Questions on Running A Laptop Off a Car Battery?

L

LedZepplin

Guest
Hello and thanks for taking the time to read this. I was looking into buying a powersource of some sort to run my laptop in the car and was wondering if it gives me unlimited battery life or just extended past normal battery life? I have a Dell XPS m1710 and am not sure what my machine requires. I have looked into it briefly and saw that they have something that puts a power outlet from the cigarette lighter to plug things in but was wondering if it would work for my machine and anything else I should know? I would also like to apologize for sentence structure and what not I am quite tired .
 
Lizidian

Lizidian

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LedZepplin said:
Hello and thanks for taking the time to read this. I was looking into buying a powersource of some sort to run my laptop in the car and was wondering if it gives me unlimited battery life or just extended past normal battery life? I have a Dell XPS m1710 and am not sure what my machine requires. I have looked into it briefly and saw that they have something that puts a power outlet from the cigarette lighter to plug things in but was wondering if it would work for my machine and anything else I should know? I would also like to apologize for sentence structure and what not I am quite tired .
Click to expand...

Well... First off don't worry about the sentence structure lol. As long as people can understand you it's cool :)

Second, about your car/laptop battery issue, the main concern I would have if I was going to try this is that my charger and the cigarette lighter outlet thing (not very sure about some of the terms I'm about to use) are the same voltage, or maybe it's not voltage... but that they give the same amount of power... so you don't blow your charger... See where I'm going with this? Sorry for all the confusion lol, just trying to get my point across...

Anyway, hope this helps (although I'm not sure I understand what I wrote lol)

-Lizidian
 
L

Logical_1

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Search for a 200W power inverter. Wal-Mart and a bunch of other places carry them for $20-40 US.
 
L

LedZepplin

Guest
Alright thanks alot, that's where I had seen some. I do realize what you are saying Liz that is what was bothering me before but i figured that if i get one that converts it to something larger I will be alright. I am still wondering however, if it just increases the amount of battery life or does it make it like a normal power outlet as long as the car is running?
 
V

Vector

Guest
A normal power outlet (in Australia) is 240 Volts at 10 Amps, which gives a total power output of 2400W.

Your laptop will come with some sort of "power pack" that plugs into the wall/your laptop, which will step the voltage down to a particular level (usually ~18 Volts). That "power pack" will also have written on it a particular power consumption (eg 200 Watts).

To calculate the amount of power that a source can provide, multiply the current by the voltage. (Or, it may have it written on it if you're lucky :p)

If what your car battery (or any other source) can provide is the same as what the supply normally consumes, then it should act just like a power outlet.

However, if it doesn't provide enough, or too much, I don't reccomend using it. If it's too much, your battery will charge quicker, but over time it will cause damage. You will also find that your laptop battery will heat up [more than usual] as it is charging. If it's not enough, it may provide additional power to your laptop to keep it going for a while, but it's also possible that running it on too little power would result in a "brown-out" effect, which is not good for electrical equipment.

Hope that helps!

--Vector
 
L

LedZepplin

Guest
Thanks alot, exactly what I thought would happen but needed to comfirm.
 
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