What's a good 12vdc (cig lighter) power supply for the T60?

[John H]

I'm trying to find a good power converter (from 12vdc in the car to whatever the T60 requires) for convenience when traveling. I have an old one I bought about 8 years ago for another thinkpad and it sorta works OK, although the charging is erratic. But the new one I got off eBay (which is supposed to be 90 watts) surges and stumbles and never gets the battery charged up.

Anyone else struggle with this?

[Ck51010]

I use the Lenovo Slim 90W AC/DC adapter. It comes with the 12VDC plug. Powers and charges my T61p with no problems.

ThinkPad and IdeaPad 90W Slim AC/DC Combo Adapter

[John H]

Boy, that was fast!

I checked it out on the Lenovo catalog, and then scored one for $60 on ebay! Should be here in a couple days.

That unit actually solves a couple problems for me since I was looking around for a new AC adapter anyhow.

Thanks.

[BuzzBuzzard]

After a flight out of state I discovered that I had left the power supply for my T60 at home. Duh! The thought of being without my T60 to use for two weeks was too much to bear, so I went shopping for a power supply. At a Circuit City store I found a Kensington power supply and almost bought it. Then I noticed another Kensington power supply that not only worked on A.C., but worked on U.S. and European A.C., plus on 12 volts DC. Since at home, I had been using a power inverter in the car to use my Lenovo A.C. power supply, this was certainly just what I needed. Model K33403 has adapter plugs for most notebooks and different D.C. output voltages, including the T60 and it is a perfect fit. It comes in a nice soft carry-case, as well and has separate removable power cords for D.C. and A.C. operation. Good luck.

[smidgley]

I'e bought several of these from this seller on eBay. They don't come with the tip for the newer (T6x, etc.) ThinkPads but Kensington will send one for free if you contact them.

[yak]

Interesting. I did some googling and found a review of a different Kensington model, the Wall/Auto/Air Ultra Portable Notebook Power Adapter (K33197US):
http://www.instantgoodness.com/page/sho ... hem+All%3F

Here's what it says about compatibility with T61:

Lenovo ThinkPad T61 - Tip N29, N29B - Does not supply power or charge - AC LED on laptop does not light when connected. If laptop is powered on with battery and "universal" adapter, POST fails with "0190: Critical low-battery error"; machine beeps once and powers down, failing to boot into OS. Tip fits loosely, readily jiggling and seeming to extend a bit too far ouside the jack. (Tested unit had a 15.4" screen and NVIDIA graphics.)

I guess you have to double check which model are you getting.

[John H]

Prices, please?

The Lenovo multi-source brick is $120 retail, but I paid $60 for one on eBay. It claimed to be Lenovo.

The T60 seems to have a peculiar charging cycle. Maybe it explains why they changed the tip for the T60 so it won't use one of the old T40 AC-adapters. (Altho I managed to find an adapter tip that allows the old brick to be attached to the T60, with the surging result).

Some 12vdc charger/adapters such as the one I got a couple years ago for airplane/car use exhibit a surging charge cycle that can be disconcerting. It also seems to have poor charging characteristics.

I suspect that the T60s are power hungry and the surging that I see is the result of a relaxation oscillation caused by charging and discharging a capacitor in the input circuit through an inadequate brick.

I'm looking forward to using the Lenovo brick, when it arrives, to see how well it charges and if it exerts a peculiar load on the voltage source.

One use I have for this adapter is in an RV. For one thing, I have Microsoft Streets and Trips on the T60 (although I'll probably switch to the T40 for that app).

In the RV I have multiple possible sources of power: 117VAC 'shore' power from an RV park or my generator, 117VAC from a 1200watt Pure Sine Inverter, 12VDC from the 'house' battery and 12VDC from the 'chassis' battery thru the cig lighter, which seems to be the easiest.

So I've got to test the Lenovo multi-voltage brick in all those uses.