Car Inverter?

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clk320x

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Hi guys,

Is it possible to use a 12V power socket inverter to plug in my home laptop power adaptor and charge my laptop in the car?

This is the specification of the charger:
AC Input: 100V-240V - 3.6A 50/60 Hz
DC Output: 19.5V - 11.8A
230.1W

I assume I need a 250W inverter capable of delivering 4A minimum?

On the 12V socket on my centre console, it is labelled 12V/15A max? So assume this should be possible?

Does anyone know of any suitable inverters that can be used to charge the laptop whilst the engine runs?

Thanks in advance all.
 
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That is one beefy charger.

P = V x I
240 x 3.6 = 864W
19.5 x 11.8 - 230.1W
Correct. :)

It’s a high performance laptop with a RTX 2080 GPU and i7 processor.
 
These things do exist, but whether they'll blow the 15A fuse on the cigarette lighter socket is another matter.

See for example:


Another option would be to feed it from the battery (protected with a 40A fuse).

 
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Not going to happen.

As pointed out, it's an 864W charger. OK that's the maximum rating but inverters aren't 100% efficient (they consume more power than they put out), so it's a good figure to use. To get 864W from a 12V supply (let's call it 13.5V with the engine running) would take 64A ... and the socket in the car is rated for 15A.

See if there's a (less powerful) car charger made for your laptop.
 
I'm not sure the charger requires the input power people are suggesting.
I think if you use the 100v x 3.6a that gives 360w that is more like it. As the psu has an output of 230w that means only 130w is lost as heat vs ~500w of heat as suggested above. I would assume at 240v it doesn't draw 3.6A.
Its all a bit of a moot point as you can only draw 180w from the 15A fuse.

I would also look at a sine wave inverter as a square wave one may damage your psu.

I suspect that the you may be fine just charging as the psu is designed to be able to charge whilst the laptop is running some demanding task, so if its off and just charging it will draw a lot less.

As suggested best option would be to get a high current circuit wired in connected to a sine wave inverter.

As your gaming laptop probably cost a few £s don't consider anything other than a pure sine wave inverter
 
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Hi
Have you considered a 12V Laptop charger?
I had one of these for my STAR System laptop, and it worked well.
 
Don't forget the charger is spec'd to power the laptop when it is running so it needs to be very capable.

If you are only using it to charge the battery, you wouldn't be using anything like that power.

I'm not sure what the laptop would use to charge the battery but you could work it out using a multimeter and calculate requirements for 12V.

I'd be surprised if you couldn't do what you are planning to OP.
 
Why go to 240 volts and back again?

There are 12 volt to 19 volt steppers available.

There are many available such as this:-

 
my thought are as above.

if you need more power ( a bit of looking and I would expect cheaper).
Then match up a DC power plug for the pc. Often you'll find one on an old defunct psu or charger somewhere.
 
It’s unlikely you’ll get a satisfactory outcome using a generic DC - DC converter to step up from 12 to 19V as most laptops talk to their power supply to negotiate available power/demands. A dedicated 12V fed charger for the laptop in question would be ideal, as suggested, but failing that, inefficient as it is, a 12V to mains inverter powering the OEM laptop supply is the best bet.
 
A lot of laptops have batteries buried inside them and are not easily changed.
 

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