Bill,

LOL!  I still expect this to be very light, but only diff is that it sits=
 in=20
the laptop case.  The only noticeable piece would be one small wire from =
the=20
bag to the laptop.

Luckily no-one rushes to the seats near the fire-extinguisher, so I'll go=
 for=20
those now. :-)

Cheers,
-Neil.



On Sunday 27 April 2003 17:25, William Chops Westfield wrote:
> I would think that a gell-cell with appropriate power converter, feedin=
g
> into the DC-in jack of a laptop would make a fine auxilliary power
> supply.  You may need to pay a lot of attention to end-of-life
> conditions: I expect a laptop doesn't expect its external power to sag
> like a battery.  There have been laptops (well, "portables", anyway)
> that were run off gell cell type batteries...
>
> You'll probably get a fraction of the lifetime per pound of battery tha=
t
> you would out of modern Li-ion batter packs, but then maybe sitting the=
re
> with with a huge suitcase full of batteries, cables strung all over, an=
d
> odd lights flashing here and there will be useful for attracting certai=
n
> types of members of the appropriate sex and gender than hang out at B&N=
=2E
> It's certainly not any worse than what some people do to their cars for
> similar purposes.  Personally, I find the current crop of laptops only
> useful if you can find someplace to plug it it, or for really SHORT
> off-grid use.  If you want battery life, consider a PDA...  Maybe thing=
s
> will improve with the advent of fuel cells (any year now...), but those
> will probably be "priced appropriately, given the expected run time."
>
> Be careful not to start any fires - one of the safety features you'll b=
e
> bypassing is the careful mechanical engineering of battery packs that
> prevents them from accidentally being shorted out, which can be a real
> problem with the sort of total energy and current delivery capability
> that you'll be needing.
>
>  :-)
>
> BillW

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