Car adapter fo HP Pavilion zd8000?

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ruzicka - 25 Oct 2005 01:31 GMT

By any chance, does anyone here know about any good, reliable car adapters
that would work with a power-hungry HP Pavilion zd8000 laptop? I'd love to
be able to use it in the car on long trips to allow my kids to watch DVDs,
but the current battery capacity just doesn't cut it.

I found the following on the internet:
http://www.sterlingtek.com/caradforalll.html

but I have no idea if it would really work adequately (regardless of what
the company says), and I'm worried I might somehow end up frying my laptop!

Any advice/recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

P. Ruzicka
Aurora, CO, USA

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Kevin - 25 Oct 2005 02:46 GMT

Instead of trying to find a car adapter, purchase a converter instead. They
can be found at stores like Batteries Plus, Staples and Office Depot. They
can take power directly from a car, boat or rv battery or from a power port
in your car, boat or recreational vehicle. Price is usually around $40. I
bought one that can supply power to a laptop, television, refrigerator and
numerous other electronics and appliances.

> By any chance, does anyone here know about any good, reliable car adapters
> that would work with a power-hungry HP Pavilion zd8000 laptop? I'd love
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> P. Ruzicka
> Aurora, CO, USA

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ruzicka - 25 Oct 2005 03:16 GMT

Sorry...just want to make sure I understand this....

This converter would plug into the cigarette lighter, like an adapter, and
from there connect to either the normal power supply or directly into the
laptop? It would need to do this, if we wanted to use the laptop while
driving.

> Instead of trying to find a car adapter, purchase a converter instead.
> They can be found at stores like Batteries Plus, Staples and Office Depot.
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
>> P. Ruzicka
>> Aurora, CO, USA

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Barry Watzman - 25 Oct 2005 03:35 GMT

(1) You can get an INVERTER that takes 12 volts DC from the car's
electrical system and uses it to make 120 volt AC house current. The
Inverter has a normal AC wall socket on it, into which you could plug
the normal household power supply/charger.

***OR***

(2) You could buy an "Auto/Air Adapter" that plugs into the same 12 volt
car electrical system and directly runs the laptop, completely replacing
the normal power supply/charger that you use at home.

Solution (2) is slightly preferable in most regards but will proably
cost a bit more. The advantages are it's one unit instead of two, fewer
wires, and the electrical efficiency is much higher (if that matters).
Also, some household power supply/chargers won't run from some
inverters, but such problems are relatively uncommon.

A note on inverters: Their output is limited. Watts = Volts*Amps, and
the efficiency of the inverter will vary from perhaps 60% to perhaps
80%. Most auto cigarette lighters are fused at 30 amps, so the most
that you can draw through the cigarette lighter socket is about 360
watts (30 amps * 12 volts). If the inverter is 70% efficient, it's
maximum output will be about 252 watts. That is more than enough for
any laptop, but as for Kevin's comment about running a refrigerator ....
you can't run many refrigerators from an inverter plugged into a vehicle
cigarette lighter or power socket.

A further comment, the efficiency of the laptop's AC adapter/charger is
also 60% to 80%. So if the laptop needs 90 watts (15 volts at 6 amps,
say), and the efficiency of it's adapter/charger is 70%, the
adapter/charger will need 128.5 watts. If it is getting it's power from
an inverter that is also 70% efficient, then the inverter will need to
draw 183.5 watts to power this 90-watt laptop.

> Sorry...just want to make sure I understand this....
>
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
>>>P. Ruzicka
>>>Aurora, CO, USA

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MikeG - 25 Oct 2005 20:08 GMT

So an "Auto/Air Adapter" is really a self contained inverter?. Was shopping
for my Toshiba this am and its ac adapter specs are Input 120 v @ 1.6 amps
and the output is 19v @ 3.42 amps. So watts on input = ~192 and output is
~ 65 watts. For my setup, the car adapters were $50.

> (1) You can get an INVERTER that takes 12 volts DC from the car's
> electrical system and uses it to make 120 volt AC house current. The
[quoted text clipped - 60 lines]
>>>>P. Ruzicka
>>>>Aurora, CO, USA

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Kevin - 26 Oct 2005 02:52 GMT

Yes. It has standard outlets to power your equipment. You simply plug the
power cord into it and off you go.

> Sorry...just want to make sure I understand this....
>
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
>>> P. Ruzicka
>>> Aurora, CO, USA

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