Cigarette lighter for laptop power

Irishwhistle

New Member
Hey, I'm going to be driving down to Florida in a week or so (I'm moving down there) so I'll be in a car for about 24 hours with nothing to do (snore), so I was wondering, is there any way that I can safely plug my netbook into the cigarette lighter of the car. What'd be the best adaptor to use and would a surge protector protect my netbook, my netbook's power adaptor, or both, from the dangers that come with plugging a computer into a cigarette lighter for power? Thanks! :)
 

bomberboysk

Active Member
Depends on the power draw of the netbook, that adapter is rated for 75W which should be plenty. (personally i ran a 400W peak 200W continuous i got from automotive section of walmart(black and decker i believe))
 

The_Other_One

VIP Member
I mounted a 300w inverter in the back of my Jeep and it charges my Inspiron 1420 quite well. As bomberboysk said, about 75 should be enough for most standard laptops, but anything with a higher-end dedicated GPU might pull more wattage.

Also, I think most vehicles recomend limited 120w draw from the cigarette lighter/plug. ANything higher is supposed to be a direct plug to the battery.

There are also some power supplies that plug directly into the car and accept 12v inputs. That would probably be the best setup as you wouldn't' have to worry quite so much about heat and all the conversions inverters have to do.
 

bomberboysk

Active Member
I mounted a 300w inverter in the back of my Jeep and it charges my Inspiron 1420 quite well. As bomberboysk said, about 75 should be enough for most standard laptops, but anything with a higher-end dedicated GPU might pull more wattage.

Also, I think most vehicles recomend limited 120w draw from the cigarette lighter/plug. ANything higher is supposed to be a direct plug to the battery.

There are also some power supplies that plug directly into the car and accept 12v inputs. That would probably be the best setup as you wouldn't' have to worry quite so much about heat and all the conversions inverters have to do.
Yeah, 120W and that is before calculating in the effeciency of the inverter. I think most inverters have a limit of 90W if using cigarette lighter(or 12v DC adapter as they like to call them these days). And yes, direct line to battery is always the best option(thats how mine is wired, fused positive to battery, negative to a bare metal seat post).

some of the newer dodge trucks/cars however have had 20A/240W rated dc outlets.
 

Irishwhistle

New Member
Well, it's a netbook, so it's super-low power. The maximum power draw (everything maxed) on my particular netbook model is 32W.

Anyway, I'll have to run up to Walmart tomorrow and see what they've got.
 

Irishwhistle

New Member
Well, I couldn't find one at Walmart, but Advance Auto Parts did have two. They had a 70W and a 200W. The 70W was $25, and the 200W was $55. I really don't want to pay $55 for one (and I probably won't if it comes to that.) So I know the 70W inverter will power my netbook, but I don't have a DVD drive for it (yes, I know, I should really get one), so my question is, might it power a C2D 2GHz, 2GB DDR2, low end Intel GPU, notebook? I really have no idea what the wattage is... any estimates? It's an older Dell Inspiron. Any chance it'll work on the 70W inverter? Anyway, I'll probably get the 70W for my netbook, but it'd be nice if I could get it to power the Inspiron so I can watch DVDs.
 

bomberboysk

Active Member
Well, I couldn't find one at Walmart, but Advance Auto Parts did have two. They had a 70W and a 200W. The 70W was $25, and the 200W was $55. I really don't want to pay $55 for one (and I probably won't if it comes to that.) So I know the 70W inverter will power my netbook, but I don't have a DVD drive for it (yes, I know, I should really get one), so my question is, might it power a C2D 2GHz, 2GB DDR2, low end Intel GPU, notebook? I really have no idea what the wattage is... any estimates? It's an older Dell Inspiron. Any chance it'll work on the 70W inverter? Anyway, I'll probably get the 70W for my netbook, but it'd be nice if I could get it to power the Inspiron so I can watch DVDs.
You checked the automotive section around the air filters and such? Thats where they are at my walmart.


I doubt a 70W would power a notebook, as the cheaper c2d's along pull 45W, plus mainboard, gpu, memory, hard drive, plus the ineffeciency of the power supply/power brick itself. Radio shack is also a place to look as a last resort, i know they have quite a few decent ones.
 

Irishwhistle

New Member
You checked the automotive section around the air filters and such? Thats where they are at my walmart.


I doubt a 70W would power a notebook, as the cheaper c2d's along pull 45W, plus mainboard, gpu, memory, hard drive, plus the ineffeciency of the power supply/power brick itself. Radio shack is also a place to look as a last resort, i know they have quite a few decent ones.

Yeah, but it's possible I missed it. I can always check again, Walmart is right at the end of my neighbourhood.

And yeah, I found out about the C2D rig, it's 90W, so it won't work. I'll have to check Radio Shack though, I never thought about that. Thanks for the help. :)
 

Irishwhistle

New Member
Well I decided to go with this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AI0OF/ref=ox_ya_oh_product

One of my brothers wanted to run his laptop on the same inverter as I'd be using (the car only has one cigarette lighter) so me, my brother, and another of my brothers are splitting the cost three ways. Hopefully it'll power both laptops... one is 90W and the other (though I can't find an exact measurement) seems to be a max of 200W, according to my brother and the adaptor, so it SHOULD work, or at least I would think. :p

:)
 

bomberboysk

Active Member
Well I decided to go with this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AI0OF/ref=ox_ya_oh_product

One of my brothers wanted to run his laptop on the same inverter as I'd be using (the car only has one cigarette lighter) so me, my brother, and another of my brothers are splitting the cost three ways. Hopefully it'll power both laptops... one is 90W and the other (though I can't find an exact measurement) seems to be a max of 200W, according to my brother and the adaptor, so it SHOULD work, or at least I would think. :p

:)
Youll have to hardware to battery....even under best case scenerio(eg- pickup truck) you wont get more than 240W from the +12v dc outlet.


And from the looks of it....you wont be able to hardwire that model to the battery.
 

oscaryu1

VIP Member
Should be fine seeing as he doesn't actually hook up a 50" CRT TV lol.

If he wants to be really safe, just swap in a lower amperage fuse from a ~100W inverter.
 

Irishwhistle

New Member
Youll have to hardware to battery....even under best case scenerio(eg- pickup truck) you wont get more than 240W from the +12v dc outlet.


And from the looks of it....you wont be able to hardwire that model to the battery.

oh... well, I'm sure my brother will be happy to hear that. :p

But will it be safe to run both laptops on it? If they require too much power what'll happen?
 
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