Posted by Yowheelz on 5/17/09 11:04am
Msg #288743

how to plug in a portable printer

It's real rural out here on the Eastern Shore. One Mickey D's 30 miles away, no kinko's, in some cases no pizza joints or even towns just zipcode areas. The 2 mail & parcel centers both close at 6. Is anyone using a converter from auto like you plug in your cell charger so that one could plug in a printer and not have to drive home for docs. Have you ever asked the borrower if you coud plug in and print at their home to save time?

Reply by CopperheadVA on 5/17/09 11:19am
Msg #288745

I don't have that kind of set up but I don't think you can use that type of inverter unless you want to risk frying your printer. My understanding is that you need a "pure sine" inverter installed in your vehicle. Then there's also the issue of how the printer will hold up inside a super-hot parked car during the summer months.

As far as asking the borrower if you can print at their house - I've done that twice. First time was about 2 years ago and the borrower was cool with it. The last time was 2 - 3 months ago and the borrower actually curled her lip up at me, was absolutely disgusted and proceeded to be extremely condescending and rude throughout the entire appointment even though I was trying to kill her with kindness. And then while I was there she called the L/O to complain about how unprofessional I was for needing to print at her house. After that horrible experience, I will never go that route again.

Reply by CopperheadVA on 5/17/09 11:55am
Msg #288754

Just a clarification - I brought my own printer and paper to the borrower's home. All I needed to do was turn on my computer and plug in my printer - no using of the borrower's equipment.

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 5/17/09 11:20am
Msg #288746

I don't really recommend a regular inverter that you plug in to the cigarette lighter/whatever they call it now... laser printers consume a lot of power and you could fry something really quickly!

You should probably have a pure sine inverter installed in your car. Any good car stereo place can do this for you. Then you can just plug the printer in to that, and print away. You have to keep the car running when you do it, though.

You can also get a second battery but I'm not sure how that works.

Take a look at Msg #67875 from Becca, that might be a good start.

Reply by notaryinmo on 5/17/09 11:23am
Msg #288747

and I thought I was in a rural area...lol No kinko's out here either - I asked a guy at the last kinko's I was at where the closest one was near me, he said it's 30 miles away from my house.

Reply by Linda Juenger on 5/17/09 11:40am
Msg #288748

Having borrowers print docs is not a good idea. They often only have ink jet printers, not laser jet. This will take forever to print. They also typically only have letter size paper, not legal. If you have to print all one size, it should be legal size.

Only a couple times while at the borrowers home I was called and a new HUD or TIL needed to be sent. We printed them on the borrowers printer. I also let the company know that this would be on letter size paper and also ink jet. I would guess that most borrowers do not have the correct equipment to print legal documents.

Reply by Yowheelz on 5/17/09 11:44am
Msg #288750

Thanks everyone, Msg. 67875 did the trick.

I think I will start saving some money to go truly mobile.

Also I would never ask to use the borrower's equipment, only their power outlet.

Reply by Adris Davis on 5/17/09 11:42am
Msg #288749

I have a portable printer that I have used for years its a hp450 (c8111a) it is very compact and fits in my laptop bag, it has a battery back up and when the battery runs down I use a power inverter to plug it into my car.

Reply by CopperheadVA on 5/17/09 11:52am
Msg #288753

I was curious and looked that up - it appears to be an ink jet printer. That's probably OK to use for last minute changes to the HUD but I think Yowheelz is looking to print an entire loan package from the car while on the road. All loan docs should be printed on a laser printer.

Reply by MW/VA on 5/17/09 12:32pm
Msg #288755

I know several notaries that have gone "mobile" but carry a printer & paper & print at the borrower's home. Of course, you need to ask the borrower if it's ok, but I don't think many would object. In a rural area, I think this is a good option. There are a no. of small laser printers in the marketplace that would be suitable for the purpose. Good luck.

Reply by Calnotary on 5/17/09 1:52pm
Msg #288764

I carry 2 brother printers both with dual trays in the back

of my SUV connected to a HONDA generator. I would never ask the borrower for power. I always print full loan
packages a few miles away from the borrower's home, I don't want that somebody sees me using the generator and then breaks in to my SUV and steal my 1000.00 dollars generator. If you go the generator route, it has to be a puresine wave generator like the honda or yamaha. Be at least 2K watts/13amps.

The 2 brother printers(HL-5140DLT-HL-5250DLT)are around 1K watts each with 11amps requirement.

I was reading a while ago about a guy that had one of these honda generators that lasted more than 12,000 hrs of use. Wow! that's a lot! He used to run it like 14 or 16 hours a day. It takes me 10 or 15 minutes to print 2 copies of a loan package.

Reply by Jim/AL on 5/17/09 2:00pm
Msg #288765

Honda generator huh, pretty slick, but what about gas fumes? n/m

Reply by Stacey Gardner on 2/23/10 3:32pm
Msg #323945

Re: I carry 2 brother printers both with dual trays in the back

How do you deal with the heat issue with regards to the printers?

Reply by Sandra Clark on 5/17/09 2:18pm
Msg #288766

I carry a portable HP printer/copier with me at all times - it has saved me several times. It was relatively inexpensive. Covering a rural area, many borrowers "forget" to copy DLS and when I find there are not enough RTC in the package it provides a way to make a copy. Never had a borrower say anything negative about pluging in - most are very thankful that I had it with me so we could proceed with closing. Not interested in a plug-in for my car as this works just fine.

Reply by Jim/AL on 5/17/09 2:26pm
Msg #288768

What model HP Sandra? n/m

Reply by Sandra Clark on 5/17/09 5:32pm
Msg #288779

Re: What model HP Sandra?

It's an HP C4400 (PhotoSmart.) It scans, prints in color or B/W-great copies. I keep mine in a small over night bag on wheels, keep extra paper and cartridge in same bag - all very easy to carry and operate.

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 5/17/09 5:55pm
Msg #288781

Re: What model HP Sandra?... OK for copies of ID maybe

but be careful how much you use it to print docs - it's an inkjet - probably not acceptable by most companies.

Reply by MW/VA on 5/18/09 7:53am
Msg #288810

Re: What model HP Sandra?... OK for copies of ID maybe

I also carry a small HP--only for copies of ID, not for printing docs.