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Comment by vkuruthers | Hacker News Reader

Does anyone know what kind of circuit would be able to convert 12VDC (e.g. from a small lead acid gel. cell battery) to 20VDC (which my Lenovo E470's DC charging voltage)? The E470 is my work computer and does not have an easily swappable battery, so I wanted to experiment with some kind of external charging system I can use when working remote at sites without accessible outlets.

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If you want a near turn-key solution, there is this: http://www.mini-box.com/DCDC-USB?sc=8&category=1264

Mini-box has a number of dc-dc converters and battery charging systems for gel-cell and other batteries. I do not have personal experience with their products, but I'd try them first if I wanted something other than a hack.

For hacks there are tons of boost converter boards on eBay/aliexpress, but these typically don't have chargers, short protection, or other features you might want if you need more robustness

Thanks @vibrolax, that does look ideal. I was going to muck around and design the circuit myself (hopefully based off a solid reference design), but the COTS setup you listed above looks just like what I need, so I think I'll go ahead and get it once funds allow :) Thanks again for the tip.

You're welcome. Another possible solution for you is a dc-dc laptop brick like these: https://www.powerstream.com/ADC-p006.htm.

Fit your gel cell with an auto accessory socket, then plug in the power supply.

It's called a boost converter (or step-up converter), a specific kind of DC-DC converter. When searching, first look at rated input and output voltages. If the output voltage of a DC-DC converter is a range, verify in the data sheet that it can indeed _boost_ the voltage to whatever you set it to (unless it's specifically called a boost converter or step-up converter).

Thank you sir! I'll do some part searching this week.

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