Powering portable DVD players/laptops in the car?

[Free4Life11]

Has anyone ever used one of the things you plug into your car and it converts it into an outlet??

http://www.cyberpowersystems.com/CPS140BI.asp

I found that one but am not sure if it will be powerful enough to run my laptop. Also would using something like that drain the car battery?

 

[mickman1962]

anyone of the power convertors you find (such as Sams, Walmart) will work just fine for what you want and won't drain the battery.

 

[golfgal]

We have one that has 3 outlets in it and it works great. We have a cigarette lighter and 2 plug things for cell phones, etc. so we have enough space for those, but when we go on long trips and DS wants to bring his XBox we use the converter for that. It is a life saver on those 10+ hour trips! We got ours at Walmart for about $25 or so.

 

[Zandy595]

I bought this one http://www.vectormfg.com/catalog/vec040-watt-power-inverter-p-295.html to use after Hurricane Wilma knocked out our power. I have an electric kettle I can boil water in and heat soup, but the inverter wouldn't work with it. It does work with my curling iron though. I haven't tried anything else yet. It says it can be used for laptops video games, TV's, and Radios. If it's supposed to power a laptop, I don't understand why it won't work with the electric kettle. Mine's only 70 watts, looks like the one you posted about is 140 watts. Where did you find it and how much was it? I got mine at Bed Bath & Beyond for $17.

 

[Towncrier]

I got a Tripplite inverter that we have used for all sorts of purposes, the most interesting being powering the crockpot during the long drive to our relatives. On high setting, a typical crockpot only draws 150 watts. We have a 300 watt inverter which can also be used to charge/run the laptop, charge the cellphone, or even power lights in our house during power failures. Most if not all inverters have circuitry that prevents your car battery from being drained.

The initial reason for the purchase of the inverter was that a Dell laptop cigarette lighter adapter cost $100 and the inverter was only $40.

 

[Free4Life11]

Thanks for the help! Does anyone know how I can see how many watts my laptop power adapter uses???

 

[gallaj0]

There should be a sticker on the back of the adapter with the wattage.