Foo - Cheap DC to AC power inverter.

Anyone know where I can get one for cheap.

I saw a few that litterally are very small and just convert into one plug.

It's called Radio Shack they have anything electronic

It's called Radio Shack they have anything electronic

+1. Shouldn't cost more than about $20.00 unless you want the deluxe model.

Watch your power wattage needs though. You can get a 300W unit for about $40.00. +/-

Watch your power wattage needs though. You can get a 300W unit for about $40.00. +/-

What standard power would I need? I'm talking camera battery and maybe laptop. No more than 120v I would think no?

No more than 120v I would think no?


:roflmao2:
http://smiles2k.net/smiles/big_smiles/super_smilies007.gif

Power is measure in watts, of course it puts out 120, that is what all of them do or they would be pretty worthless.

OK, to power a laptop, I'd really recommend you NOT use an inverter. This is because if the waveform of the output current. It's a Stepped Sine wave and that's really hard on delicate electronics.
http://www.jet-electro.com/images/invert3.gif

Now, you can spend some more money and get a MOSFET Inverter, and have a safer output wave.

This is a better quality Inverter
http://www.marineelectronics.com.au/

It has a more balances output wave than the cheap ones.


What standard power would I need? I'm talking camera battery and maybe laptop. No more than 120v I would think no?

Yeah, you have to watch the laptops around water Pheard. Even those tough books should not be placed into waves.

Some laptops have a DC-DC charger as an option, where if you can hand it 12VDC, it will be happy.

OK, to power a laptop, I'd really recommend you NOT use an inverter. This is because if the waveform of the output current. It's a Stepped Sine wave and that's really hard on delicate electronics.
http://www.jet-electro.com/images/invert3.gif

Now, you can spend some more money and get a MOSFET Inverter, and have a safer output wave.

This is a better quality Inverter
http://www.marineelectronics.com.au/

It has a more balances output wave than the cheap ones.

Hmm I believe it's this one, I'm borrowing it.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41MDXR3S38L._SS260_.jpg

Description: • Plug in your gaming console, screens, laptops and more while on the road
• The Gamer's Power Inverter lets you take your game on the road by transformi ng 12V DC power from your vehicle's cigarette lighter into 110V AC power usable on your game console, laptops and cell phones.

So it does say it works for laptops.

OK, that has a MOSFET circuit in it, and should be fine as long as you don't overdraw the wattage it's capable of producing. That's a reasonably good alternative.
Hmm I believe it's this one, I'm borrowing it.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41MDXR3S38L._SS260_.jpg

Description: • Plug in your gaming console, screens, laptops and more while on the road
• The Gamer's Power Inverter lets you take your game on the road by transformi ng 12V DC power from your vehicle's cigarette lighter into 110V AC power usable on your game console, laptops and cell phones.

So it does say it works for laptops.

Whatchu mean?


OK, that has a MOSFET circuit in it, and should be fine as long as you don't overdraw the wattage it's capable of producing. That's a reasonably good alternative.

It's capable or producing 140 watts of power at 120V output. That's likely RMS or continuous power output, but I'd actually have to review the specs. There will also be a different wattage output for peak power, which will be ~ 150% of the RMS output. It can handle that for very short time periods. What happens is if you exceed the output capabilities, one of two things happen, either an internal breaker will trip or the electric signal will distort, overwhelming the MOSFET Sine and revert to the Stepped Sine, and you'lll risk burning out either the inverter or the charging circuit on your laptop.

It's capable or producing 140 watts of power at 120V output. That's likely RMS or continuous power output, but I'd actually have to review the specs. There will also be a different wattage output for peak power, which will be ~ 150% of the RMS output. It can handle that for very short time periods. What happens is if you exceed the output capabilities, one of two things happen, either an internal breaker will trip or the electric signal will distort, overwhelming the MOSFET Sine and revert to the Stepped Sine, and you'lll risk burning out either the inverter or the charging circuit on your laptop.

Laman's terms what do I want to do/not do/ look out for?

It's just like driving a stereo amp too hard and the sound distorts.....either the speakers blow or the amps finals overheat and blow. ;) As simple as I can put it. A clipped audio signal that produces the distorted audio is a stepped sine wave. To put it as simply as I can, make sure you have plenty of available wattage over what you'll need available for the job. If you need 150 watts RMS, buy a 300 watt RMS inverter. Look at the power requirements on everything you plan on using for the inverter to power and add them up if you are going to be using all of them together. If they add up to the total wattage of less than the rated wattage of the inverter, you'll be fine.

holy crap, my cheapo coleman (costco) 12v to 120v inverter may not have enough juice to run my dell.

the input for the dell power-pack (120v ac to 19.5v dc) is asking for 1.5 A input @ 120v.

my cheapo inverter rates it's output at 120v ac at 150 watts. if i'm not mistaken, that's only 1.25 A.

should i consider myself lucky for not having used the inverter to run my laptop?

i always assumed the dell powerpack and the battery system would protect my computer's circuits.

thanks!

Yeah, you'd really need a 300W inverter to have enough headroom and provide 100% of the amperage needs. 0.25 amps isn't THAT much of a difference, but it could damage the charging circuits because of the stepped sine occurrence.

The battery will serve as a nice sink though to protect the circuitry of the laptop itself, but you may experience a very slow drop in battery level under heavy processor load if you are operating the laptop in the vehicle.