Power inverters for laptops, these days, are available at a dime a dozen. Laptops and notebooks are modern and state of the art in many respects. One of the best advantages of laptops is their portability and frugal usage of power. The power supplies of laptops today are so advanced most of them can handle a voltage input range from 90V to 300V.
If you have a look at your laptop’s power supply, it would usually specify an output voltage such as: 19V 6A…or 14.5V 5A. This is the total power rating of your laptop’s requirement. By simply multiplying the voltage: i.e. 19V x the current 6A, it will give you the total power requirement and minimum power rating which your power inverter needs to comply to.
Therefore: 19x 6 = 114 Watt.
Which means it is safe to use a 150Watt power inverter
Or in the second example
14.5x 6 = 87 Watt, in this case a 100Watt power inverter is sufficient.
Although laptops can go just about anywhere you go, there are limitations to the amount of time they can operate off their built in battery packs. The smaller the internal battery, the lighter the laptop, and is much easier to carry around, but the less time it can operate straight off it’s internal battery.
Most modern laptops or notebooks use around 65W to 90W of power. This means that one can make use of our smallest power inverter – 150W, to provide power to your laptop from a battery.
The 150W power inverter comes standard with a cigarette lighter power attachment, giving you the convenience of plugging the power inverter into your cigarette lighter socket and extending the battery time on your machine from one or two hours to more than five or six hours.
Due to the small cost difference between a 150W and 300 Watt or 350Watt power inverter, it often makes more sense simply to go for a 300Watt inverter, which will just offer you that extra flexibility to run a small printer or a cellular phone charger at the same time.
Being the smallest power inverters in our range also means that they are the most affordable. They will also provide the least drain on your battery, be it a car battery, or a dedicated battery in the home or office, that is charged specifically for emergency power backup when needed to keep your laptop running.
There is a lot of talk and hearsay about true sine wave inverter or modified sine wave inverter. We have tested and have various laptops operating daily on small 150Watt modified sine wave inverters. This includes Apple Mac, Meccer, HP and others. A modified sine power inverter is more then sufficient for your laptop application.
See our suggested list below
LIGHTWEIGHT- Modified Sine Power Inverter (AH Series)
|
Number |
Rating |
Voltage |
Inverter Functionality |
Size |
Weight |
Picture |
Specsheet (PDF format download) |
PM-A-150B |
150W |
12V |
Low battery Alarm
Low battery shut down
Low and High Voltage protection
Overload protection
Over heat protection
Modified Sine wave
|
Ø 65x150 |
0.43 |
|
|
PM-A-150AH |
150W |
12V |
116X102X63 |
0.7 |
|
|
PM-A-350AH |
350W |
12V |
190X102X63 |
1.2 |
|
|
If you need to run more than just your laptop, perhaps have things like fingerprint ID printers etc. You need to look at the total power consumption by simply adding them all together, as in the example below:
Computer 19V 6A = 114W
Printer 12V 2A = 24W
Scanner 12V 3 A = 36W
TOTAL = 174W
The total is 174W…, you thus require a power inverter of a slight higher rating, say around 250W or 300W power inverter.
It is important to choose your accessories or peripherals carefully taking note of their power consumption. For instance, if you see a laser printer… this is a big NO NO. Why? Well, a laser printer burns the image onto paper and therefore requires a lot of power. As much as 1500Wattss!! Suddenly the size of the power inverter you need becomes 2000Watts. A 2000W power inverter is not a product you can just plug into your cigarette lighter. However, if you chose an inkjet printer instead, which only uses between 40Watts and 70 Watts, you can still be fully mobile!
Your next question will probably be…”so for how long can I operate my laptop from an inverter on a car battery?” Well, while driving around, there is no problem. .but if you are going to camp out, and be stationary for a day or two, you will need to do some calculations:
Take our Laptop example 19V 6A = 114W
Now this is your maximum power, when the hard disc operates all the time, the sound card is full blast and your screen is on maximum brightness. The laptop will more probably consume only about 60Watt during normal operation.
The sums now become easy, if you have a 100A.h battery (ratings are usually on the battery) and it is fully charged – you can use safely about 60% of your batteries capacity. So in this case 60% x100x12V = 720 Watt/hours.
This means you have 720 Watt/hours available to use.
If you use 60Watts, this will allow you 720/60 = 12 Hours!!
Be careful though, your normal vehicle battery is probably only 66A/h or 70A/h size battery, and this reduce this “camping” time right down to 5 to 6 hours.
We will be happy to assist you with any calculations you may have to advice the right DC AC power inverter combination for your application. Do not hesitate to send us an e-mail!!
Keywords for this page:
Inverter, Inverters, Power inverter, power inverters, Laptop power inverters, solar powered inverters, solar power DC AC inverters, solar power systems, house backup power inverter, DC AC Inverters, pure sine wave power inverter, modified sine wave power inverter
