Car Adapter

[JHEM]

won't hurt, but IMO not necessary.....

IMO a waste of money.

Your power brick will give up it's life before it allows anything injurious to pass through it.

I'd wager that 99% of all the laptops that died from a nearby lightning strike, or other spike or transient, succumbed due to the current entering via the modem connector not the power connector.

Regards,

James

[aamsel]

I just bought one on EBAY for less than 1/2 price shipped (about $60), so hopefully I can tell you about it next week.
It is much thinner and ligher, but not smaller...just thinner and lighter. Comes with the cords for a/c, car, or airplane (yeah, like I am gonna be flying First Class real soon) <grin>

Andrew
Austin, TX

Speaking of car adapters . . .

Does anyone have any experience with the Targus Universal Adapter PAPWR300U? It looks like it's smaller and lighter than the IBM brick.

[texasdiver]

Can't imagine how you could get a massive surge through your cigarette lighter that would pass through both the inverter and your power supply. So I wouldn't bother with the surge protector.

I also use the inverter route. A cheap inverter that I bought from WalMart. Actually I don't use it with the new thinkpad as I dont' use that in the car. What I do use it for is to run my old Dell Inspiron 5000 to play movies for my kids while we are on road trips. The 15" display on the Inspiron beats the heck out of any cheap portable DVD players on the market. And it's a lot cheaper than the built-in DVD players.

As for using these things on airplanes, that is the one good reason to get the universal adaptor from Targus or Kensington. It isn't just first class. Take a look at

http://www.seatguru.com/

You can find the power ports on any US airline.

[rhema83]

Can a capacitor and a resistor be used in tandem to smooth out the square wave?

[texasdiver]

This is a huge topic in the sailing and yachting worlds where inverters are used to power a huge number of electric devices at sea. That's because it is usually far cheaper to buy cheap 110v electrical appliances like microwaves, vacuums, shavers, coffee makers, etc. than buy specially-made 12v DC appliances that cost far more. So if you go to boating chat rooms they are always talking about inverters and batteries, especially the sailboat crew.

In order to get a true sine wave inverter you're probably looking at starting at $800 for something like this West Marine unit:

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... storeNum=9

lI would take the advice of others upstream and just get a cheap inverter from Walmart or radio shack and trust your power adaptor. Thousands of others do this without problem and they are designed to take power from less than clean sources. I've powered laptops, camera battery rechargers, camcorder rechargers, and various other items off my $25 Walmart inverter without the slightest problem.

[kev009]

Can't imagine how you could get a massive surge through your cigarette lighter that would pass through both the inverter and your power supply. So I wouldn't bother with the surge protector.

My thought is that the surge protector might have a ferrite or other noise filtering equipment. Do those small in line notebook surge protectors do that?

[frankiepankie]

I used a cheap 150 Watt inverter (modified sinus) on the road to my vacation place, but it didn't worked correctly.

The AC adapter from my ThinkPad would make a buzzing/crackling sound, and the battery led on my T40 would flash for 1 second.

I have 2 AC adapters here, a 02K6754, and a 02K6751.

Sometimes it would work, and i could use it to charge the battery of my ThinkPad, or just use the ThinkPad.


I now ordered a Voltcraft transformator (from Conrad electronics) which transforms 12V DC to a range starting at 12V and ending at 24V.

It can deliver 6A, so it should work flawless.

Should receive it this week.

[Msmax]

I have bought an IBM AC/DC Combo adapter which has 2 entries:

- 1 for 100-240VAC
- 1 for 11.5-18VCD

IBM P/N 22P9004 - FRU 22P9022

Cost me only 30 euro and works perfect.

Msmax

[frankiepankie]

WOW That's a nice bargain





Groetjes van uit Drenthe

[Msmax]

Actually I bought 3 of them...
One was without the car cable. have to make 1 cable myself.

Msmax