International Travel to Asia - Need Power, Laptop Bag &

[crashnburn]

Mod: Please move to forum where YOU THINK.. I will get most responses.. not necessarily the most RELEVANT forum. I need high visibility here . Appreciate it.
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Continental Flights with EmPower

PS: What kind of a power port is it? What kind of adapter would be best suited for usage. What kind of max Wattage can I get out of it?

I found one 150 watt APC Air / Auto Power Inverter online as well as at CompUXA.
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I have the following items I am thinking of using / might use:
2 laptops
- IBM Thinkpad T42 14" SXGA+
- Dell Inspison 9300 w Kickass Glossy Screen 17" 1900x1200 (great for movies)
1 Ipod
2 PDA phones
(Tmobile MDA & Dash - One for International Roaming, one for prepaid SIM cards in visiting country)

Since I am carrying the above 2 laptops, I'd like to have some recommendations for a rolling laptop bag.
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2 external hard drives -
Can someone recommend someone recommend some kind of carrying case(s) that can store external HDDs & some cables & electonics safely (Inside Carryon hopefully).

I'll pick up some other electronics etc if someone recommends something.

[tomh009]

Empower is a small airplane-only connector, smaller than the cigarette lighter one. Typically the travel power supplies include both Empower and the cigarette lighter adapters in one.

150W is definitely overkill. Even 75W may overload the circuit -- especially on your monster Dell you may have to choose between running without a battery (so that recharging does not draw additional power) or charging your laptop while it's turned off.

On Continental 777s, note that not all coach seats have Empower, and even the rows that do, there are n-1 Empower jacks for n seats. Check seatguru.com to make sure you get a seat with power.

You didn't say which countries you are visiting so can't comment on the power/phones for your visit there.

[bill bolton]

PS: What kind of a power port is it? What kind of adapter would be best suited for usage. What kind of max Wattage can I get out of it?

The power port in called "Empower" and is usually a 4 pin socket with two large pins that carry a nominal 15V DC supply and two small pins that are basically there to provide a link to indicate to the Empower ciruitry that something is plugged into the port.

The energy available from a 15V DC Empower port is approximately 90W, maximum.

For some of the newest aircraft, the Empower system provides a normal 110V AC outlet which can supply approximately 150W maximum of energy... however, the actual ISPS (in seat power supply) units typically have a maximum energy rating of approximately 225 VA (Watts) for typically two or three seat outlets, so you may not get 150W of energy if all the sockets attached to the unit are in active use!

For the common low voltage Empower ports, you basically have two options... use a power block that has a nominal 12VC DC input and an Empower connector (IBM/Lenovo has one available), or use an inverter that takes a nominal 12V DC input and delivers 120V or 240V AC mains power (APC makes one that is intended for this exact airline travel purpose) which you just plug your normal laptop power block into.

In either case energy output will be limited to 90W, minus whatever power the power block or inverter requires for its internal operation.

Keep in mind that no airline guarantees that you will actually have power at any Empower socket (15V or mains voltage). In my experience with Asia Pacific and Euopean flights, there is about a 25% chance that any particular Empower socket is not working.... and this seems to be fairly independent of the actual airline concerned.

Cheers,

Bill