Choosing a power inverter for your laptop

I have a newer, smaller, nice looking inverter, made out of plastic material. The fan comes on very often, and it is not pleasant to listen to the fan. I don't like using that power inverter because of it.

My old, ugly, big inverter is in a metal inclosure. I don't recall ever hearing it's fan, if there is any inside it. I don't like the look of it, but I prefer to use it over the new one because of the noise issue.

Do you just need 60 watts? There is nothing wrong with buying a much more powerful power inverter. I'd go for at least a 150 Watt unit. Or even 300 W. It will not get hot.

It's 120 watts on the adapter. I'm looking at a 375 watt continuous one that should work for me. It does seem to be that the smaller the units get, the noiseier they are.

I have a really cheap inverter from Canadian Tire and it's dead silent. No noise at all.

...ken...

Ken, when you get a chance please look at the unit and tell us who the manufacturer is. It may help some of us in the future.

After much gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands, I approached this like every other problem I face. Overboard, just a bit.

(1) - $139.00 - PST-30S-12A - Samlex 300 Watt 12V Pure Sine Wave Inverter

was purchased and shipped today. I'' eventually be hardwiring it into my 2006 Vue, but I'll try the power point first. The two bad things about that are, it's switched, and when you calculate the voltage drop, it's much too hot for those sockets. That is part of the reason I've had trouble in the past.

The other is just the nature of the beast that is other wise known as a Toshiba Qosmio F55. It isn't necessarily a power sipper with 120 watt continuous demand. With the start and stop that I do, a modified sine wave inverter just wouldn't be able to keep up with it. Having worked with HF transmitters in the army, I can tell you the stepped sine wave plays havoc with voltage sensing devices, which this laptop is supposed to have. While a modified might have worked for a while, I couldn't reasonably put a $1,400.00 computer in that kind of risk.

We'll see how this goes and update asap.

Interested to hear how this works out but you are kidding yourself if you think the modified sine wave output is a problem for electronic devices. Maybe back in the good old days. The Qosmios are pretty heavy power users compared to netbooks though.

Terry

300 watt pure sine inverter...Check! (cig lighter hook-up)
Targus Chill Hub..................Check!
Qosmio power hog...............Check!

...95 degree day.................Check!

Power on...........................Check!!!

Drove around for awhile, S&T tracks just fine. No A/C running. Stopped for some beer, came back out after a couple of minutes, still going strong, though the cooling fan has come on. Battery at 99%. ( it lost a bit going from the house to the car)

Came home and left it running with the windows cracked. Went out after 15 minutes (my usual stop time at a job site), still going strong, car starts with no problem.

I'm going to continue with this setup for awhile, as long as there is no problems. Owners manual says it will probably wear down my SLI battery faster, but I'll wait a bit till I get a heavier duty one.

Beer thirty here.....

Sounds like a great setup. I'm glad you have room enough for a Qosmio. They are not only power hungry but somewhat large. Should be a great display though. How is it in sunlight?

I would be more concerned with charging system wear. The alternator will have to work harder regardless of the size of battery you use. You probably wouldn't leave the laptop in the vehicle for long stops anyway for fear of it being stolen.

Terry

The one major draw back of this Qosmio is the "chrome" accent strip around the keyboard. I have to finish putting electrical tape on it as it reflects a lot of sunlight. The picture is bright as can be though.

I'd love to try my Toshiba Satellite 5200 in the same situation. The 1600x1200 15" screen is gorgeous and the speakers are excellent. However, it is power hungry, hot, heavy and too large for use in my vehicle.

terry

Just as a follow up, the inverter works fine with the Qosmio, but still havent gotten the GPS in the darn thing to work, so it is going to go back to Toshiba. Fortunately, I got my Lenovo working again, and the power draw is so much less, the fan on the inverter only comes on after long stops (20mins+) in high heat (90degree+). I like this set up and will probably continue it.

Hi,
I have a radio shack inverter for my rv. I power my laptop just fine when it's running off the lighter in the front of the rv. There is another 12V lighter outlet in the back of the rv and when I plug the same inverter into that one, which is running off a brand new deep cycle battery, it pulses. In other words my laptop screen alternates between a bright screen and then a dim screen. It doesn't appear to have harmed my laptop, but I quit trying to run it from that outlet since it doesn't seem like that is good for the laptop. So, does anyone know what my problem might be?
Thanks,
Vik
p.s. When laptop is turned off it pulses as well when it's trying to just charge the battery. Also, when I run a mini-dvd off that back outlet it works fine, no pulsing.

Are you running the vehicle when you use the front outlet? How about the when using the back outlet? The vehicle and RV battery would be using the same charging system while the vehicle is running (and the voltage at each outlet would be higher).

If only the rear outlet has issues when the vehicle is running, I would investigate the socket first looking for rust or a bad contact. Next, you should check the vehicle charging system to make sure it is properly connected to the RV battery.

I left out the shore power option as who would use an inverter when 110v is available.

Terry

I knew I'd leave something out, lol.
I am not running the vehicle under either scenario. It works fine off the
front lighter and not so fine off the back one. I will try starting the engine today and see what happens.
Thanks,
Vik

The vehicle and RV batteries usually are not connected to each other with the engine off. If the socket looks ok and you are not running a lot of other 12v appliances (eg fridge and fans) and lights, you should check the charge on your RV battery.

You will probably find it is some other device on the 12v circuit that is cycling and drawing a lot of current from the RV battery though. Heavy current draw by another device may cause the voltage available to drop below the the inverter's input low limit. No or low AC voltage output to the laptop's power supply would cause it to shut off its DC output to the laptop. The laptop would revert to its internal battery and the sceen would dim.

Terry