Car Power Inverter 95W? - Overclock.net

mth91 · 11-26-09

Hey, I've got a vehicle power inverter that plugs into the cigarette lighter, and i'm sitting in the car right now. When I plug my laptop into it, the laptop continuously switches between battery and ac mode. Is 95W enough? Is there something i'm doing wrong which is making it switch? Also, what is that little black switch at the end of the inverter?

MrAMD_Fan · 11-26-09

Is your car running? Is the key in the accessory position? Some cars don't leave that on, when the car isn't on in some form or another. 95w should be plenty....
Also, if there is a light on the inverter, is it staying on or going on and off?

mth91 · 11-26-09

It's staying on, and the car's running. Someone else is driving. I'm sitting in the back. I'm thinking that it might have something to do with that little black switch, but I can't find out what it is.

MrDeodorant · 11-26-09

It's hard to tell if 95 watts is enough for your laptop without knowing how much power your laptop draws, or at least what kind of laptop it is. It's probably fine, though.

A friend of mine had similar issues, and we traced it to the multi-socket he was using. It's probably a bad connection somewhere.

mth91 · 11-26-09

Yeah. Thanks for the help. Rep+ for both of you. Can either of you tell me what the little black switch is though? Is it used to lock the connection in some way or another?

MrAMD_Fan · 11-26-09

Most laptops have 60w or 90w ac adapters.... how many outlets does it have?
Oh, that is probably a breaker, in case it overloads, the button will pop out farther and you have to push it in to get it to work again. If that was tripped tho', nothing would work....

MrDeodorant · 11-26-09

The switch could be a reset for a circuit breaker, I guess. Do you know what kind of inverter it is? I could look it up.

Also, thank you for putting me to 50 rep.

dralb · 11-26-09

Could you post a link to the inverter? Also, I am not sure, but there could be a limitation to the socket itself no matter what the inverter can do.

MrDeodorant · 11-26-09

You know what, if it's constantly switching, I bet the 95 watts is a peak rating, and it isn't actually able to provide enough current.

UndertheGun · 11-26-09

Could that switch be some kind of polarity switch? Is the cars battery voltage strong? Many of these adapters turn off if battery voltage drops below a certain threshold?

Also if your adapter puts out 90w would it not need more than 95w inverter because of efficiency issues?

		Overclock.net - Overclocking.net > Mobile Computing Forum > Laptops / Notebook Computers
Car Power Inverter 95W?

11-26-09	#10 (permalink)
UndertheGun New to Overclock.net Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 745 Rep: 100 Unique Rep: 74 Trader Rating: 0	Could that switch be some kind of polarity switch? Is the cars battery voltage strong? Many of these adapters turn off if battery voltage drops below a certain threshold? Also if your adapter puts out 90w would it not need more than 95w inverter because of efficiency issues?

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)