DeadFish

Has anyone had any luck using a power converter that is connected via the cigarette lighter? I need one for a labtop, and I just cant trust that power drawn from a cigarette lighter to a power convertor could have enough power for... anything.

any companies you recommend? On ebay there are a ton of them... but they all look cheap. Locally the car audio store wants $60.00 for one, online... I am finding ones with 300watts at half that price.

Trying to avoid a fire here.

__________________
WWDFD?...
"Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, 'Make me feel important.'" - DF

ExodusFX

Personally, I've only worked with Vector inverters, which have given zero problems. There are other companies out there, you want to make sure they have some safety features built in. I'm talking about things like surge protection, underpower protection (so it doesn't kill your battery completely by accident), etc. Now as far as if the lighter can power up your laptop, use this formula to determine if there's a suitable sized cigarette lighter inverter for you.

AMPS (of your device) x Voltage (of device) = Watts (needed)

Watch out for some cheap inverters. They're simply nothing more than a transformer plugged into your cigarette lighter.

__________________

DeadFish

3.42 x 120 = 410 watts?

( it says on my labtop: 19v, 3.42A)

I thought you do amps x volts = watts? ( 64.98 watts?)

__________________
WWDFD?...
"Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, 'Make me feel important.'" - DF

ExodusFX

Yep, you're right. I put in 120 for household voltage, by accident. It should be the 64.98 watts that you calculated.

__________________