in car laptop power options -what do you use ?

[murphinator]

I am sick of using an invertor is there anyplace that sells 12 volt cig lighter laptop plugs or any other option besides an invertor ?

I like to log on my way to work & back and its 84 miles 1 way

any input appreciated

[S2H]

you gotta check with the manufacturer of your laptop to see if they make a car adapter...

I know some guys use the Emergency Car Jump Starter kits as they usually have a courtesy outlet on them that is usually good for an hour or two

personally I just use the inverter...

but I rarely have to use it..
I bought a Gateway M-285 Tablet for work reasons...and I get 5-6 hours of real work time with it...almost 8 if I use it with the screen dimmed and all the power saving stuff turned on...and I'm talking about tuning/internet/whatever..regular use...
if I really tax the video card with some World of Warcraft I can get about 2-3 hours on just the battery
and I have the normal batter that comes with it...aparently I can get a 12 cell battery that allows me to get 1.5x the battery life...

[BSmith]

This is what I use:

http://www.igo.com/

[murphinator]

computer is a compaq that is a hand me down from my wife for tuning

the battery is lucky to last 10 minutes

hoping to find something simple & inexpensive locally if anyone knows of a chain store that tends to carry one

[shabby]

I use one of these, just do a search for laptop car charger and you'll find plenty of them.

[MeentSS02]

I'm one of the ones that uses an emergency jump start battery, but I plug an inverter into it to convert it to AC power. That lasts me for quite a while, but I do have a new laptop that shouldn't have the problems my old one did (it would seriously last for 5 minutes MAX while tuning without the jump start battery).

[BSmith]

You can get the iGo at Radio Shack, but it is approx $120. I was on a trip to NC when I bought mine. It is a sturdy piece though.

I'm sure Belkin or someone makes one that you can buy at Office Depot or the like.

[murphinator]

I thought I read a post on here that hp tuners doesnt recommend invertors that is part of why I am looking to get away from using one also but it looks like a lot of you are using them so maybe I just shouldnt worry about it

I am currently using a black & decker that was 25 bucks or so

[S2H]

I think mine is the black and decker one..400 watt version...2 117v AC outlets and a 5v USB outlet

[MeentSS02]

I've only used my inverter with the battery pack as the power source - I've never done it through the cig. lighter. I've heard some people say that the cig. lighter is a pretty dirty power source, but I've never tried to confirm it...

[S2H]

cig lighter is fine considering the device you are plugging in is converting it back to DC again...

[murphinator]

bought a laptop power adaptor tonight that I can change cables from wall power to cig lighter

Targus brand at best buy for $149

thanks for the input guys

[S2H]

cig lighter is fine considering the device you are plugging in is converting it back to DC again...

and if you are really worried you can ad a noise filtering capacitor to the line leading up to the inverter...

and add a ferrite thingy to your AC cord...which most newer laptops have them on it already...usually pretty close to the laptop plug end

[Cantalope Kid]

$149...thats funny...I use a -$20 power inverter from Sears...SEE BELOW

[midgetracr]

Most but probably not all laptop chargers have an 18 volt DC output.

I bought gel cell batteries at a battery store, (1-12volt and 1-6 volt or three 6 volt) then spent a couple $ at radio shack for the correct plug to connect to my old laptop. With 6 amp hour gel cell batteries connected in series, I could run my old laptop for hours. When home I would charge my gel cells from the laptop charger.

Simple, relatively cheap, clean power and it worked.

[blucreek]

Truck Stops are your friend! I picked one up for about $12 been using for over 3 yrs now.
Make sure it is equipped with a cooling fan. Trust me! If it is not it will begin to smoke and stink very badly, after about an hr. of logging on the interstate.

[Atomic]

I went a little more in depth and mounted a 500w inverter to the back wall of my truck next to my amp, then extended the plug to the front of my truck so I basically have this:

(click for bigger pic)

I also have the inverter on a relay controlled by a switch just above the plug, so this way the inverter isnt running when I dont need it.

Heres all the pics.

http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...er%20inverter/

[murphinator]

$149...thats funny...I use a -$20 power inverter from Sears...SEE BELOW

I wanted to get away from the invertor after one of the staff here said it had potential warranty implications and my laptop power cord was toast ( frayed wires at the plug) so now was the time to get away from any issues my invertor may cause

[1998Ws6]

APC UPA9 12 universal laptop power supply.

Works great with my software/hardware and I believe it should work with HPT as well, I did have an issue on a vette with efilive, a roadrunner, and running this at the same time, but it could have been a ground issue, as the vehicle had some odd behavior.

Ryan

[S2H]

I wanted to get away from the invertor after one of the staff here said it had potential warranty implications and my laptop power cord was toast ( frayed wires at the plug) so now was the time to get away from any issues my invertor may cause

frayed wires cant be caused by an inverter.....
if your power cable toasted(burned up) it was because of the frayed wires...basically creating too small of a wire gauge to properly transfer voltage and amperage....
having too small of a wire gauge creates heat becasue the voltage has to increase to make up th edifference....which makes the amperage rise...which leads to more heat....its a vicious cycle.
in the end your wire burns up because of this heat
the frayed end is most likely because of a poor strain relief design by the manufacturer and a lot of use...probably more than they designed for(it seems bad to say that...but they really design stuff for a lighter duty than what most people use it for)



one of the big issue was in the old day before safe writing abilities with calibration only writes...in the LS1 Edit only thing around days....it was a wrote entire every time...and it was slow...
I remember it taking 8 minutes r more to write to my pcm...if you used an inverter or anything that made the power drop more rapidly than normal it could cause the pcm to shut down from low voltage...even just a little spike downward would reset it....pcm's are so temperamental about voltage...
and if it reset or lost power..the pcm was toast..