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Car charger for MacBook Air?

I’m wanting to use my laptop while on a 12 hour road trip. Is there a way I can charge my laptop from my van? I don’t plan on having it plugged in the whole time. Just for when I need to work on it and the battery is running low.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Mar 12, 2021 1:22 PM

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4 replies

Mar 13, 2021 6:00 AM in response to MamaBea209

Many vehicles have USB plugs (5v) to charge phones etc. If so, you need a USB to USB-C adapter to allow charging.

It is also possible to get a simple cigarette lighter plug to usb adapter, get one that has filtering built in.

Personally, I have never liked having devices plugged into the USB ports when starting the vehicle due to possible surges.

Mar 13, 2021 5:09 AM in response to MamaBea209

Consider an 115v-to-12v AC/DC inverter/converter power adapter..

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=auto+115v+to+12v+inverter+converter&t=ffab&ia=web


To be able to match needs of the portable Mac, simply use an Apple

adapter original equipment; and plug that in, as final link. +Consider,

extra battery backup, to power the Mac portable; without power loss.

(To avoid spikes, fluctuations, use filtered power; such as UPS battery.)


High-quality power supply makers, had DC-to-DC converters for RV/Boat

&/or Airplane. ~ The idea would be to match portable Mac voltage demands

from the Vehicle DC output. [Or, not use an inverter AC-to-DC, plus transformer.]


Ones I'd seen by Lind, matched iBook/PowerBook G4 exact output from vehicle.


For a larger motorhome, boat, plane; a complete DC-to-DC custom wire harness

with built-in safeguards; and secondary battery-backups, could be the ticket.


Yet, for a few days per decade, a simple AC120v-to-DC12v inverter may do OK.

Just that wasteful idea, has to go from DC12v to 120AC; then back to DC again.


Good luck & happy trails!

🌞🌿⛵️🎣🌻🐢⛄️🌤🌎

Car charger for MacBook Air?

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