Running a laptop on a 12 volt to 110 volt inverter

[ac777]

Hi, I am wondering if an inverter would have any ill effects on a laptop. I Am thinking about mounting one in my fish house, and wonder how it would do with a laptop. Thanks.

Austen

[upnorth]

You should be fine. I can see no reason the inverter would harm anything, their power tends to be pretty clean.

[Matt C]

While up north a few weekends ago, I ran my laptop off an inverter in the boat so my kids could watch movies while mom and dad got to fish the night bite. Worked excellent! And it didn't hurt the laptop

[Scott K]

I do it alot! No problems for me either!

[fishermn]

Yes, I do this all the time, there's no problem at all. On a side note though, pay attention to those little sticky tags they put on the cord though. I had the bright idea of charging the batteries for my cordless drill from the inverter. After a while, I noticed the lights on the charger had went out. Lo and behold the tag on the cord said right on it not to run the charger from an inverter. D'oh! Oh well, it only took out the fuse and it was a simple fix, but who woulda guessed?

[JimBuck]

I do some music and audio recording as a hobby. I frequently take my laptop out in the boat on a nice afternoon with a few friends for some jammin'. Never had a problem.

[Neighbor_guy]

Guess I will be buying and inverter....

[ac777]

Thanks for all the quick replies, I think I will get one for my fish house now.

[Valv]

I use it all the times on my truck. Don't need a huge inverter, a 250watts is plenty enough. I also use it just to charge the battery, the battery for camcorder, etc.

[Great Dane]

We use one all the time in the car. Be sure to get a good one especially one with a fan for cooling as they get pretty warm.

[Rainy River]

If the inverter outputs the TRUE 60 cycles /second, then you will not hurt your battery. But if the inverter is a cheap one, your battery will have a shortened life. Removing the battery while using a power inverter is usually better.

[theoilman]

I use a 400 watt inverter in my van to power my laptop and inkjet printer - business use all day long, for over 4 years now. Works Great!

Most laptop computers can use around 100 watts with cd/dvd drive running plus hard drive running and display active. I recommend getting the inverter at about twice the rating you plan on using. If the inverter runs at less than rated it should last you a good long time.

[Whoaru99]

I have a very small one that fits right in my computer bag. It plugs directly into the cig lighter - the whole thing is self contained. The only drawback is that if the cig ligher is recessed too much, it doesn't fit.

It has a 140W continuous, 175W (max 5 minutes) rating and has a small, nearly silent fan in it.

[Sonicrunch]

lets see, we are going from DC to AC to DC.

It's too bad laptops are too sensitive to use the 12 volt car batteries. Laptops use something like 14 volts right? If you had a transformer and a voltage regulator it could be done(?). Of course the inverter is just easier and more available.

[hitthebricks]

Like Rainy River said. The battery in my Dell LT was toast after using about 3 times with the inverter.

[Whoaru99]

That is odd because mine is a Dell and there isn't any problem with the battery life using an inverter.

Our test technicians also use inverters with their computers to do datalogging, etc. and they work fine, afaik.

[theoilman]

Mine also is a Dell, and my post above, now over 4 years running from an inverter. Perhaps the little cigarette lighter ones just aren't big enough to do the job. My inverter is a 400watt, wired in.