I want to power my toshiba satelite A105 laptop in my truck. Will any of the 75 watt or 150 watt inverters that plug in cig. lighter work. Would this be a problem if I was running the ac while running down the road in my 88 fj62
Which Power Inverter for Laptop Computer
- Thread starter kkt
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i run a coleman 200 watt
I didn't lookup the specs for your laptop, but that will determine alot...my laptop has a 130watt power supply and while it will run on a 400watt invertor, it's iffy at times (it'll run but then will make the inverter beep sometimes from a overload)...after talking to my stepdad I think I know why. How most power supplies are made they don't work exceptionally well with a modified sine wave (i.e. what 95% of all invertor have), because their diodes only grab current when the voltage is high, well it's only high for a tiny bit, versus on a normal sine wave it's higher for longer (think gentle mountain peak versus jagged cliff mountain peak)...so my laptop's power supply is grabbing all the current to run on in a short time period, and it can/needs-to grab so much current it can max out a invertor, even one rated for much higher than your laptop's power supply. With most laptops a 300-400 watt invertor will be fine, mine would work only with the battery fully charged, couldn't pull enough from the invertor (without having the invertor shutoff) to run the laptop AND charge a dead battery.
Good Luck...I had 2 400-watt ones from Costco, just smoked one on my recent Alaska trip, probably should find another or buy something bigger...
Good Luck...I had 2 400-watt ones from Costco, just smoked one on my recent Alaska trip, probably should find another or buy something bigger...
As an FYI, many of the toshibas can be powered using dc from the cigarette lighter. Supposed to be 15v, but seems to work ok as long as the vehicle is running.
- Thread starter
- #7
Ac/dc Adapter Vs Power Inverter
I emailed targus who makes a ac/dc converter and got the message. My toshiba is too new for them to have an adapter. No Woody I would not be checking my email so you dont have to go off road.
Is an ac/dc adapter a better way to go than a power inverter?
Here is what I received from targus.
Thank you for contacting Targus Customer Support.
We are sorry but at this time we do not have a tip or an adapter to support your Toshiba Satelite A-105 notebook.
The tips are custom designed and tested on the supported computer models. In addition to the size and voltage requirements, the power supply logic board on the computer also impacts how the adapter functions with your notebook.
We consider your investment in your notebook and the data stored there to be much more important than the sale of an Adapter, so we cannot recommend a tip for your device.
For the latest compatibility information, please check our configurator:
http://www.targus.com/us/configurator/targus/default.asp
I emailed targus who makes a ac/dc converter and got the message. My toshiba is too new for them to have an adapter. No Woody I would not be checking my email so you dont have to go off road.
Is an ac/dc adapter a better way to go than a power inverter?
Here is what I received from targus.
Thank you for contacting Targus Customer Support.
We are sorry but at this time we do not have a tip or an adapter to support your Toshiba Satelite A-105 notebook.
The tips are custom designed and tested on the supported computer models. In addition to the size and voltage requirements, the power supply logic board on the computer also impacts how the adapter functions with your notebook.
We consider your investment in your notebook and the data stored there to be much more important than the sale of an Adapter, so we cannot recommend a tip for your device.
For the latest compatibility information, please check our configurator:
http://www.targus.com/us/configurator/targus/default.asp
kkt said:
Actually what you have now is an ac/dc adapter (you plug it into AC and it outputs DC for your computer). What you would want if looking for a cig-lighter type one a DC->DC converter, takes in DC and outputs DC (possibly a different voltage level than came in, via either a boost or buck converter setup)..or if your laptop will be happy with 12v directly, then you could plug it directly into the cig-lighter, you'd just need a cord, or sacrifice the one you have a make your own...
mabrodis said:Actually what you have now is an ac/dc adapter (you plug it into AC and it outputs DC for your computer). What you would want if looking for a cig-lighter type one a DC->DC converter, takes in DC and outputs DC (possibly a different voltage level than came in, via either a boost or buck converter setup)..or if your laptop will be happy with 12v directly, then you could plug it directly into the cig-lighter, you'd just need a cord, or sacrifice the one you have a make your own...
Targus has DC-DC converters for laptops and PDA designed to changed the voltage from 12 volts in auto/plano to the 15/17 volts typically required for the laptops and PDAs.
I use the 70 watt Vector inverter to power my laptop just fine. The power supply on the laptop is rated for 75 watts, but works fine with the 70 watt inverters. The inverter runs fine even when the laptop is in the full power mode, running full screen playing DVD movies. It's hard for me to see a laptop drawing more than 90 watts as that is the highest power adaptor/supply sold by Targus.
