Decent power inverters for the car?

matome · 03-23-05, 08:29 AM

Any suggestions on a decent power inverter to power my laptop in the car? Doesn't need to be huge wattage wise. Can these things damage the electrical system of the car in any way?

MitzEclipse · 03-23-05, 08:33 AM

Drove up to whistler this past winter and bought a power inverter at Costco for I believe $25 bucks. It was more than I needed as far as wattage wise. Was able to power a laptop and speakers the whole way there - 6hr trip.

They stil have them at Costco in the Automotive area

Otto · 03-23-05, 12:18 PM

Might want to look for a power adapter specific to your laptop or find the power input requirements for your laptop and look for a simple DC transformer. Most laptops use a transformer to power them anyway, taking some kind of DC input in the first place. Running car power through an inverter to get 110VAC and then running it through a transformer to convert it back to some kind of VDC to power the laptop will work, but it is just wasteful and silly.

03-23-05, 08:29 AM	#1
matome DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: NY Posts: 12,304	Decent power inverters for the car? Any suggestions on a decent power inverter to power my laptop in the car? Doesn't need to be huge wattage wise. Can these things damage the electrical system of the car in any way? __________________ DVD/Blu-Ray/HD-DVD \| Blu-Ray only \| Laserdisc

03-23-05, 08:33 AM	#2
MitzEclipse DVD Talk Gold Edition Join Date: Jun 1999 Location: Seattle, WA USA Posts: 2,547	Drove up to whistler this past winter and bought a power inverter at Costco for I believe $25 bucks. It was more than I needed as far as wattage wise. Was able to power a laptop and speakers the whole way there - 6hr trip. They stil have them at Costco in the Automotive area

03-23-05, 12:18 PM	#3
Otto Banned Join Date: Sep 1999 Location: Memphis, TN Posts: 11,544	Might want to look for a power adapter specific to your laptop or find the power input requirements for your laptop and look for a simple DC transformer. Most laptops use a transformer to power them anyway, taking some kind of DC input in the first place. Running car power through an inverter to get 110VAC and then running it through a transformer to convert it back to some kind of VDC to power the laptop will work, but it is just wasteful and silly.