No Standard DC Adapter for the MacBook???

[BlackMax]

I'm working on putting together a solar powered solution for my MacBook. It is more of a hobby project than anything, but I think it would be great to run my MacBook off of nothing but solar power.

What I've planned so far is to use a Sunlinq 25 Watt folding solar panel with to a small charge controller and a small 12v 4-5 amp/hr battery and then feed this to a DC adapter for the MacBook.

The only problem is Apple does not make a DC adapter for the MacBook other than the Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter which apparently only provides power to run the MacBook, but not charge the battery and it is not compatible with a standard regular cigarette lighter outlet.

Also, Apple has not yet licensed the "MagSafe" connector to anyone else, thus no third parties provide DC adapter solutions for the MacBook either.

I was able to find one home built solution (Mikegyver Solution), but it is rather expensive and I was hoping to find something a little more reasonable.

Does anyone know if Apple has any plans to offer a regular DC power adapter for the MacBook? I am very surprised Apple does not already offer one.

I realize another solution would be to go from solar (DC) to an inverter (AC) and then back through the standard MagSafe adapter (DC again), but this solution is very inefficient and wastes too much energy.

 

[shoulin333]

all that money to save yourself $2 a month

ehhh, worth it?

 

[squeeks]

i guess its not just as simple as cutting the end off of a magsafe adapter and using that eh?

 

[Transeau]

Apple's Airline adapter should work for you. It takes 15VDC at 75W.

In theory, the airline ports are compatible with standard car DC ports, though Apple says it is not. I don't have one, so I'm not sure about this. Most car electrical systems are 12~12.7V with the car off, and 14~14.7V with the car running.

Can someone confirm that the Apple airline adapter will / will not work with an Auto electrical system?

 

[BlackMax]

all that money to save yourself $2 a month

ehhh, worth it?

hehe... If I was doing it to save money I'd be up-side-down on this project for a while. No, I'm just doing this for the nerdy fun factor and I can use the solar panel to charge or power other small electronics on camping trips or at the beach.

i guess its not just as simple as cutting the end off of a magsafe adapter and using that eh?

It might be possible. I'll have to do some more research to find a wiring schematic for the MagSafe adapter, but at $79 a pop for the 60W MagSafe Power Adapter or $59 a pop for the MagSafe Airline Adapter it would be cheaper if I didn't have to go this route.

Apple's Airline adapter should work for you. It takes 15VDC at 75W.

That is what I thought at first. The MagSafe Airline Adapter even comes with what appears to be a cigarette lighter adapter, but I read on another forum where someone tried it in their automobile and couldn't get it to work. If anybody has had success using the MagSafe Airline Adapter in a regular cigarette lighter type DC outlet I'd love to hear about it.

 

[macuser7474]

Doing the same project...

I just order some panels online because i want to build a foldable set of panels for my macbook, just like you. I found the post when wondering how to do a direct DC current to the macbook. Have you found a solution? cutting of the wires crossed my mind, what do you think?

I was wondering, how is your cells design?

Thank you