DC to AC Inverter for 2 Laptops.

I'm looking for an AC to DC inverter, that plugs into a vehicles cigarette lighter plug. I need it to power 2 laptops, and a cell phone at once. The total wattage need is around 200 watts. I've bought the Black 'N Decker 200 watt inverter from Wal-Mart, but it won't run 2 laptops.

So basically not all inverters rated for 200 watts will run 2 laptops. Does anyone have experience with an inverter that will run 2 laptops?

 

Sorry to tell you this but you will not find a inverter that will run 2 laptops that plug into a cigarette lighter. I know for a fact when my 3000 watt inverter blew up under my bed. I went out and purchased a 250w 300 peak and it wouldn't run my D900F. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say min 550w 650peak, which means you'll have to hard wire to the battery. 200 watts are for ipods, ipads and really small computers

Also not saying you are doing this but most free wifi hotspots will call the police if they see you out in your car using their wifi, and not buying their products.

 

A few years ago my uncle let me use his inverter, it ran to 90 watt laptops fine. But, I don't remember the brand, I think it was around 600 watt.

 

You are not suppose to plug 600 watt inverters into a cigarette lighter... You can easily buy a 500 watt hardwired and go get any DC cigarette light plugin cord from any major truckstop and screw that bad boy in. But I take no responsibility when your local fire dept has to put your car out.

 

This is bad news and asking for trouble. The cigarette lighter was never intended to power anything other than, you guessed it, a cigarette lighter. Now you want to take the 12-14V DC coming from that inadequate socket, convert that to 110-120V AC, then convert that to 19V or so DC to power two laptops at once? Sounds like you want your car to burn to the ground.

You know the neat thing about laptops though? They can take a charge and then run on battery for a while. You only need to connect one at a time unless you have a couple of desktop replacements that you are continuously playing games on.

 

Some friends and I are going on a 5 hour each way trip, my Vaio gets maybe 1.5 hours of gaming life.

So would it be better just to buy 2 100 watt inverters, we have 2 plug a in the van?

 

I dont think 1 100watt inverter will work for even 1 laptop... see if the 200watt will run 1 laptop if it work then u might have to buy another.
I think I know what is happening you plug the 2 laptops in and the inverter make the loud buzz noise cause u are pulling too much and it trips. I'm almost 100% certain a 100 watt inverter is way too small.

 

It runs fine on a $20 100 watt inverter from Wal-Mart, the most we'll be drawing for 1 laptop is 90 watts. My Vaio and my brothers Dell 6400 both use 90 watt adapters.

 

If its a big car or truck with a mighty alternator it might be able to handle it but i wouldnt risk it really.

 

You are taking only a 5 hour drive and you are with your friends. Are you that addicted to computer games that you can't set down your laptop for a few hours? Put on some music, read a book or magazine, or even talk to your friends. There is no sense in buying a couple of power inverters.

 

Its a Ford E350, with the 5.4 V8. I think it has a 110 or 120 amp alternator.

MEH. I'll be spending the next 4 days with them. We'll talk some, as there will only be 2 inverters and 4 laptops

 

Just as a heads up, even if you do get an inverter that can handle that, you will blow a fuse in the car. Typically cigarette lighters are limited to about 150W *max* which means including any heat dissipation used to convert the electricity.

I was on an internship where we needed 600W from a 12V car battery, and we had to wire it directly to the battery because the technician blew the fuse tp his cigarette lighter. It came with alligator clips.

 

Got ya, +REP thanks for posting in helpful manner, unlike trottel.

 

Np! If you're crafty and good with finding ways to wire it, it can be done. You just need to find a way to run a wire from the battery to you. Other than that, it's not hard, nor expensive. Here's one that I found in five seconds of typing from Amazon:

Amazon.com: Cobra CPI 480 400-Watt 12-Volt DC to 120-Volt AC Power Inverter with 5-Volt USB Output: Automotive

Plenty of power. Read the reviews, for once I feel like I know what I'm talking about because they say the same thing! lol

Best of luck with this endeavor.

 

Really... don't waste your money on an inverter. They're hot, dangerous and you will almost never use it past this one time. They're ok for emergency, low-load use, but you could cause serious electrical problems for the car if you try for a gaming session as well as providing all of the amperage to run everything else on the car. Remember, you're talking 200W. Assuming no transmission losses, 200W at 12V is gonna be 17 amps. For reference, a normal house circuit breaker (that feeds 12 outlets) is rated for 15 amps. You will need at least 10-8 gauge wire to be safe depending on how far you run it. Basically 1/4" diameter stranded wire.

If you'll be together for the next 4 days, suck it up and just roll with it. Go with the hour and a half total gaming and then just talk to each other, and spend time during your other 4 days gaming.

If you're really desperate, you always have the license plate game. Or the alphabet game. "If I had a million bucks I would..." "If I knew I'd never be able to get caught I would..." and so on. You're probably gonna have at least one rest-stop as well.

