| Laptop Car Power Supply

Laptop Car Power Supply


Filed Under 90 Watt, General Information, Universal | Leave a Comment

Aren’t laptops supposed to be mobile? That’s right, so lets look at the laptop car power supply. There are several things to keep in mind when looking for a laptop power supply for your vehicle. Most vehicles these days come with the extra 12 volt cigarette lighter for powering mobile devices. It’s actually quite nice now and its about time they got on the band wagon with all the mobile devices out there now requiring power.

The 12Volt outlets provide approximately 90 watts of power which is pretty common for most laptop power supplies. The basic premise is you need to get the 12 volt car battery to power your laptop. Pretty simple huh? Most of us have used the adapter that converts the cigarette lighter plug into a normal two pronged outlet like you see inside your house. Actually I used one of these for years powering all sort of devices. They’re sure handy, but they can be a real pain and most take up quite a bit of room. The nice things about these however is that they can be used for almost anything that needs mobile power. Note that your vehicles power supply may be 24 volts also as in some utility vehicles and trucks. So make sure if you’re getting a laptop car power supply you’re getting it for the right voltage.laptop car power supply

Most laptop car power supplies or laptop car charger will come with various tips (as with the universal laptop power supply) that will fit most any laptops. For example the Targus PAPWR200U Universal Car/Airplane Notebook Power Adapter shown here comes with various tips that are said to work with HP, Toshiba, Compaq, Gateway, Dell, IBM, Sony and several others. Regardless of which car power supply you decide on purchasing, it’s a good idea to check the return policy and/or the laptop models to make sure its compatible.

You should note the voltage on the back of your current power supply to make sure the universal supply you purchase will provide the correct amount of power. If your car adapter has a voltage selection switch on it, you need to make sure it matches the right voltage or you may damage your laptop.

Many vehicles will continue to send power to the 12 volt outlet even when the engine is turned off. Some adapter will not continually draw power but it’s a good idea to unplug the you ac adapter or laptop power supply when the engine is not running. This will help keep it from running the battery down if it continues to draw power from the battery. If you do need to power your laptop with the engine off, try to keep it well under an hour to avoid draining enough power from the battery that may keep your vehicle from starting.

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