All depends on which laptop, my laptop uses this:97 FZJ80 said:
http://laptoptravel.com/Adapter.aspx?ID=2321&t=3
(I use the Dell one but that's a replacement, puts out 130 watts, for a Dell Inspiron XPS Gen2)...
tried 100 watt inverter for my toshiba
it did not put out sufficient power for the computer to not run on its battery sometimes. would recommend DC to DC if you can find the correct voltage/wattage unit.
it did not put out sufficient power for the computer to not run on its battery sometimes. would recommend DC to DC if you can find the correct voltage/wattage unit.
mabrodis said:All depends on which laptop, my laptop uses this:
http://laptoptravel.com/Adapter.aspx?ID=2321&t=3
(I use the Dell one but that's a replacement, puts out 130 watts, for a Dell Inspiron XPS Gen2)...
Wow
How big is the battery and what is the run time on that beast? Not passing judgments on why/how but doesn't that kill the portability factor of a laptop?
97 FZJ80 said:Wow
Battery is semi-large, it's a 17" wide-screen laptop, it's a Dell Inspiron XPS Gen2 (the one that has the cute tri-colored LEDs around it that you can change the color to and all that), does not have good battery life (battery is not brand-new now either)...it's worse with this laptop since it's a gaming laptop, so has some fancy-a$$ video card, etc...although my sister's 'normal' Dell Inspiron 5150 (15" screen, 3.06Ghz processor, pre-Centrino stuff) uses the exact same power supply...
Still portable, just you have to lug more...
Actually it's not that heavy, just like all XPS laptops was designed for performance, not for anything else...
mabrodis said:Actually what you have now is an ac/dc adapter (you plug it into AC and it outputs DC for your computer). What you would want if looking for a cig-lighter type one a DC->DC converter, takes in DC and outputs DC (possibly a different voltage level than came in, via either a boost or buck converter setup)..or if your laptop will be happy with 12v directly, then you could plug it directly into the cig-lighter, you'd just need a cord, or sacrifice the one you have a make your own...
I agree completely. Why convert DC to AC and then back to DC? Very inefficent and inverters create alot of RF noise too. They also pull alot more current than is necessary. The inverter works, I did it for a long time. I just got tired of all the extra stuff and RF noise.
Good luck, I hope you can find something.
Ross
I carry a lap top in the 80 daily for work now, I started with a cheap 200w inverter, it squealed and cut off often, I also charge my phone via a USB port on the laptop, there was an odd low ac current coming from the phone I could feel in my cheek when it was hooked to the laptop, it was coming from the electrically noisy modified sine wave inverter, I also found out I could not charge my dewalt batteries from this inverter as chargers need true sine wave,
I got a targus auto/air DC->DC converter and I am much happier with this setup
if targus does not have what you need try IGO, http://www.igo.com/, I know someone that has of the larger IGo's (120w IIRC?) and it gets scary hot, where my 70w targus stays cool, but his laptop is more power hungry being a large desktop replacement so that may be the sole reason for the heat difference.
If you cannot find a Dc-Dc then get a true sine wave inverter, they are much more expensive but well worth it when you are hooking anything more complicated than a light bulb to it.
I got a targus auto/air DC->DC converter and I am much happier with this setup
if targus does not have what you need try IGO, http://www.igo.com/, I know someone that has of the larger IGo's (120w IIRC?) and it gets scary hot, where my 70w targus stays cool, but his laptop is more power hungry being a large desktop replacement so that may be the sole reason for the heat difference.
If you cannot find a Dc-Dc then get a true sine wave inverter, they are much more expensive but well worth it when you are hooking anything more complicated than a light bulb to it.
That's very odd IMO, I have had no problems using devices like chargers and such with a cheap (i.e. modified sine wave) inverter, typically the devices charge slower because the effective current is lower, since most use a diode setup which only grabs current when the voltage is high and since a modified sine wave is basically a square-wave it's only at a high-enough voltage for the diode to conduct for a short amount of time. I have seen where things like a soldering iron plugged into a inverter didn't get as hot as it should have...RavenTai said:
I should rephrase that,
The charger did charge but it made a lot of noise and later I found out Dewalt specifically states that chargers will eventually overheat and fail so they are not to be used on modified sine wave inverters, from reading other things many devices operate poorly and have shorter life expectancy on modified square wave inverters.
The charger did charge but it made a lot of noise and later I found out Dewalt specifically states that chargers will eventually overheat and fail so they are not to be used on modified sine wave inverters, from reading other things many devices operate poorly and have shorter life expectancy on modified square wave inverters.
Bodean
Hot Damn
Burned up 2 Dewalt chargers trying to charge with my 400 watt inverter. What's up with that. Expensive screw up!
Later,
Later,
Cheap inverter. Your common, disposable, Chinese Walmart inverters will wipe out batteries. That's why utility fleet users never use recreational, innexpensive inverters. Those who decide to try to save money by going with the cheapies end up spending more money on replacing power tool batteries instead of just buying better quality inverters.
Bodean said: