Power inverter for $9

[rickon66]

Bump for the lucky folks with a FRY's nearby

 

[0roo0roo]

100 is more then enough for any laptop. 150 is sweet 9 dollars, best price i've ever seen.

 

[0roo0roo]

yea jhust look at the ultra cheapie 50 watt "for laptops" inverters. if they think thats enough for laptops, 150 is certainly enough. i know because i had a 150 and a 50. i returned the 50 because it wasn't enough to run and charge my laptop battery at the same time, pretty sad really since its a 12" laptop. 150 though is ceratinly enough. my last one broke because the plug bit had a wire go lose, i should solder it but i'm lazy.

 

[holden j caufield]

is this on the ad? or still on sale? I called and they said $14.

 

[knightc2]

is this on the ad? or still on sale? I called and they said $14

May be only available in certain Fry's stores. Maybe brianv can elaborate on where this deal was found...

 

[dpham00]

Originally posted by: HalfHitch
volts X amps = watts

For $9, go for it. If it won't run the laptop, it will at least charge the battery.

i don't know the quality of this one, but i got a tripp lite 140w power inverter free AR a while back and it runs my laptop fine even with the dvd drive running.

 

[mchurchm]

I usually see these advertised for $14.99 at fry's, which is hot. At $9, this is smokin!! Unfortunately, I bought mine about a year or two ago for like $39.

 

[ventauri999]

Sounds like a no brainer...thx brianv for a super deal

 

[Calgar99]

150 watts is rated as peak power. Normally continuous power is about 1/3 of that rating, so it should run anything around 50 watts. Most laptops run around 35-50 watts, but that doesn't include what the power adapter uses itself... so you're cutting it close.

It may work until you try to do something with a lot of power (i.e. spin a DVD) and then it may trip the inverter's overload circuit.

Your best bet is to get a bigger power inverter... or get the DC adapter for your laptop.

-Matt

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: JameyF

Originally posted by: finalpendragon
150 kinda sucks. I would go for 250 with 450 peak. Or if you want something powerful, you can usually find a 450 for about $25-30.

Yea, but you'll have to watch out for blowing fuses going through a cigarette lighter with a 450 watt inverter. I don't even think it would be possible to sustain that much that way. I would run a dedicated power line directly to the inverter if you're going to get somethign that strong.

Most car AC inverters with ratings of around 300W and higher require a direct connection to the battery/alternator. So if you want one that is convenient to install, stick with something with a lower wattage. I would recommend something rated at 200-250W, capable of sustaining a 400W overload. I burned out a lower-wattage inverter running only a CD player and a set of speakers, both powered by their own step-down AC power-bricks. Also, that inverter got quite warm. I think it was a 180W. I now have a 200 or 250W, and it seems much more capable.

 

[rml]

could also be used to charge cell phone if you constantly change cell phone and do not want to buy those battery chargers

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Calgar99
150 watts is rated as peak power. Normally continuous power is about 1/3 of that rating, so it should run anything around 50 watts. Most laptops run around 35-50 watts, but that doesn't include what the power adapter uses itself... so you're cutting it close.

It may work until you try to do something with a lot of power (i.e. spin a DVD) and then it may trip the inverter's overload circuit.

Your best bet is to get a bigger power inverter... or get the DC adapter for your laptop.

-Matt

no, on this one 150 is not the peak. the peak is listed also, and its much higher.

 

[DurocShark]

ableach33: I was gonna PM you some help with your inverter, but you don't have PM's or an active profile. So I guess you're SOL.

I might have to pick one of these up this weekend... My son is addicted to Starcraft and since his battery is teh suck, he doesn't get to do it in the car (no car adapter). This is a much cheaper solution.

 

[attention]

The wattage of these units is no problem at all.

The biggest concern should be the waveform they output.

Some powersupplies do not work well with these, f.i. mine would get extremly hot.

Instead of giving a sine wave they deliver a 2 step approach to the sine. Now these small notebook power supplies use very small capacitors which sometimes cannot gap the missing energy and that leads to a missfunction of it's circuitry.

I killed my friend's power supply just by plugging it in. At that time I hadn't given this issue any thought.

It seems that older power supplies work better with these inverters.

 

[CheetahMk2]

Now that I think about it, they make two major types of international power converters... one type that says 'NOT FOR ELECTRONICS' on it and is pretty small, and another type that says 'For computers and sensitive electronic devices'. Finding the latter is extremely difficult, and pretty expensive. I got lucky. Maybe this is why?

 

[Freejack2]

Originally posted by: ableach33
I have a 300 watt inverter in my car.. i've noticed that sometimes with bumps or if i touch the cord, the power will just shut off.. also, i have a cable from my headphone out to the aux inputs on my cd player and have line noise, but sometimes it will be very clear... anyone know why this might be? anyone know where else I might want to post this?

Is it the one from Sam's club? If so the terminals that the power cord attach to can come loose. Just tighten them up and you'll be all set.