My MacBook Pro does not charge using a 240V 300watt inverter

Question

My MacBook Pro does not charge using a 240V 300watt inverter

I have a MacBook Pro purchased December 2010, one of the reasons for purchasing this computer was as a travelling companion in a motorhome. I was advised at the time I would be able to charge the battery and/or run the computer utilising an 240V inverter connected to the 12volt power supply of the motorhome. In short, it does not work with my MacBook Pro.

This is not a new process for me as I have successfully operated two Dell laptop computers from the inverter in the past, plus a Sony camera charger, MiniDisk charger and mobile telephone chargers. Both of the Dell's require higher wattage transformers than the Apple.

The inverter spec. is as follows: (10 - 15V DC) 230 V AC 50 hz 300 watt modified sinusoidal

When I connect the Apple transformer to the inverter, nothing happens, the charge light does not appear in the magnetic connector. Nor does the inverter show a warning light to suggest too much current is being drawn. After an hour of connection the battery in the computer is not charged, nor has it started to charge. The inverter does not warm up suggesting no current is being drawn.

I am at a loss to guess the problem, beyond Apple requires a different sort of voltage regulation than say the Dell, although my local Apple shop assured me this should not be the case. I am aware that there are various wave formations that are achieved by inverters, but can find nothing to suggest what the Apple requires.

The mains charger works successfully in both Europe and UK when connected to a conventional mains supply.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Apr 28, 2011 3:11 PM

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Answer 1

May 2, 2011 6:00 PM in response to judithainscow

I thought I had the same problem. I am a truck driver and just switched to a MacBook from a PC. I have a Trip Lite inverter in my truck. After panicking when I couldn't get it to charge or run power or even get the charge light to come on, I realized I had to either put it in Sleep mode or shutdown. After I did that everything was good, the light came on and fully charged up. I did a frantic google search and saw others saying the new MacBooks will not charge off an inverter unless it is in sleep or shutdown as well so I know it isn't just mine. If ikr still doesn't work for ya maybe it just doesn't like your inverter for some reason??

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Answer 2

Nov 6, 2011 2:07 PM in response to judithainscow

I have a macbook pro purchased 4/2011 with a 60w power mag safe power cord and couldn't get the macbook to operate or charge using a 410w invertor regardless of sleep mode or powered off. Couldn't get it work off the genorator in my 5th wheel either, but confirmed the charger works fine on houshold power.

FOUND A SOLUTION:

I stopped by BestBuy and purchased a UPS [uninterupted power supply] or also known as a battery backup, plugged the mac powercord into that, then plugged the battery backup into the invertor, and it worked!

The battery backup I used: CyberPower 825va / 450watts CP825AVR-G

I suspect smaller ones would work just fine.

PROBLEM SOLVED!

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Answer 3

Road_Dog

Level 1

0 points

Jan 10, 2012 11:08 PM in response to judithainscow

My fix was to use the 2 pronged folding adapter and NOT the grounded 3 pronged extension!... Also a trucker with 3 different inverters, & an APU (generator)

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Answer 4

Jan 11, 2012 6:16 AM in response to Road_Dog

Couple days after I tried my fix using the battery backup along with the inverter I noticed the problem came back. Sometimes it worked, but mor often it didn't.

I'll try the folding two prong plug alone and not the three prong extension next time.

I don't get why this is such an issue.

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