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.

 



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

 



Vaughn Simon wrote:


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:

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:


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.