Running printer directly off of a battery?

I hear people doing this, but don't know how they are doing this. What I was wondering is how people are running a printer directly of a car size/type battery. I know the battery should be a deep cycle and probably an AGM. I currently do not know if the printer uses 12 volts or 9 volts. I haven't mess with printers enough to know. But, if the printer runs on 12 volts, can one just direct wire it to a 12 volt battery? Does it need a regulator or anything to control voltage? I would guess having a volt meter on it would be useful to judge the battery's condition, but If the voltage drops below 12 volts, say like to 11.5, will this damage the printer? Any advice would be appreciated. I might even try to run a laptop off it too.

"noel" wrote in message

I hear people doing this, but don't know how they are doing this. What I was wondering is how people are running a printer directly of a car size/type battery. I know the battery should be a deep cycle and probably an AGM. I currently do not know if the printer uses 12 volts or 9 volts. I haven't mess with printers enough to know. But, if the printer runs on 12 volts, can one just direct wire it to a 12 volt battery? Does it need a regulator or anything to control voltage? I would guess having a volt meter on it would be useful to judge the battery's condition, but If the voltage drops below 12 volts, say like to 11.5, will this damage the printer? Any advice would be appreciated. I might even try to run a laptop off it too.

There are several battery-operated printers out there that are intended as laptop accessories. Google "laptop printer" or "portable printer" for more information.
The most efficient way to run laptop equiment from a deep cycle battery is to use an automotive DC-DC charger, but you could also get by with a cheap inverter.
Vaughn >

noel wrote:

I hear people doing this, but don't know how they are doing this. What I was wondering is how people are running a printer directly of a car size/type battery. I know the battery should be a deep cycle and probably an AGM. I currently do not know if the printer uses 12 volts or 9 volts. I haven't mess with printers enough to know. But, if the printer runs on 12 volts, can one just direct wire it to a 12 volt battery? Does it need a regulator or anything to control voltage? I would guess having a volt meter on it would be useful to judge the battery's condition, but If the voltage drops below 12 volts, say like to 11.5, will this damage the printer? Any advice would be appreciated. I might even try to run a laptop off it too.

Unless you're into precision electronics, a lot of parts have 10% or 20% value tolerances. (Though now days, it could be cost effective to just make them with much better tolerances.) I would bet that the internal electronics runs off of 5 volts with the higher voltages for driving the motors and inkjets. In any event, here is a circuit right out of a data book for making a 5 volt regulator into an adjustable output regulator. With the right component values, you can regulate from 5 volts to your 12 volt supply voltage.
http://home.sprintmail.com/~dalereastman/images/LM309.GIF
-- www.synapticsparks.info

Vaughn Simon wrote:

"noel" wrote in message
I hear people doing this, but don't know how they are doing this. What I was wondering is how people are running a printer directly of a car size/type battery. I know the battery should be a deep cycle and probably an AGM. I currently do not know if the printer uses 12 volts or 9 volts. I haven't mess with printers enough to know. But, if the printer runs on 12 volts, can one just direct wire it to a 12 volt battery? Does it need a regulator or anything to control voltage? I would guess having a volt meter on it would be useful to judge the battery's condition, but If the voltage drops below 12 volts, say like to 11.5, will this damage the printer? Any advice would be appreciated. I might even try to run a laptop off it too.
There are several battery-operated printers out there that are intended as laptop accessories. Google "laptop printer" or "portable printer" for more information.
The most efficient way to run laptop equiment from a deep cycle battery is to use an automotive DC-DC charger, but you could also get by with a cheap inverter.
Vaughn

I think the O.P. was thinking of bypassing the internal power supply and running D.C. power directly into the electronics. That was the thing I replied to in my other post.
A p.s. to that other post. Have you identified and measured the power supply output(s) in your printer. That is the target voltage you need to shoot for.
-- www.synapticsparks.info.

Dale Eastman wrote:

Vaughn Simon wrote:
"noel" wrote in message
I hear people doing this, but don't know how they are doing this. What I was wondering is how people are running a printer directly of a car size/type battery. I know the battery should be a deep cycle and probably an AGM. I currently do not know if the printer uses 12 volts or 9 volts. I haven't mess with printers enough to know. But, if the printer runs on 12 volts, can one just direct wire it to a 12 volt battery? Does it need a regulator or anything to control voltage? I would guess having a volt meter on it would be useful to judge the battery's condition, but If the voltage drops below 12 volts, say like to 11.5, will this damage the printer? Any advice would be appreciated. I might even try to run a laptop off it too.
There are several battery-operated printers out there that are intended as laptop accessories. Google "laptop printer" or "portable printer" for more information.
The most efficient way to run laptop equiment from a deep cycle battery is to use an automotive DC-DC charger, but you could also get by with a cheap inverter.
Vaughn
I think the O.P. was thinking of bypassing the internal power supply and running D.C. power directly into the electronics. That was the thing I replied to in my other post.
A p.s. to that other post. Have you identified and measured the power supply output(s) in your printer. That is the target voltage you need to shoot for.
-- www.synapticsparks.info.

