Need a Dc to Ac inverted to run laptop and printer in car.

stephan · #1 03-12-2007, 10:27 AM

I need one of these buggers because i want to run a laptop and use a printer in my car. What should i be looking for in the way of an inverter? Voltage, etc? How much will it cost me? The guy at staples showed me one, but it cost like $75.

ohgeetee · #2 03-12-2007, 11:10 AM

Go to Home Depot and get a cig lighter > Regular outlet adapter. don't buy a custom adapter for the laptop.

SamIAm · #3 03-12-2007, 12:03 PM

I've heard bad things about the waveform for car adapters of this type. Do some research before experimenting with these; you don't want to blow-out your laptop.

stephan · #4 03-12-2007, 12:37 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I've heard bad things about the waveform for car adapters of this type. Do some research before experimenting with these; you don't want to blow-out your laptop.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, that's why I'm posting here and at 2 other forums [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].

SamIAm · #5 03-12-2007, 12:44 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I've heard bad things about the waveform for car adapters of this type. Do some research before experimenting with these; you don't want to blow-out your laptop.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, that's why I'm posting here and at 2 other forums.

[/ QUOTE ]
Sorry, I really don't know enough to give serious advice. But I do know enough to be wary of casual advice. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

LuckyTxGuy · #6 03-12-2007, 01:33 PM

I bought a fairly nice ($30-$40) inverter from Circuit City several months ago to run my laptop in my truck. I was going to buy the nice and expensive Dell car/plane charger but I also wanted to have the inverter on hand in case I needed it to run other things in the future. I haven't used it but a few times, one time was on a 20 hour road trip and I had no problems with my laptop at all.

You definitely want to study up on them and make sure that you are buying one that puts out enough watts to run your laptop and also your printer at the same time. I've toyed with the idea of buying a small printer and using it this way to print invoices on site for my customers.

If you are really concerned about the side effects of running your laptop off the inverter, you could buy a power cord inverter made by the laptop manufacturer and then just run the printer off the inverter. Just a thought.

stephan · #7 03-12-2007, 02:11 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I bought a fairly nice ($30-$40) inverter from Circuit City several months ago to run my laptop in my truck. I was going to buy the nice and expensive Dell car/plane charger but I also wanted to have the inverter on hand in case I needed it to run other things in the future. I haven't used it but a few times, one time was on a 20 hour road trip and I had no problems with my laptop at all.

You definitely want to study up on them and make sure that you are buying one that puts out enough watts to run your laptop and also your printer at the same time. I've toyed with the idea of buying a small printer and using it this way to print invoices on site for my customers.

If you are really concerned about the side effects of running your laptop off the inverter, you could buy a power cord inverter made by the laptop manufacturer and then just run the printer off the inverter. Just a thought.

[/ QUOTE ]
I just don't want to blow out my pc from running the laptop and the printer at the same time.

ohgeetee · #8 03-12-2007, 02:40 PM

Assuming you aren't running a LJ5 in your backseat, there shouldn't be a problem with most midrange generic inverters. Most will even give you examples of what the inverter will run. a portable printer and laptop do not have a large power draw.

stephan · #9 03-12-2007, 05:40 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Assuming you aren't running a LJ5 in your backseat, there shouldn't be a problem with most midrange generic inverters. Most will even give you examples of what the inverter will run. a portable printer and laptop do not have a large power draw.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'd actually like to use a pretty large all-in fax/copier/scanner/printer type thing.

SamIAm · #10 03-13-2007, 12:32 AM

From my bit of quick research, it seems that modified sine wav is bad for laptops. You should get pure sine wave for sensitive electrical equipment (like some medical devices and most laptops).

Power draw is not the issue.