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I decided to buy 2 of these: Cobra CPI-150BK Mini Power Inverter 150-Watt w/ USB Out - eBay (item 330531508108 end time Mar-17-11 14:10:41 PDT)

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Cobra-CPI-150..._1?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1297918564&sr=1-1

I spent $35 total, which is less than I spent on a REALLY loud 175 watt inverter from from Wal-Mart. I'll return the Wal-Mart one, and have some money for snacks

 

That's boring. Grab some 8 gauge wire and have at it. Nearly all inverters (even the cheap one I got from China) have auto temp/overcurrent/short circuit protection and as long as you're safe (aka not stupid), you will be fine. Just don't play games with the engine off!

EDIT: Nice decision, that's even safer. Just make sure you plug in to two separately fused outlets and you're set.

 

I don't think my mom or dad want me running wire through their fairly recent Ford E350. If it was my vehicle, I'd wire up a 750 Watt inverter, Install a 155 amp alternator, a high capacity battery, and 8 gauge wire.

When I get my first vehicle, I'll do all the mods and post pictures

PS: I'm glad your not telling me to get a life and talk to my friends, you know whats important

 

lol PM me with the results someday when you do!

I feel like this forum is partly supposed to exist to tell people how to do the things they want to do, not why they shouldn't do it. That's for OPs to decide upon.

 

There's only a single 20A fuse for the cigarette lighter. Given that 300W is 25A DC, he better buy himself a few extra fuses.

Electricity isn't magic, and it's not infinite. You can't just plug everything together and it'll just work. You have to think about the situation and the power that you have available, otherwise you're going to end up with a very dangerous situation on your hands. Electricity, ESPECIALLY 12V vehicle systems due to the amperage they carry, can cause some very real damage very quickly.

If your friend is saying "Dude, I think I can hit this bear with a stick and run away from it", your job is not to say "GO FOR IT!" If someone is asking for something silly or dangerous it is wholly irresponsible to enable it.

What the OP of this thread is asking for is bordering on dangerous due to the amount of current he's planning on pulling from a system that isn't designed for that, especially because he hasn't done any research into it. I know I don't want to read a story in an upcoming newspaper about a vanful of kids burning up on the highway.

 

your car cigarette lighter most likely only doe 100w. It should eb stated on the cigarette lighter cap or whatever. Also your best chance is getting one that can do 100 watts or whatever the max is and buy a premium one thta has high efficency because you are lucky if your cigarette lighter outlet puts out 100-120w

 

I checked my laptops power adapter, and says it only pulls 4.7 amps, isnt that ok?

 

You're missing the equation for power, which is P = V * I, or power=voltage times current. Your laptop adapter outputs 4.74A @ 19V, which = 90W.

At 12V your amps increase since your voltage decreases. So I = P/V = 90W/12V = 7.5A. Multiply this by two for two laptops and add a 20% efficiency penalty (12V DC to 120V AC to 19V DC) and you're looking at about 18A of total current under full load.

 

Thanks You, I could have never figured that out.

I guess we'll have to run the laptops on power save and dim the screen. I'll connect one laptop to each cigarette plug.

 

for me the easy way of figuring what I can run off of the cig socket is:

12V x 15A ( my fuse ) = 180 watts. then knock it back to 150 just because of inefficiencies in inverters and regulators

then anything that I plug into my mini inverter(s) on that fused link has to BE LESS than 150w draw.

IF the truck has dual fused accessory ports you may be good to go.

 

If you can limit it to one person gaming at a time I think it'll be extra safe. But maybe invest in a spare 20A fuse (<$1 typically I think) just in case someone blows through it two minutes into the ride. That would be terrible! haha

 

LOL Its happened before, luckily we have 2 cigarette plugs. I guess they're on separate fuses because one stopped working until my dad replaced a fuse. But the other worked fine.

 

Why hasn't anyone bought up the issue of playing games that would use full load inside such a cramped space such as a car? Most I'd be able to really do is watch a movie or something


Another thing, most laptop adapters are rated at what they can actually put out at max, and the only way you'd actually hit that most of the time is if you were fully loading the CPU+GPU, then add on full brightness and then charging the battery from a 0% state. I doubt my laptop uses more than 75w when playing games on it, but I think charging the battery while gaming can push it past that... makes a nice footwarmer in the winter

My car has dual cigarette outlets though, one actually has the lighter in it, and the other's just capped and has a 120w rating above both... hmm.

 

Chill. He's a gamer. You just don't get it. Kids these days even play on the bus to school.

Laptop power adapters are rated at what they can deliver, not at what they can pull. My girlfriend's old car had a 120v socket so you could plug in whatever. It was neat to do work on long car rides like to the beach, where I could continue working in the sand since the laptop was fully charged. But that was on a 90w adapter with a low power laptop that was not doing a whole lot more than idling. In this case I would bring some spare fuses just in case. And also some jumper cables in case there is an extra long gaming session before leaving the McDonald's parking lot after lunch.

 

i keep a inverter in my car, it can run 2 laptops with no problem when the car engine is running.

 

What model do you have?