec'ed for higher inputs. Being switchmode, I would expect that there would be little, if any, reduction in efficiency.

Do you have the model number of the monitor?



-- Edited by dorian on Tuesday 26th of February 2019 04:47:51 PM

__________________

"No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full."

Lucius Cornelius Sulla - died 78 BC 

 



Veteran Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 66
Date:

Dorian wrote "Does the monitor's 19V supply have enough headroom to accept a 24VDC input, without stepping it down?"

I haven't bought a monitor just yet. Just speccing it up at this stage. A few of them seem to use a 19volt input from an inline 240v power pack.  I have 24volts (nominal) from the Batteries probably maxing out at 28volts. I would be a bit woried about blowing up the monitor. I have ordered some DC DC buck inverters from Bangood and will see how they perform. Might be a good idea to hang some extra protective circuitry off them too depending on what comes from China.  Cheap and cheerfull but the failure rates are quite high. I have ordered some spares but the monitor is not expendable.

However you are right. In all probablity the power conditioning in the monitor will be quite sophisticated and it would be good to know the input specs. a switch mode power supply shouldnt "blow up" , merely dial the PWM back by the percentage  of over voltage. No extra power dissipation. I am looking at some from PLE at the moment.  The info on PLE is a bit scant and the manufacturer not much better

Acer K272HLE 27" Full HD 4MS VA LED Monitor PLE.

ACER Website

 

I am not wedded to this unit or manufacturer. Just the size / power  is important. I never game and that resolution is perfect.



-- Edited by Extraordinary Rendition on Tuesday 26th of February 2019 05:54:45 PM



-- Edited by Extraordinary Rendition on Tuesday 26th of February 2019 06:05:36 PM

__________________


Guru

Status: Offline
Posts: 7579
Date:

A 24 volt Victron DC to DC converter has an output range from 20 to 30 volts, if 20 volts is not too much.



__________________

Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

50L custom fuel rack 6x20W 100/20mppt 4x26Ah gel 28L super insulated fridge TPMS 3 ARB compressors heatsink fan cooled 4L tank aftercooler Air/water OCD cleaning 4 stage car acoustic insulation.

Page 1 of 1  sorted by
 
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.

Tweet this page Post to Digg Post to Del.icio.us
Purchase Grey Nomad bumper stickers Read our daily column, the Nomad News The Grey Nomad's Guidebook