Using a laptop powered in car?

tsobo

tsobo

tsobo

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Due to go on a long trip to Europe and just wondering if anyone has ever bought any gadgets to power a laptop in car. I saw one on amazon but the reviews aren't very good as one of the reviews mention, it blew the cars electrics. Has anyone found and better still used one?
 
tsobo said:
Due to go on a long trip to Europe and just wondering if anyone has ever bought any gadgets to power a laptop in car. I saw one on amazon but the reviews aren't very good as one of the reviews mention, it blew the cars electrics. Has anyone found and better still used one?
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A voltage regulator can do that. It needs to be the correct voltage. And yes, I have had a few.
 
Inverters are a minefield. Then there is the complications between pure and modified sine wave inverters depending on device you are using. Most car electronics can't handle more than ~100 watt without a problem (unless wired to the battery directly) so if you use a laptop with a 200 watt PSU and it needs anything like that something is going to give.

Some devices will surge well above their rated continuous power consumption which can cause issues as well for instance most microwaves really require an inverter with around 1.5x peak capability of their rated cooking power and in reality you'd want that more like the continuous output capability of the inverter if you wanted it to last.

NoobCannon said:
BESTEK 300W Power Inverter DC 12V to 230V AC Converter with AC Outlet and 4.8A Dual USB Car Charger https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00INW6...abc_020EDE5KAFHPMQZ8QMPN?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
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Bestek seem to have a reasonable reputation but I'd probably go for this version for better compatibility with a range of electronics:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BESTEK-Power-Inverter-Smart-Adapter/dp/B076P9PGX3/
 
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Charged a macbook using a cheap inverter plugged into the cigarette lighter for months, no issues
 
tsobo said:
Due to go on a long trip to Europe and just wondering if anyone has ever bought any gadgets to power a laptop in car. I saw one on amazon but the reviews aren't very good as one of the reviews mention, it blew the cars electrics. Has anyone found and better still used one?
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Inverter from Tesco charge it while it’s turned off and you’re doing highway speeds

You’ll be fine
 
Unless you are wiring into the battery directly 1000 watt is wasted and may even do damage to your vehicle's electrics depending on how well behaved it is. (They also tend to have poor efficiency at lower wattages so if you were charging a laptop at say 40-60 watt from it you'd probably be pulling 100 watt at the battery, etc.).

The Argos one is more suited to a small camper van with its own leisure battery, etc.
 
I thought most 12v sockets were limited to 10A anyway? I'd be amazed if many laptops (outside of gaming ones) use mure more than that. Mines got a 135W charger but I don't know if that's what it would pull all the time.
 
theone8181 said:
I thought most 12v sockets were limited to 10A anyway? I'd be amazed if many laptops (outside of gaming ones) use mure more than that. Mines got a 135W charger but I don't know if that's what it would pull all the time.
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Non-gaming ones are usually sub 100 watt with around 100-150 watt power supply - but some gaming laptops have 200 or even 250 watt power supplies. The one in my sig (Samsung 700G7C) I've seen hit 170 watt draw at the wall (though it has a physical power profile switch so you can just twist it to a lower performance mode and stay under 100 watt).

Some cheaper 1+k wattage inverters have been known to cause issues if plugged into a 12v cigarette lighter socket beyond just a blown fuse but I don't know ins and outs.
 
Rroff said:
Unless you are wiring into the battery directly 1000 watt is wasted and may even do damage to your vehicle's electrics depending on how well behaved it is. (They also tend to have poor efficiency at lower wattages so if you were charging a laptop at say 40-60 watt from it you'd probably be pulling 100 watt at the battery, etc.).

The Argos one is more suited to a small camper van with its own leisure battery, etc.
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Hi so the amazon one is better?
 
NoobCannon said:
?
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You're using the inverter to bring the 12v DC car supply up to 230v AC then plugging in a laptop PSU which is converting it back down to something like 19v DC again.
It would be more efficient to get a laptop PSU for the car which converts the 12v DC directly to the required 19v DC. (And probably cheaper than an inverter too)
 
Why is inverting 12V to 240V and then back down to 19V (or whatever) even necessary?

I'm sure I had come across official ThinkPad 12DC to 20V adapters in the past, and looking at Lenovo's site they have this:
Lenovo 65W USB-C DC Travel Adapter
34Wf6cx.png


Never looked into how much a DC to AC to DC inverter + transformer combo wastes, but DC only transformers should be far more efficient.

EDIT: so basically what @touch just said
 
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