Getting a laptop to work off a car power source

great advice · 17 Mar 2006 at 13:33

Is this possible? either with a link to the battery or fag lighter is fine.

I need to use a laptop for extended periods of time away from any power source other than my car

Dutch Guy · 17 Mar 2006 at 14:01

The problem is that a car battery is 12V and the lappy needs 230V so you need a device that converts 12V > 230V and a way to connect that to the cigarette lighter.

ih8modem · 17 Mar 2006 at 14:10

unless the laptop is a power ohg

It should be possible. In fact there are two ways you could consider.

Firstly, there are inverters that plug into the cig lighter and provide a 220/240 power source.

However as most laptops only really need around 12-20v, with a load of between 1-2 amps, a regular DC charger should be available for your model. Do an Internet search for something like :

laptop car charger dell latitude

I had like 90 hits with that search pattern. Be aware of phrases such as this one though :

In car charger for Dell Latitude D400/D600/D800/M60, and Inspiron 8500/300m/400m/500m/600m notebooks. Please note that Dell has built technology into some of its newer models that will not allow charging by anything other than a Dell adapter, so on those models this item will work as a power adapter but will not charge the battery.

great advice · 17 Mar 2006 at 15:32

Thanks, i found one - its £50 though :eek:

i might consider dropping an old PC in the boot tbh, doesnt have to be high spec just portable!!