questions about a power inverter

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i need to get a power inverter to run a laptop in a car for a trip. whats the cheapest i can go and still power it sufficiently? any other suggestions?

Both you car and your laptop run on DC power. Converting it to AC then back to DC with a power inverter is kind of redundant. They have adapters that will let you plug your laptop straight into the cigarette lighter.

most laptops run off 19volts soo you kinda have to have a invertor or transformer of some sort

Get a 150watt inverter from RadioShack for $40.

Depends on what your laptop needs. Most laptop bricks supply 15VDC +/- 3V. My Dell's brick outputs 17VDC but looking at the specs, it only needs 14.5V; the extra is for the charging circuitry.

So, it's probably easier/cheaper to find/build a DC controller to step-up your 12V cig. lighter to whatever your laptop needs.

or get a inverter from meijer for 7 dollars?

Originally posted by 99blacksesport:
Get a 150watt inverter from RadioShack for $40.

you can get one of those i-go power bricks, which come with every plug you'll need to hook up to any laptop, and also a plug that will work directly with your cigarette lighter.

it is $150 though.

EDIT: http://www.igo.com/product.asp?sku=2701967

Yeah, Igo would be the best bet, other than he said he wanted to stay cheap, which Igo's are definatly not.

i'm leaving on the trip on friday which rules out ordering anything... i'm thinking radioshack or best buy... my laptop power supply says:

input: 100-240V ~50-60Hz 1.5A
Output: 20V -- 4.51A

its a dell... 20V is higher than anyone mentioned on here... will the $40 radioshack one work? I know that the laptop adapters for DC power exist, but i'd rather have the inverter since in the future, i'd like to be able to use this for more than just the laptop. let me know if the radioshack one will work since i'm going to head there after work tomorrow...

Depends on the wattage you need. My stupid lappy requires over 100W of power, so only the expensive iGo works for me.

Scott

I've been using a "Jazz" brand (no name cheapie) 300W inverter for years - comes in handy for all kinds of stuff and was only like 40 bucks. I've even used it to power a small tv/dvd when we lost power once

If you want as cheap as possible a 150W inverter would probably be ok for a laptop.

Go to menards or Lowes or HomeDepot and get a Peak Automotive power invertor. I got a 300W; 600W peak for like $35 on sale, and mine has been abused. I run 15 feet of ropelights and a laptop and sometimes cell phone too and it will do all this when its -20 in the car, all day long. So in my mind, can't really go wrong there. although the fan isn't very quiet anymore after 2 winters of constant use......

Originally posted by Guitarman19853:
i'm leaving on the trip on friday which rules out ordering anything... i'm thinking radioshack or best buy... my laptop power supply says:

input: 100-240V ~50-60Hz 1.5A
Output: 20V -- 4.51A

its a dell... 20V is higher than anyone mentioned on here... will the $40 radioshack one work? I know that the laptop adapters for DC power exist, but i'd rather have the inverter since in the future, i'd like to be able to use this for more than just the laptop. let me know if the radioshack one will work since i'm going to head there after work tomorrow...

Your laptop will draw up to 90.2W of power, so a 150W power inverter will work fine.

EDIT: Ignore what I just said there...looks like that brick power supply is horribly inefficient, the power supply will draw up to 150W of power at 100V input - I'd go with one over 200W just to be safe.