question about 12V power inverters & laptops

I ave a cheap 150W inverter and it worked fine on my Toshiba and the new Sony.

 

One inverter will probably be sufficient. Do not just go for "cheap" with an inverter though. The real cheap ones dont produce "clean" enough power for a computer, and can damage it. Something to do with a proper "sine wave". Get a good 150 watt one, and you'll be good to go. I have had a laptop in the truck for years, even without inverters or APU's.

 

Heres the problem with high end laptops plugged in to cigarette lighter inverters:

Depending on the truck you either have a 10 amp or 15 amp fuse. 10 amps @ 12 volts is only 120 Watts. With a 15 amp, its 180. A high end laptop with quad cores, decent graphics etc. will easily pull 150 watts. Now thats 150 on the DC side of the laptop. Most laptop power adapters are only 75% efficient. Now we are drawing 200 watts. Your inveter is probably around 80% efficient meaning 250 AC watts. Now we just determined even with a 15 amp fuse we could only supply 180, but we need 250. Truth is you convert DC to ac with the inverter and AC back to DC with you computer power adapter. This double conversion losses a lot of power. Now yes, they sell 400 watt inverters that plug into a cigarette lighter, but you will blow your fuse long before you reach that wattage. Replacing with a 20 amp fuse is dangerous because then you might fry your wiring.

Long story short, you wont be able to reliably power a gaming laptop unless you get a hard wired high wattage inverter. That being said, many companies will wire it for you and allow an inverter.

 

my 400 watt invertor. pluged into the socket. powers my laptop, printer, 120v fan. tv and satellite receiver. all at the same time.

if your lucky, you might get a truck with a invertor already installed.

yesterday, i saw a new driver getting a volvo that had factory installed invertor. inside the compartment. it had 2 plugs so all he would need is a couple of extension cables.

the invertor itself. was half the size of my 400 watt cobra. puts out 1800 watts. continuous. has 2 outlets. and the wiring was about as thick as the cord for my 400 watt invertor. it was not huge at all.

when i first came out. i bought a cheap 400 watt invertor from walmart. $35. and it lasted me 2 years plugged into the socket.

i don't have a fridge or stove just yet. soon as a i get enough fuel points. a 2000 watt invertor is on my wish list. the 400 watt cobra i have now. replaced my walmart unit when it quit. i got if free from pilot using my points.

the walmart invertor actually still works. but it has a push button switch that won't turn the unit off and on like it's supposed to. you have to press it a few times.

 

Another option is to get a 12V power supply / adapter for your laptop that plugs directly into a 12V jack. That way you avoid the losses caused by converting from 12V DC to 120V AC then back to whatever DC low voltage your laptop needs. A number of shops on Amazon sell these.

 

This is good information! Thanks.

 

For that you would need a power strip, not an extension cord.

And I doubt a Cobra 400W inverter plugged into a 12V socket would power all those things at the same time.
It only outputs 150W when using the 12V socket, and a single 12V socket - even with a 20A fuse - could not supply that kind of power.
Snowwy is short for snow job.

 

you can doubt all you want.

it's been my setup for 2 1/2 years. and it was my setup when first started. with a tube tv.

SO DOUBT AWAY.

my walmart had 2 outlets. my cobra only has one. so yes, it's a power strip. and i forgot to add. it now has my tablet.