I have a little HP Netbook I use for tuning . It will run on the battery for about 3 hours. I would like to be able to charge it in the car on long trips.

Currently I have a small 120v convertor plugged into the cigarette lighter. I plug the charge cable into the convertor and it charges for about 5 minutes ...then quits. If I unplug and replug the convertor it will charge again ….for 5 minutes. I have tried 3 different convertors with the same result.

What is causing this?

Is there a better way?

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

The charger is not getting enough current to work. It is overworking the converter which cuts itself off.

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-MattMan
LEANED & MEAN

I'm a total computer idiot, but, can't you just plug a usb charging cable into the lighter outlet, and into the computer?

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

What's the input voltage to the Netbook? If it's 19V or less you can probably charge it directly from the car. Just make up a cord with the right connector, minding the polarity and plug it in. Plenty of laptops and such have higher voltage inputs than your charging system, and they will charge faster at a higher voltage, but will also operate fine at ~14V. If the device needs a lower voltage than the charging system then you might not be able to charge it directly.

I have had the same trouble with small inverters. If the load is too small they shut down, presumably to save the battery. What you really want is a DC-DC converter to take in the vehicle voltage and output the device's desired voltage, but commercial ones (Lind) can be expensive.

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Joshua

Its 19.2v

so...I can just hardwire the charging cord into a fused circuit?

That would be way better than the shemozzle I have now.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

What's the watt rating of the 12v to 120v converter?

What's the watt rating and amp output of the laptop converter?


It's also possible that the laptop converter doesn't like the modified sine wave.

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

…..so

I searched car charger for my netbook model....and bought one off Ebay for $40cdn to my post office.

If it gets here by late October... and works.....


Im tempted to wire up my own and get away from the cig lighter BS

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

The wattage for the 120v is 45W

2 invertors were 45W

1 Invertor....many watts with fan etc

I think you might be right about the 120v verter being the funk.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

I'd try it if it were me. As I mentioned it probably won't charge at the highest possible rate, but it shouldn't hurt anything. I've done it successfully.

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Joshua

Thanks Josh!

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Years ago I bought an inverter from Radio Shack to use in my van on road trips. It has two 120v AC outlets. I can plug it into any one of the cigarette lighter outlets and it will happily run two or more laptops or a laptop and an LCD TV. However, I have upgraded to a 120 amp alternator in my van with a large battery, but I don't know if that would make a difference. If the engine is not running the inverter will work OK for a few minutes then give a warning beep that the voltage is too low for the inverter to run. But then I just start the engine and let it run.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.