Portable lcd screen

kingkongo

kingkongo

kingkongo

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Joined
19 Mar 2005
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116
Location
Penarth in Wales and Bristol
Hello

i need some help on a particular subject which im not familiar with and dont really know where to start.

The setup described below is not for a car but for a moving vehicle.

i need to power a 19inch lcd screen( an actual screen or a laptop), but not from the mains. it has to be portable so that means, it would have to work with maybe a rechargable battery pack, and then be charged when the battery runs out. i need as much running time as possible. if approximately 10 hours is possible off one charge then that would be perfect.

does anybody know if this is possible and if so can they provide me with some information or any links to products that i could purchase.

if it will not work then could you suggest a set up? maybe using solar panels or using a dynamo to power the lcd screen.


if you could provide me with details specifications such as lcd power consumption, battery pack run time etc... that would be most helpful

thank you for your help.
 
So i assume your looking to run it of a 12v car battery supply or similar?

There should be a few options for that if its what your looking for.
 
I think youd need lots of solar panels to power it soley off that, if you even get any sun :p I suppose it could help prolong it though.

A computer ups would work, 19" lcs use about 35watts. If you were using a dell mobility laptop you could have the battery and ups working together for a long time.

You can buy 2.4Kw ups systems for £1k, they can power a 19" lcd for much more than 10 hours and they arent massive either.
 
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i havent actually chosen a specific screen.i need one, any one that is about 17-19 inches.

the screen is to be mounted on a trolley that uses the screen as a form of advertising.

what is UPS?

also i was looking into inductive charging, the was a toothbrush works. would that be possible.

also a stupid question but how big is a car battery?

could somebody provide me with possible options as i am not familiar with electronics.

thanks
 
A ups is an uninterruptible power supply. There main use is as a power backup for desktop pcs when the mains runs out.

Ocuk sell some. APC are the best, dont buy belkin. Ups systems may cost but at least you dont have to mess with any wiring like a car battery, its just plug and play. You should try to look for most efficent monitor you can get, remember that the smaller the screen the less power it uses.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Un_Interruptable_Power_Supplies_55.html
 
whre can i find detailed information on UPSs? how long will a ups keep a 17in laptop or 17in lcd screen powered for?

if i used UPSs, do you know if it would be possible to charge a line of trolleys, each with a ups, while they are nested at their bay? so if they all connected to each other and ultimately one connected to the mains, could they all charge? or would each one hav 2 b connected to a mains to charge?

do you know how much power a laptop requires compared to a lcd screen?

i think that a laptop would be a better option as it would need to have wireless to receive advertisements. that way all the trolleys could receive the adverts. also i would want a pda connected to the trolley for gps and other little user needs.

any help is much appreciated, and thanks for the help so far, it has been very helpful.
 
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You should be able to link them all together like you said but it will ruin the batterys in the ups systems after a while (though not the laptops) so I wouldnt reccomend it.

Some dell laptops are supposed to last for 5 hours by themselves but they dont have 17" screens.

http://www.apc.com/products/runtime_for_extendedruntime.cfm?upsfamily=165

Apc have a large selection of ups systems. They arent cheap though the better models cost about 1k. In the model comparison section you can enter the power usage in watts and it will calculate how long it will last.

For how much it will cost, your probably better off buying extra batteries for the laptops your using or buying long life laptops.
 
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do u know much about inductive charging?
or using dynamos?

would they be able to power the laptops?

what if i didnt use the ups, but charged the laptop batteries directly? could i nest and connect them all and have them all charging at the same time?

what about using inductive charging and having certain areas charge the trolley without any contact? is this possible?
 
sorry i shouldve explained properly first of all.

it is for an airport trolley.im designing a trolley that is used in the duty free areas of airports. the screen is to be used for advertising. i would want the trolley to have a decent sized lcd with wireless so that adverts can be sent to the lcd screen. it needs to be powered using some device that im looking for! i cant buy lots of batteries and just change them when one runs out as there will be a few thousand trolleys.
 
Is this just for a design your thinking about or is it something you have been tasked to do for a job etc?

You'll probably be able to get a couple of high power/capacity batteries that would be designed for similar things. Maybe having some sort of trickle charger when the trolley is in a trolley bay? From the fact you'll need an almost fully fledged PC (storage, playing and wifi) your best bet may be for a laptop type thing. If its for a large company maybe see if dell or a large laptop company can build you one?
 
what power supplies does the moving vehicle have? if it has a dc battery then you need an inverter and step up transformer in series with the battery to get the equivalent of 230v ac mains for the monitor to run off. You can buy these from the shop or make it yourself. however there are units with both components in one box and should be fine for low power consumption items like a monitor.
 
For what you want ie thousands, trying to build something from shop bought parts isn't practical. You need to contact the manufacturers of laptops directly.

If it's just a design exercise, then forget about converting battery power to AC. Basically what you want is a diskless tablet PC with additional batteries.
 
Why not use an inverter hooked up to regular car batteries?

You can purchase a 150W inverter for ~£20 and car batteries are cheap.

This will provide a 240v 3 pin socket and then 2 wires to hook up to the battery.

Plug in what you like then.......(assuming wattage is OK)
 
attman said:
Why not use an inverter hooked up to regular car batteries?

You can purchase a 150W inverter for ~£20 and car batteries are cheap.

This will provide a 240v 3 pin socket and then 2 wires to hook up to the battery.

Plug in what you like then.......(assuming wattage is OK)
Click to expand...

Problem is if its a trolley a car battery would be too big and heavy.

The tablet PC idea could work. Maybe half a dozen large capacity LI-ion batteries or similar which can connect to a trickle charger which is based in the trolley holding area, that means the batteries would only have to ast a couple of hours at most, not sure how you would make the charger though. You may not even need spare batteries then.
 
im a student doing a product design course, and i have to design a trolley which uses a screen to advertise.

im have very basic knowledge on electronics.

i need a screen of about 17inches, wifi, and a pda. the screen wil display adverts, the wifi will be used to receive adverts, and the pda will be used as a tracking, navigation and map device.

i was thinking of using an inductive generator and a battery, but im not sure if that will produce enough power. i dont know how to calculate it 2 b honest. also the power device needs to be compact as it is to be put in a fairly small airport shopping trolley.

i was also thinking about the way a toothbrush charges. does anybody know if thats possible. then i could charge the trolleys by installing the charges into the floor, and have them charging constantly.

is it possible to just use the laptop battery and connect it straight to the power source, and extend the wires so that there are 2 connectors on the trolley. one at the front and one at the back so they all connect to each other. this way they could nest and charge in the bay.

is it possible to use a laptop battery to power a monitor? so i wouldnt use the laptop. i could use a pda with wifi connected to a monitor. is there a way of just connecting the battery to the monitor and pda to power it?

what is the longest battery life available for a laptop?

what is a trickle charger and how does it work?
any help would b appreciated, thanks
 
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