Mobile printer for a car?

[Mark300zx]

A mate is an international courier and has asked for my help looking for a printer he can use in his car (for printing delivery details etc.), as local printing options are not available during this crisis, any options available?

[Troubleatmill]

How big does he need to print?

Any crappo printer at £30 - with a 12V to 240V invertor will work fine.
It breaks - buy another.


Or he can spend £500 or so on a very svelt printer?


Labels?
A4 sheets?
Budget?


etc etc

[Mark300zx]

Troubleatmill said:

How big does he need to print?

Any crappo printer at £30 - with a 12V to 240V invertor will work fine.
It breaks - buy another.


Or he can spend £500 or so on a very svelt printer?


Labels?
A4 sheets?
Budget?


etc etc

Thanks A4 mainly, do the inverters work well thought they needed more ommpphh ?

[Welshbeef]

Mark300zx said:

Thanks A4 mainly, do the inverters work well thought they needed more ommpphh ?

You only have a 12v battery

[dhutch]

Depends as said on the amount you need to print, but basically as above.

Most fag lighter sockets are only 10-15 amp, so about 100w mains power out of an inverter. Which will run a laptop charger OR basically any inkjet of choice.
Else if he is doing a lot and doesn't need colour, run a power feed direct from the battery to a larger inverter and run a small office laser.

You can get laptop printers, but they are mad money, tiny ink cartridges, so if it doesn't need to be portable forgot it.

You likely want a half decent inverter not an eBay spec one, pure signwave is best but modified sign likely ok and a lot cheaper.


Daniel

Edited by dhutch on Friday 3rd April 23:43

[Mark300zx]

Thanks, he is only printing 5 x A4 sheets max and colour not required!

Edited by Mark300zx on Friday 3rd April 23:35

[dhutch]

So £40 Canon or HP inkjet, set of cartridges (starter ones come half empty) and a small inverter like this?

https://www.midlandchandlers.co.uk/products/sterli...

Daniel

[Troubleatmill]

Welshbeef said:

Mark300zx said:

Thanks A4 mainly, do the inverters work well thought they needed more ommpphh ?

You only have a 12v battery

Erm....Do you understand what a 12V to 240V invertor is?
He can have 240V - driving a cheapo printer is fine. Running a Range Cooker is not.

[Mark300zx]

Troubleatmill said:

Erm....Do you understand what a 12V to 240V invertor is?
He can have 240V - driving a cheapo printer is fine. Running a Range Cooker is not.

I do understand when someone is looking for a bite though

[Welshbeef]

Troubleatmill said:

Erm....Do you understand what a 12V to 240V invertor is?
He can have 240V - driving a cheapo printer is fine. Running a Range Cooker is not.

He doesn’t have the Amps is the issue.

Lots of Smaxs Galaxys have 3 pin sockets if they have the “family pack “. You can run an electric cool box off of it.

[Mr Pointy]

Mark300zx said:

A mate is an international courier and has asked for my help looking for a printer he can use in his car (for printing delivery details etc.), as local printing options are not available during this crisis, any options available?

If he wants to avoid messing around with inverters & the like there are a couple of dedicated mobile printers available:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01EL0O98S
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07Y9YPDZX

Not cheap to buy or run but they will just work out of the box. They charge from a USB socket.

[Jazoli]

A couple of contractors at work use these

https://www.brother.co.uk/mobile-printers/pocket-j...

They are really quite good.

[Troubleatmill]

Welshbeef said:

Troubleatmill said:

Erm....Do you understand what a 12V to 240V invertor is?
He can have 240V - driving a cheapo printer is fine. Running a Range Cooker is not.

He doesn’t have the Amps is the issue.

Lots of Smaxs Galaxys have 3 pin sockets if they have the “family pack “. You can run an electric cool box off of it.

An inkjet printer is going to be circa < 1 amp.
His cigarette charger will be just right fine and dandy.

[Mr Pointy]

Jazoli said:

A couple of contractors at work use these

https://www.brother.co.uk/mobile-printers/pocket-j...

They are really quite good.

You need special thermal paper to use with those which might not be suitable for all applications. They are very expensive (£500-£600) as well.

[vikingaero]

I remember as a student years ago that I had a Canon BJ-10E inkjet printer. The footprint of the thing was no bigger than a box of cereal and you could put D cell batteries in it for printing on the go.

[vikingaero]

A quick search on Amazon brings up the HP 200 & 250, the Canon ip110 and Epson WorkForce WF-110W