[NLRS] Rover advice needed

[Doug Reed]

Ebay is always a good place to look. I searched for "laptop car power
supply" and found a bunch of units starting at about $8. You want to
look for power output depending what you want to run. The really high
current ones should NOT have a cigarette lighter plug on the wires.

Note that the "150 watt boost converters" starting at $4 don't provide
anywhere near that power when under typical conditions. If you want to
look for a PCB product, look for "buck boost converters" or "boost
converters."  Cheap packaged laptop converters start under $8 if you
don't mind waiting for China shipping. But don't buy too many of them
until you test and prove they don't cause RFI or DC noise in your
hardware.

If it doesn't provide 13.6 volts out, you may need to change resistor
values to get what you want, but don't try to move it too far, you are
adjusting power dissipation as well as voltage. If it is a boost
converter, the output can not regulate lower than the input voltage,
so when the car is charging at 14.5 volts, you may exceed 15 volts out
of the converter, so be careful and test before you blow up your
radio! .

I think I even found some at one of the Mpls/St Paul surplus houses
but that was many years ago. You will find them at just about any
computer retailer if you don't mind paying through the nose.

73, Doug Reed, N0NAS.