Actually, I do not have the printer yet. I assume that it will have a power brick that converts 120 vac to some dc voltage, 12 or 9 volts. here is where I was thinking of making a battery connection.

noel wrote:

Dale Eastman wrote:
Vaughn Simon wrote:
"noel" wrote in message
I hear people doing this, but don't know how they are doing this. What I was wondering is how people are running a printer directly of a car size/type battery. I know the battery should be a deep cycle and probably an AGM. I currently do not know if the printer uses 12 volts or 9 volts. I haven't mess with printers enough to know. But, if the printer runs on 12 volts, can one just direct wire it to a 12 volt battery? Does it need a regulator or anything to control voltage? I would guess having a volt meter on it would be useful to judge the battery's condition, but If the voltage drops below 12 volts, say like to 11.5, will this damage the printer? Any advice would be appreciated. I might even try to run a laptop off it too.
There are several battery-operated printers out there that are intended as laptop accessories. Google "laptop printer" or "portable printer" for more information.
The most efficient way to run laptop equiment from a deep cycle battery is to use an automotive DC-DC charger, but you could also get by with a cheap inverter.
Vaughn
I think the O.P. was thinking of bypassing the internal power supply and running D.C. power directly into the electronics. That was the thing I replied to in my other post.
A p.s. to that other post. Have you identified and measured the power supply output(s) in your printer. That is the target voltage you need to shoot for.

Actually, I do not have the printer yet. I assume that it will have a power brick that converts 120 vac to some dc voltage, 12 or 9 volts. here is where I was thinking of making a battery connection.

I just checked nameplates on some printers I have lying around. Two are old dot matrix printers rated at 120V 1A 100 watts.
One's an inkjet rated at 30v .4A 12W which uses an external power supply.
My inkjet/scanner all-in-one uses an external supply rated at 18V 2.23A. Calcs to 42W.
I'd just get three appropriate 6V batteries and plug it in to the back if I was going to do what your are looking to do.
Since you are shopping for a printer, look to see what gets plugged into them. If you can find a suitable printer that uses a DC voltage feed, Find one that requires an even multiple of 6 volts.
The Hewlett Packards are the two I have which use an external supply.
-- www.synapticsparks.info.

danny burstein wrote:

[ full snip ]
If you find a DC powered (via wallwart...) printer that uses something close enough to 12 volts that you get to actually consider hooking it up directly to your car's electrical system....
hold off just a second before doing it.
the electricity from the car will be 'dirty" with lots of (relatively) high voltage spikes, which can do very ugly things.

Absolutely correct. And a good warning. The back emf from the starter motor for instance.

It's worth putting in a circuit that will moderate the voltge levels.

If the O.P. was going to operate it off of the car's system.
If the O.P. is going to operate it off of a battery separate from the car as implied by his statement "I know the battery should be a deep cycle and probably an AGM" then regulation is not a concern since a battery standing alone won't have dirty power.
-- www.synapticsparks.info

Dale Eastman wrote:

danny burstein wrote:
[ full snip ]
If you find a DC powered (via wallwart...) printer that uses something close enough to 12 volts that you get to actually consider hooking it up directly to your car's electrical system....
hold off just a second before doing it.
the electricity from the car will be 'dirty" with lots of (relatively) high voltage spikes, which can do very ugly things.
Absolutely correct. And a good warning. The back emf from the starter motor for instance.
It's worth putting in a circuit that will moderate the voltge levels.
If the O.P. was going to operate it off of the car's system.
If the O.P. is going to operate it off of a battery separate from the car as implied by his statement "I know the battery should be a deep cycle and probably an AGM" then regulation is not a concern since a battery standing alone won't have dirty power.
-- www.synapticsparks.info

Well, I think the point is moot now. I was looking at a certain printer and it has an internal power supply. So, connecting directly to a battery isn't do-able. I will have to look at a battery/inverter combination and/or a gas generator/inverter. Both won't be cheap. The printer's power consumption is rated at 115vac @ 2.4A., 300watts approx. so, with that, a battery may not be a good solution. I'm not sure how big a battery would be needed, and how long I could operater the printer.

[ full snip ]
If you find a DC powered (via wallwart...) printer that uses something close enough to 12 volts that you get to actually consider hooking it up directly to your car's electrical system....
hold off just a second before doing it.
the electricity from the car will be 'dirty" with lots of (relatively) high voltage spikes, which can do very ugly things.
It's worth putting in a circuit that will moderate the voltge levels.
-- _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

I tried the laptop thing and it didnt work. My laptop needs 15.5 volts. It would not even boot up at 14.4 volts dc.
noel wrote:

I hear people doing this, but don't know how they are doing this. What I was wondering is how people are running a printer directly of a car size/type battery. I know the battery should be a deep cycle and probably an AGM. I currently do not know if the printer uses 12 volts or 9 volts. I haven't mess with printers enough to know. But, if the printer runs on 12 volts, can one just direct wire it to a 12 volt battery? Does it need a regulator or anything to control voltage? I would guess having a volt meter on it would be useful to judge the battery's condition, but If the voltage drops below 12 volts, say like to 11.5, will this damage the printer? Any advice would be appreciated. I might even try to run a laptop off it too.

"no one that you know" wrote in message

I tried the laptop thing and it didnt work. My laptop needs 15.5 volts. It would not even boot up at 14.4 volts dc.

Some laptops will, some won't run directly off of 12 volts. They make DC-DC automotive laptop chargers for just that purpose.
Vaughn

Yes I know.............but I thought the lack of conversion would mak it more effecient.
Vaughn Simon wrote:

"no one that you know" wrote in message I tried the laptop thing and it didnt work. My laptop needs 15.5 volts. It would not even boot up at 14.4 volts dc.
Some laptops will, some won't run directly off of 12 volts. They make DC-DC automotive laptop chargers for just that purpose.
Vaughn